• 700 block of Montgomery Street: first Jewish High Holy Day services were held in the vicinity in September 1849 by first community of 30 Jews.
• Levi Strauss building on Valencia near 14th Street: an early factory and design center (now closed) where jeans were manufactured, Levi’s becoming an iconic American product.
• Civic Center: Jewish contributions to San Francisco politics and civic life, including first Jewish mayor (Adolph Sutro) and first Jewish congresswoman in the U.S. (Florence Prag Kahn).
• Haas-Lilienthal House at 2007 Franklin St.: best surviving example (1886) of the grand Victorian homes built by the old Jewish families along Franklin and Van Ness Avenue.
• Ohabai Shalome on Bush near Laguna: Venetian-Moorish redwood gingerbread facade of 1895 synagogue established by a breakaway faction from Emanu-El in 1863.
• Congregation Sherith Israel on California near Webster: originally founded 1850, built in 1905 but escaped 1906 fire; ornate decor reminiscent of great synagogues of Europe.
• Congregation Emanu-El on Lake at Arguello: founded 1850, built 1925, one of largest and grandest synagogues in United States, with its Levantine architecture and great dome.
• Golden Gate Bridge: “Emperor” Joshua Norton, 19th century Jewish eccentric, first “commanded” a bridge be built across the bay, but it was left to Jewish railroad engineer Joseph Strauss to do so 65 years later.
• “The Survivor” at Lincoln Park: artist George Segal’s graphic sculptural ensemble depicting the horror of the Holocaust but also the hope and redemption that followed; dedicated 1984.
• “Meditation Room” at 1600 Divisadero: beautiful and quiet space featuring the old wood and leaded glass doors of the historic Nursing School at Mount Zion Hospital.
— Stephen Mark Dobbs
PROFESSOR DOBBS’ TIME MACHINE:
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San Francisco’s embedded Jewish history