Lights out for Mt. Davidson cross
Here’s a look at the past. Items have been culled from The Chronicle’s archives of 25, 50, 75 and 100 years ago.
1990
Feb. 16: The San Francisco Recreation and Parks Commission decided yesterday that the gigantic concrete cross atop Mount Davidson will remain a city-owned landmark but that it should never be lit again. The decision, which followed an emotionally charged debate over the constitutional principle of separation of church and state, apparently pleased no one. The decision amounted to “political cowardice,” said attorney Fred Blum of the American Jewish Congress, which lobbied to have the cross removed. Blum, who also opposed the erection of a large Jewish menorah in Union Square during the December holidays, said the city doesn’t need to be proselytizing.
Also disappointed was the Rev. Wilbert V. Holt, pastor of the Lutheran Church of the Holy Spirit in San Francisco, who argued that the cross remain. The cross has been a fixture in the city since it was first illuminated in 1934. It remained lighted until the energy crisis of 1974. Since then, the lights have only been turned on during Easter week. Holt insisted that if the government could own “military cemeteries with crosses over graves ... or have a Buddha in Golden Gate Park,” the cross could also remain and be lit.
— Perry Lang
1965
Feb. 16: Nat “King” Cole, the velvet-voiced singer, died in St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica yesterday morning at the age of 47. Cole’s left lung was removed January 25. Cole was the first Negro singer to acquire a mass following comparable to those of Frank Sinatra and Perry Como. His group, the King Cole Trio, was the first Negro jazz group to have its own sponsored network radio series and Cole became the first Negro to have his own weekly series on network television. The series was carried for a year by NBC but although Cole used such Negro stars as Harry Belafonte, Ella Fitzgerald, Pearl Bailey and Mahalia Jackson, the program never acquired a national sponsor.
Cole protested against the unwillingness of the networks to use Negroes except as guest stars. He attributed this to sponsor pressure. Cole, a slender man who stood 6-feet-1 and weighed 170 pounds, achieved his success with a voice of slight range that he used in a very distinctive manner. “It’s nothing to be proud of,” he said. “I guess it’s the hoarse, breathy noise that some like.” Among the songs popularized by Cole, whose records sold nearly 50 million copies, were “Mona Lisa,” “Unforgettable,” “Route 66” and “Too Young.” His last big hit was “L-O-V-E,” which he recorded in a half dozen languages. Cole was frequently in San Francisco through the years, appearing at the Fairmont Hotel, Paramount Theater, Ciro’s nightclub, the Opera House and other places. Early last December he was appearing at the Circle Star Theater in San Carlos, when he became ill and was hospitalized.
1940
Feb. 18: For the first time in their lives, some California children are drinking orange juice as a result of Federal Surplus Commodities Corporation aid in a school lunch program for thousands of undernourished youngsters. Officials told of one child who was given a handful of oranges and proceeded to eat them like apples, skin and all. At Mission High School last week was inaugurated a system that is expected to give proper food to 600 pupils who otherwise would suffer. Pupil patrons of the school’s cafeteria, which now serves about 1200 meals a day, will obtain meal tickets. Those who are able to pay do so. Those who are unable to pay will receive them free. No one except one faculty representative will know which children receive the help. Similar programs have already been started at nursery and parochial schools in the city and in many rural districts of the State, where, workers say, many children have made a practice of carrying empty lunch boxes to school so their playmates wouldn’t know they had nothing to eat.
1915
Feb. 17: Mrs. Arabella D. Huntington yesterday signified her intention of presenting to the city for park purposes the half-block adjoining the Pacific Union Club which was formerly the site of the Colton mansion on Nob Hill. The only condition attached to the gift is that the property shall be known as “Huntington Park,” in memory of Collis P. Huntington. With this gift the last of the Nob Hill properties formerly owned by the “The Big Four,” as Huntington, Crocker, Stanford and Hopkins were called, passes into public use.
Stanford gave his mansion to Stanford University. The Hopkins property now belongs to the University of California and is the site of the San Francisco Institute of Art. William H. Crocker gave the Crocker block to the Episcopal Church for the construction of a cathedral. Further marking the change, which has come to the blocks on Nob Hill, the Fair property became the site of the Fairmont Hotel, while the Flood Mansion was remodeled after the fire of 1906 by the Pacific Union Club.