1. The work and example of underdog champion Jack London inspired this Australian-born future labor leader to go to sea. In 1922, this self-proclaimed “working stiff” began working on the docks of San Francisco. Eventually, he became President of the Longshoremen’s Union.

a. Harry Bridges

b. Joe P. Mazzola

c. James Duval Phelan

2. In 1860 San Francisco, the workday was usually:

a. 8 hours  b. 10 hours  c. 12 hours

3.  Name the island in the San Francisco Bay that was known as the Ellis Island of the West.

a. Alcatraz  b. Angel  c. Treasure

4.  “Wine is one of the most civilized things in the world…that has been brought to the greatest perfection, and it offers a greater range for enjoyment and appreciation than, possibly, any other purely sensory thing which may be purchased.” The life-sized figure of the person who wrote these words may be seen at the Wax Museum at Fisherman’s Wharf:

a. Ed Schwartz

b. Baroness Philippine de Rothschild

c. Ernest Hemingway

5.  The cheery, endlessly looping jingle — “Welcome to our world of toys,”—greeted patrons toting their kids up and down the escalators of this one-time toy emporium at Stockton and O’Farrell streets:

a. King Norman’s Toy Shop

b. FAO Schwartz

c. Toys “R” Us

6.  “I came out of the war thankful to be alive, aware that human relationships are the most important thing of all—far more than wealth, food, luxury, careers, or anything you can mention.” At greeting card/stationery store Papyrus in Laurel Village, a coffeetable book features the words and photos of this ballerina-turned-actor who secretly danced
to raise money for the Dutch resistance in 1944:

a. Gina Lollobrigida

b. Ava Gardner

c. Audrey Hepburn

7.  Written by an Armenian-American writer, this play takes place in a San Francisco waterfront honky-tonk in 1939.

a. The Time of Your Life by William Saroyan

b. The Iceman Cometh by Eugene O’Neill

c. Daphne Does Dim Sum by Eugenie Chan

8.  Name this San Francisco “So good!” treat—since the 1940s—which features on its wrapper a boy and a girl seesawing on a giant ear of corn.

9.  With her blonde hair done up beautifully, and smartly outfitted in a snappy marching
band–style jacket and black silk trousers, this singer recently graced the stage at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in Golden Gate Park. Smiling and thanking everyone in the audience, she sang “The Ballad of Lucy Jordan” in the late afternoon sun.

a. Emmylou Harris

b. Laurie Lewis & The Right Hands

c. Marianne Faithfull

10.    Duboce Street is named after a military hero of:

a. The Civil War

b. The Spanish-American War of 1898

c. The American Revolution

Answers

1.    a

2. c (According to Dolores Waldorff, writing in The Call-Bulletin, October 10, 1955, “Laborers argued that ten hours is enough for any man to sweat.”)

3. b (Actually, it served more as a detention center than an immigration station from 1910 to 1941.)

4. c (Death in the Afternoon)

5. b (The store went out of business in 2002.)

6. c; 7.  a;   8.     Wrights Pink Popcorn

9.   c

10 . b (Colonel Victor Duboce is buried in the Presidio Cemetery.)

Victor Turks grew up in San Francisco and lives in the Richmond with his wife, Michiko, their three boys, a pug, a cat, and a tankful of goldfish. He teaches English at City College.