Though infamous cult leader Charles Manson's most famous crimes went down in Southern California, his "Family" got its start in San Francisco. He was also "Protector of Mexico." Caleb Pershan Note that before his death in 1880, Emperor Norton had appended his title. In 1872, he called for the immediate construction of a bridge and a tunnel between San Francisco and Oakland, and several contemporary movements to rename the Bay Bridge in his honor just go to show that we're still playing along.
Though Norton's many attempts to dissolve the US government proved ineffectual, his genuine foresight is perhaps his greatest legacy. In order to pay his debts, the emperor even issued currency and his bank notes came to be locally accepted and are now valuable collector's items. As Robert Louis Stevenson phrased it, he had "fortunately found himself in the friendliest and most sentimental city in the world, the idea being 'let him be emperor if he wants to.' San Francisco played the game with him." In his signature uniform (gold-plated epaulettes, a beaver hat, and a peacock feather) Norton spent his days inspecting cable cars and spouting philosophy and, though he was thoroughly broke, his nights dining at the finest restaurants. S." But "Norton, I, Emperor of the United States" had selected a perfect capital. declare and proclaim myself Emperor of these U. "At the peremptory request and desire of a large majority of the citizens of these United States, I, Joshua Norton. Norton skipped town for a few years before returning with a decree, reprinted for laughs in The San Francisco Bulletin. Though he invested successfully in real estate and commodities, a lousy bet on rice and a protracted legal battle left him poor and disillusioned with the American government. Born in England and raised in South Africa, Joshua Norton arrived in San Francisco with a chunk of his father's fortune in 1849. After all, the self-proclaimed ruler had a life and personality best suited to fiction. It's no surprise that Emperor Norton appears in literature from Robert Louis Stevenson to Mark Twain (there as a delusional king in the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn). Update: Sadly, Doda died in November 2015. The 78-year-old Doda is one of two living legends on our list, and these days she is the proprietor of the small lingerie boutique Champagne & Lace (1850 Union Street). San Francisco would go on to be pioneering in even more ways, laying claim not only to the first strip clubs but to the first theatrical porn screenings too, and we have Doda partly to thank. She was famously lowered into the club atop a baby grand piano, hung from the ceiling, from which she would begin her show.
(A plaque on the side of the building still commemorates the day she first bared her ample bosom, June 19, 1964, as well as her first "bottomless" performance, September 3, 1969.) Doda and club owner Gino del Prete were arrested in 1965 but subsequently cleared of lewdness charges by two judges, setting the stage for North Beach to become the red light district of SF.
Made famous by her 44D breasts, Doda put the Condor Club on the map, making it the "world's first topless bar" when Doda's burlesque show began pushing the limits of decency law. If you were a heterosexual man in North Beach in the 1960s and 70s, you were probably there to see Carol Doda. But bear in mind, these are people we love (or fear) because their stories are infamously funny, sordid, or zany, and because they contribute to our colorful historical fabric, not because they necessarily contributed anything to society. Undoubtedly there are more local legends that some of you would add to this list, and feel free. And when it comes to the infamous either because of their oddity or their crimes we have no shortage. SF is a city that, historically, worships its kooks.