
The Secret History of FRISCO
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.
Episodes
9 episodes
Bonus Ep. 4—FRISCO NOIR With Rachel Walther—The Maltese Falcon No.1 (1931) & No.2 (1941) and Dark Passage (1947)
In this episode, the first of a series, Knox Bronson, host of "The Secret History of Frisco" podcast, welcomes Rachel Walther, a film noir expert and author, to discuss the genre's connection to San Francisco. Walther, who writes for the ...
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Season 1
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47:38

Ep. 4—The Story of Johnny Ochsner, The Rich Kid Romeo, and the Lovesick Stowaways
The episode chronicles the romantic life of Johnny Ochsner, a young Oakland oil heir whose escapades in the 1940s became international news.Marguerite Faye Human and Teresa Briston, separately stowawayed across the Pacific in purs...
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Season 1
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Episode 4
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45:47

Bonus Episode 3—When Sally Stanford Kicked Humphrey Bogart Out Of Her Flagship Pleasure Palace At 1144 Pine Street In 1941
This bonus episode of "The Secret History of Frisco" podcast delves into the scandalous lives intertwined with San Francisco's notorious madam, Sally Stanford. Born Mabel Busby in 1903, Stanford's early life of poverty and a wrongful imp...
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Season 1
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43:29

Ep. 3—The Secret Life of Bob Patterson, The Charming Ex-Con Who Terrrorized High Society With His Column, "Freddie Francisco Observes" In The 1940s
The Secret Life of Freddie Francisco: A Rogue's Rise and FallThis episode of "The Secret History of Frisco" delves into the captivating, often scandalous, life of Bob Patterson, a writer of prodigious talent and even more prodigio...
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Season 1
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Episode 3
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43:28

Bonus Episode No. 2—Interview with Paul Drexler, Author of "Notorious San Francisco: True Tales of Crime, Passion, and Murder"
In this episode, I talk to author and historian Paul Drexler about the crime and vice rooted in the very birth of San Francisco and their evolution and influence in the city for the next hundred years. People and groups discussed in...
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52:39

Ep. 2 ~ The Hawaiian Princess Who Wanted To Sing
I have a wonderful episode for you today, the story of the Hawaiian princess who came to San Francisco to open a nightclub where she could sing. We will again encounter lawyer Jake Ehrlich, of course. The McDonough Brothers, who controlled all ...
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Season 1
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Episode 3
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37:13

Bonus Episode No. 1—Call It Frisco!
This episode explores the long and often contentious history of the nickname "Frisco" for San Francisco. Despite the strong disapproval of many, including Chronicle columnist Herb Caen, the term has deep roots stretching back to the Gold Rush e...
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Season 1
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Episode 2
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26:14

Episode 1: Vice Defined San Francisco's DNA At Its Inception
Welcome to The Secret History of Frisco, a podcast peeling back the layers of San Francisco's vibrant and often illicit past during its last wide-open era, 1934 to 1953. Join host Knox Bronson as we journey through the city's smoky backrooms, b...
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Season 1
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Episode 1
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43:03

When Gamblers and Newspapermen Ruled The Cool Grey City of Love
Ever wondered who really pulled the strings in San Francisco during its post-war golden age? It wasn't the mayor or the board of supervisors.When the war ended in 1946, San Francisco experienced an unprecedented boom. Servicemen who'd f...
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10:14
