Tours & Walks

July 5 (Sunday) 12:00 Noon ($15-50 sliding scale donation to
CounterPULSE - Bring a bag lunch) ) - Meet at 1310 Mission St. at 9th, SF
Labor Bike Tour
Leisurely bicycle tour with labor historian Chris Carlsson. Learn labor history from the pre-urban history of Indian Slavery to the earliest 8-hour day movement in the U.S., and ebb and flow of class war. SF’s radical working class organizations are shaped in part by racist complicity in genocide and slavery, but from the 1870s to the 1940s there were dozens of epic battles between owners and workers, culminating in the 1934 General Strike and its aftermath. This is an entirely different look, during a four-hour bike tour, at San Francisco labor history.
For more info: call Chris Carlsson (415) 608 9035
carlsson.chris@gmail.com

July 11 (Saturday) 10:00 AM (Free) Meet at Coit Tower entrance, SF
Coit Tower Walk and 75th Anniversary of the Murals
With labor archivist Lincoln Cushing, historian Peter O’Driscoll and Tim Drescher.
Seventy-five years ago this month artists who were working with the Works Progress Administration (WPA) were working on the Coit Tower murals. These political artists were very much influenced by the general strike, and this is reflected in these historic murals.
A media hysteria was also whipped up against the art and the artists in an effort to censor them. Fortunately this failed and the murals remain a testament to the people of San Francisco and the labor movement.

July 12 (Sunday) 10:00 AM ($15.00) Meet at front of Bill Graham Auditorium - 99 Grove St., SF
WPA Bus Tour
Tickets are sold out
With Gray Brechin & Harvey Smith
Join Gray Brechin and Harvey Smith as they travel through history on a bus tour of historic sites built by unionized labor. You will learn about the major contribution workers made during the depression era of the New Deal program. They will discuss 75 years of the WPA. Please be aware that the tour will take about 5 hours depending on the traffic and the discussions.
Co-sponsored by UTU Local 1740
Meet at the San Francisco Civic Center, in front of Bill Graham Auditorium
99 Grove St., SF, CA 94102
Reservation required: Call (415) 642-8066 or by e-mail: laborfest@laborfest.net and leave your name, # of reservations and phone number to get back to you in case of any changes. Make reservation, then send check to:LaborFest, P.O. Box 40983, SF, CA 94140
(Sandwiches and drinks will be available on the bus.) Bus will return to Civic Center. Tour lasts about 5 hours.

July 12 (Sunday) 12:00 Noon (Free) Meet at the Gift Shop ~ Visitors Center, San Francisco side of bridge(Muni #28 or GG Transit, or bring 8 quarters for meter)
Labor Walk of Golden Gate Bridge
A walk led by Ironworkers 377 member Mike Daly, IFPTE Local 21 members and other building trades workers who will conduct the walk onto the Bridge. Hear explanations of the structural engineering and fabrication that led to steel erection; see the arch over Fort Point, and then hear the stories about the crews who built the bridge. Also, hear an explanation of current projects, and meet some of the trades members who maintain the bridge today.

July 12 (Sunday) 2:00 PM (Free) The Redstone Building - 2940 16th St. at Capp St. SF
Mission Walk - Labor, Art & The Politics of The Mission Dist.
By Louis Prisco
This labor tour of the Mission by labor historian Louis Prisco will start at the old San Francisco Labor Temple where the San Francisco Labor Council voted for a general strike in 1934. Today the building is run by the Redstone Tenants Association, which works to maintain it as a working space. It is also the site of important labor murals on the front two floors. These murals portray important parts of San Francisco labor history including the murder of San Francisco Painters Union leader Dow Wilson by contractors, and the Chinese Ladies Garment Workers Union Local 341’s picket scene. Please sign-up for this tour by calling Louis Prisco at 415-841-1254 or e-mail to:
penguinflow@hotmail.com
http://www.creativeworkfund.org/modern/bios/aaron_noble.html
Photos of the events

July 18 (Saturday) 1:00 PM Angel Island Immigration Post North East side of the island
70th Anniversary of Harry Bridges Immigration Trial
In 1939, the Roosevelt administration sought to expel ILWU president Harry Bridges for being a member of the Communist party. These immigration trials took place five times and eventually as a result of the support committee and the backing of the membership this witch-hunt was defeated. This was a prelude to the witch-hunts in the late 1940’s and 1950’s.
ILWU oral historian Harvey Shwartz will make the presentation on the trials of Harry Bridges, and James Dexter, former ILWU Local 5 president and historian will make a presentation on the history of immigration at Angel Island.
Meet in front yard of the Immigration Post building.
You can bring your bike on the ferry for $1.00 from Tiburon, and free from San Francisco.
From the ferry port, you can walk, bike or take a shattle to the Immigration Post building.
Ferry from Tiburon leaves every hour. $17.50
Tiburon - Angel Island Ferry (415-435-2131)
www.angelislandferry.com
Ferry from San Francisco by Blue & Gold (415-773-1188)
From Ferry Building - 9:20, 11:20 AM $15.00
From Pier 41 - 9:40, 11:45 AM (Ticket at the booth west of Pier 39)
www.blueandgoldfleet.com
www.angelisland.com

July 18 (Saturday) 10:00 AM (Free) Meet at Harry Bridges Plaza - Front of Ferry Building, SF
San Francisco General Strike Walk
Join a walk with historian Luis Prisco, ILWU Local 10 longshoreman Jack Heyman and musician David Rovics. This walk and history talk will look at the causes of the ‘34 General Strike and why it was successful. How was the strike organized and why are the issues in that strike still relevant to working people today? Also you will walk by the key historical sites in this important US labor struggle. Bring your lunch with you. Be prepared for a long walk.

 

 

July 18 (Saturday) 2:00 PM (Free) The California Historical Society - 678 Mission St., SF
Hobos to Street People:
Artists’ Responses to Homelessness from the New Deal to the Present
By Art Hazelwood, Tim Drescher and Jos Sances
Exhibition and mural tour
California Historical Society Exhibition with Art Hazelwood, followed by a tour of history sites. The exhibition focuses on the artwork created in response to the unprecedented poverty of the Great Depression and is mirrored by contemporary artwork that looks squarely at the economic wasteland that has resulted from the last thirty years of Reaganomics.
The mural tour will include the Rincon Annex murals by Anton Refregier, the IWW memorial nearby and the Arnett Watson mural in the Tenderloin. Transportation from the California Historical Society to other sites on your own.
http://www.californiahistoricalsociety.org/exhibits/index.html

July 19 (Sunday) 6:00 PM ($35.00) Pier 41, West of Pier 39 near outside booth - Fisherman’s Wharf, SF
Building Bridges and Labor Maritime History
Boat Tour
Tickets are all sold out!
5:45 PM Boarding, 6:00 PM Departure
Boat leaves promptly at 6:00 PM
Tour lasts 3 hours
A complimentary meal will be provided, however, if you are on a special diet please bring your own food
Join us for this evening cruise on labor history and a close up look at the massive construction project of the eastern span of the San Francisco Bay Bridge. The skills of the ironworkers, operators, carpenters, laborers, electricians and maritime workers who are building this monument are creating a vital link and beautiful artifact of the Bay Area. Joseph Blum who is documenting the construction of this project will let us know what is being done and how they do it. Labor writers Gray Brechin, Tim Drescher, Iron workers Dick Zampa, Mike Daly and others. Music with Richard Taliafarro, Lee Anne Kruk, Carol Denney and Jack Chernos.
To make your reservation:
By E-mail: laborfest@laborfest.net or call: (415) 642-8066, and leave your name, phone number and number of people in your party.
You should send a check ($35) to LaborFest, P.O.Box 40983, San Francisco, CA 94140.
We don’t send you tickets, but we will either reply to your e-mail or call you back to let you know that we received your reservation, and as soon as we receive your check, your reservation will be confirmed.
You will get your ticket at the pier before you get on the boat.
We expect the tickets will be sold out quickly, so please make your reservation early.
We thank the Blue & Gold Fleet for providing the boat, and the members of MMP and ILWU-IBU for volunteering their labor.
http://baybridge360.org/
http://fr.truveo.com/Building-the-San-FranciscoOakland-Bay-Bridge/id/1084376568

July 23 (Thursday) 9:00 - 1:00 PM (Free) Assembling 8:30 AM at 1145 Market Street (IFPTE 21 office), First Floor Conference Room
Tour of SE Waste Treatment Plant
A tour and discussion of labor history of important but relatively unknown facility, the Southeast Waste Treatment Plant and related community facilities. A bus will take you to the plant.
The Southeast Waste Treatment Plant treats an average dry weather flow of about 67 million gallons a day, and can treat up to 250 million gallons a day when it rains. Treated wastewater is discharged out a 900-foot-long pipe into the San Francisco Bay. The Southeast Plant treats wastewater from the east side of San Francisco, which equals about 80 percent of the City’s total wastewater flow.
There will be a limit of 24 attendees. Please call 415-554-1530 for reservations.

July 25 (Saturday) 10:30 AM (Free) Meet at the fountain in Latham Square - Telegraph and Broadway, Oakland
Oakland 1946 General Strike Walk
With Karin Hart of the Labor Studies Program at Laney College and Gifford Hartman of the Flying Picket Historical Society. This walk will revisit the sites of Oakland’s “Work Holiday” that began spontaneously with rank-and-file solidarity with the striking ­ mostly women ­ retail clerks at Kahn’s and Hastings department store whose picket line was being broken by police scab herding. Within 24 hours, it involved over 100,000 workers and shut down nearly all commerce in the East Bay for 54 hours. In 1946 there were six general strikes across the U.S.; that year set the all-time record year for strikes and work stoppages. The Oakland “Work Holiday” was the last general strike to ever occur in the U.S. and the walk and history talk will attempt to keep alive the memory of this tradition of community-wide working class solidarity.
Sponsored by Laney College Labor Studies (510-464-3210) and the Flying Picket Historical Society. SFBay@FlyingPicket.org
Meet at the fountain in Latham Square, in the intersection where Telegraph and Broadway converge across from the Rotunda Building (Oakland City Center/12th St. BART).

July 25 (Saturday) 10:30 AM (Free) Meet at 75 Folsom St. - Entrance of Hills Brothers Coffee Building, SF
San Francisco Labor History Water Front Walk
With Peter O’Driscoll and Lawrence Shoup
There are many stories to be told about labor struggles in San Francisco. This story is about the maritime industry from 1835 until the burning of the blue book in 1934. The main points in history will include President Andrew Jacksons effort to acquire this peninsula from Mexico; Gold discovery and the urgent need to build the San Francisco Wharfs; The Gold Rush gave the laboring man a value; San Francisco’s port to the sailor was a corrupt and wicked place; Sailors life, boardinghouses for coast-wise and high-sea sailors; The secret society of crimps in 1865; Young men’s fear of shanghaied; why the crimps; Labor supports the eight hour workday; The sailor who became a politician and rabble rouser for the workingman’s party of 1877, and the party’s influence at the state constitutional convention of 1878; The friction between Capital and Labor developed into a social question; Why business owners demanded Congress to increase the size of the army; Sailors union of 1885 and their violent strike in 1886; Why the ship owners association issued the grade book; The 1790 law provides for the arrest of seamen deserters; In 1892 Andrew Furuseth led the organizing of the Sailor’s Union of the Pacific; The Seaman’s act of 1915 it is now known as the “Magna Carta” of the American Seamen; Ship owner Robert Dollar’ resentment for union sailors in 1917; Dollar’s straw bosses broke the 1919 dock strike and issues the Blue Book.
Also labor historian Larry Shoup will talk about the history of the 1901 transportation workers strike which included the Teamsters and was smashed by the San Francisco police. This strike in part led to the formation of the San Francisco Union Labor Party which in 1905 swept the election and took control of the city.