FRISCO—The Secret History

Knox Bronson

Join us on a cinematic journey through the last wild years when San Francisco was still wide-open. The cops ran the town in the Thirties and Bones Remmer ran the town in the Forties.Battles raged between the factions of dark and light in the hidden realms of San Francisco’s power elite, behind the headlines, from the celestial dominions of Nob Hill eateries and private clubs down to the nether depths of the dive bars in the heart of the Tenderloin, up to the Barbary Coast and jazz joints of North Beach and over to the banks and brokerages in the Financial District …FRISCO will bring alive that wild and bygone era of the Cool Grey City of Love that seduced the world.

  1. 29—Belle Cora, Frisco's Notorious Gold Rush Madam Tries To Save Her Man

    SEASON 1, EPISODE 29 TRAILER

    29—Belle Cora, Frisco's Notorious Gold Rush Madam Tries To Save Her Man

    The city was young then, all bad whiskey, muddy boots, and men chasing gold like it was salvation itself. Meet Belle Cora, the most notorious madam west of the Mississippi. She came in hard from New Orleans with gambler Charles Cora and enough nerve to tame a town that didn’t scare easy. A sorry of crooked gamblers, desperate miners, abandoned ships rotting in Yerba Buena Cove, and a city where vice wasn’t hidden in alleyways: it sat right at the head of the table wearing silk gloves and diamonds.  Belle and Charles were the kind of lovers that only exist in old crime sheets and whispered stories after midnight. He was a hot-headed riverboat gambler with a pistol close at hand; she was sharp enough to build an empire in a town overrun by lonely men and easy money. Together they clawed their way from mining camps to the top of Frisco’s underworld, throwing lavish parties while judges, politicians, and merchants slipped through the front door after dark. Belle crossed paths with society queen Lavinia Richardson, and Charles tangled with U.S. Marshal William Richardson — a collision that would end with gunfire in a dark alley and a murder trial soaked in bribery and scandal. Then came the reckoning. Newspaper wars, political grudges, vigilante justice — the whole rotten carnival rolled downhill fast. The feud surrounding Belle and Charles ignited one of the most infamous Vigilance Committee hangings in Frisco history, ending beneath the shadow of the gallows while church bells rang through the fog. It’s a story packed with doomed romance, corruption, revenge, and the kind of hard luck that built this town one coffin at a time. This is a bonus episode of Frisco: The Secret History. You can hear part of it free, but for the whole dark ride, head over to Patreon and subscribe.

    24 min
  2. 28—A Playlist From Hal Smith To Accompany His Interview On Lu Watters' Yerba Buena Jazz Band

    MAY 2

    28—A Playlist From Hal Smith To Accompany His Interview On Lu Watters' Yerba Buena Jazz Band

    Yesterday, I published wherein I interviewed drummer and jazz historian Hal Smith. We discussed the music scene in San Francisco in the 30s and 40s and how one man, Lu Watters and his band The Yerba Buena Jazz Band, saved traditional jazz after the emergence of swing music.  I asked him for a playlist our listeners. He provided this list of songs and youtube links with extensive commentary. Thank you, Hal! Enjoy!

    1h 1m
  3. 27—Lu Watters and his Yerba Buena Jazz Band Save Trad Jazz, An Interview With Hal Smith

    MAY 1

    27—Lu Watters and his Yerba Buena Jazz Band Save Trad Jazz, An Interview With Hal Smith

    In this episode, I interview drummer and jazz historian Hal Smith. We discuss the music scene in San Francisco in the 30s and 40s and how one man, Lu Watters and his band The Yerba Buena Jazz Band, saved traditional jazz after the emergence of swing music. The musicians, the clubs, and how an girlfriend's irate father with a pistol put Lu and his band on the front page, launching their career.  All in all, fascinating story! Links: Hal's website: http://halsmithjazz.com. Books: Clancy Hayes, The Swinging Minstrel. Dustbowl To Disney—The Lost Memoir of Danny Alguire.

    49 min
  4. 26: The Ding Dong Daddy of the D-Car Line!

    APR 23

    26: The Ding Dong Daddy of the D-Car Line!

    We are going to look at the life and times of little Francis Van Wie, the Diminutive Dutchman known also as the Ding Dong Daddy of the D-Car Line, the Car Barn Casanova, and the Trolley Toreador, and other nicknames. Francis managed to get hitched eighteen times over the course of his eighty-eight years. He rarely, if ever, bothered to get divorced. He did a stint in San Quentin for bigamy. He started making nationwide news in 1915 at the age of twenty-seven and would continue to do so until he passed on from this mortal coil.  Francis covered so much territory over the course of his life, had so many jobs, told so many stories, and married so many women, as many as twelve concurrently at one point, it’s been a bit of a challenge to map his odyssey.  I believe I have gotten it right.

    48 min
  5. #25 Bones Remmer Bribe Attempt Refused!—Freddie Says No To Gambler's Cash

    APR 10

    #25 Bones Remmer Bribe Attempt Refused!—Freddie Says No To Gambler's Cash

    In this episode, I talk about the time well-known grifter, Charles Auberguy, he of the Frisco netherworld and serial inheritance scams, contacted San Francisco Examiner columnist Freddie Francisco, ex-con and brilliant chronicler of high society foibles and underworld gossip, with a lucrative bribe offer, $500 a month, for laying off Chin Lim Mow, aka The Chinaman, gambling boss of San Mateo County. Freddie played along and invited Auberguy to come visit him at his luxury apartment atop Nob Hill, replete with butler, the following week. Immediately, Examiner Editor Bill Wren, Freddie, reporters Ernie Lenn and Ed Montgomery decided to capture the whole thing on tape, and laid out the plan. A few hours before the appointed time, they wired Freddie's plush digs for sound. Auberguy showed up right on time and tossed some carefully folded bills on the table. Freddie maneuvered him over to the stereo where the microphone was hidden and drilled him for details about the who what when and the how much he was going to make each month. We have a transciption of that conversation in the episode.. When Freddie spoke the agreed upon phrase, the two reporters, the sound man and the photographer, burst out of the back room, flash bulbs popping. Auberguy didn't protest. He smiled sheepishly, picked up his cash, and walked out into the night. There was a fair amount of fallout. A sledgehammer raid at The Chinaman's 101 Club south of the city. Police blockades at Bone's Club on Turk and Ed Sahati's joint at the Hotel Somerton on Geary. A lot of sound and fury, but nothing really changed in Frisco. That would take a few more years. Come to think of it, that might have been the first payoff Freddie Francisco ever turned down.

    38 min
  6. Bonus #5—Wren vs Patterson: Does The Word "Poontang" Belong In A Family Newspaper

    SEASON 1, EPISODE 23 TRAILER

    Bonus #5—Wren vs Patterson: Does The Word "Poontang" Belong In A Family Newspaper

    In this episode, I’m diving into one of my favorite San Francisco stories—the kind that lives right at the intersection of journalism, mischief, and outright audacity. It centers on two unforgettable characters from the San Francisco Examiner: the hard-driving, razor-sharp editor Bill Wren, and the wildly charismatic columnist Bob Patterson—better known to readers as Freddie Francisco. Bob was one of the most charming and fascinating men I’ve ever met. This was the clash of two monumental titans over the use of the word "poontang" in the newspaper. I walk you through Wren’s amazing rise, a tale of grit and termination—from a runaway kid riding the rails west to becoming one of the most feared and respected newsroom bosses in the country—and how he hired Patterson, a brilliant writer with a criminal past, a trickster at heart. Their relationship was equal parts respect and chaos, which made what happened almost inevitable. At the heart of the story is a ridiculous, very San Francisco kind of bet they made about whether the word “poontang”would ever appear in the paper again, after Bob used it in one of his columns.   What followed is pure Freddie Francisco: clever, subversive, and brazen.  It’s a small story on the surface, but it captures something bigger about Frisco, the era, and the kinds of characters who used to run the show. Who won the bet? You’ll have to listen to the episode!

    20 min
  7. Dolly Fine Part 4: Dolly Comes In From The Cold & Waltzes Off Into The Night

    MAR 26

    Dolly Fine Part 4: Dolly Comes In From The Cold & Waltzes Off Into The Night

    In Part Four of the Dolly Fine story, I bring the Dolly Fine story to a close.  Where we last left off, Dolly had been arrested and charged on eight felony counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The DA had her dead to rights and such was the political climate of the moment, he was going to make hay by pressing her to the full extent of the law.  Instead of arriving for her arraignment, she took flight and forfeited her $1000 bail. Every sighting of her, from San Diego to Paris, made headlines around the country. Dolly sold papers. On the eighty-ninth day of her exile, she got word to her attorney, Jake "The Master" Ehrlich, to arrange for her to turn herself in. Jake met Dolly in Oakland, covered her face with a large scarf and sunglasses and they took the ferry back to Oakland. On the morning of her trial, Jake pulled one of his most Ehrlichian moves and brought Frisco's elites face to face with their own hypocricy. Did Dolly walk? Of course she did, but at what cost?  Because Jake had demanded quite an unforeseen fee for his services.

    42 min
  8. Frisco Noir with Rachel Walther #3; "Sudden Fear" (1952) & "House On Telegraph Hill" (1951)

    MAR 8

    Frisco Noir with Rachel Walther #3; "Sudden Fear" (1952) & "House On Telegraph Hill" (1951)

    In this episode of Frisco: The Secret History, Knox Bronson welcomes back film writer Rachel Walther to explore two classic film noir movies set in San Francisco: Sudden Fear (1952) starring Joan Crawford and Jack Palance, and House on Telegraph Hill (1951) starring Valentina Cortese and Richard Basehart. Rachel dives into the production history, fascinating behind-the-scenes drama, and the real San Francisco locations that shaped these atmospheric thrillers. From Joan Crawford’s tense love triangle with co-stars to wartime backstories and dramatic Telegraph Hill chases, the conversation reveals how the city itself became a character in post-war noir filmmaking. They also explore why San Francisco’s dramatic hills, foggy streets, and working-class past made it such a natural setting for crime dramas in the 1940s and 50s—and how these films captured a version of the city that has largely disappeared. If you love classic cinema, film noir, or San Francisco history, this episode uncovers the strange and shadowy stories behind two remarkable movies.

    44 min
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
8 Ratings

About

Join us on a cinematic journey through the last wild years when San Francisco was still wide-open. The cops ran the town in the Thirties and Bones Remmer ran the town in the Forties.Battles raged between the factions of dark and light in the hidden realms of San Francisco’s power elite, behind the headlines, from the celestial dominions of Nob Hill eateries and private clubs down to the nether depths of the dive bars in the heart of the Tenderloin, up to the Barbary Coast and jazz joints of North Beach and over to the banks and brokerages in the Financial District …FRISCO will bring alive that wild and bygone era of the Cool Grey City of Love that seduced the world.

Information

  • Creator
    Knox Bronson
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    31
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 FRISCO—The Secret History
  • Show Website
    FRISCO—The Secret History