For this special San Francisco International Arts Festival tour, we begin in the shadow of the Fontana Towers at Van Ness and Bay and will conclude at the Fort Mason gates. During our excursion we’ll traverse the grounds of the old military base and discover histories of farms, soldiers, waterways, and World’s Fairs. A lost lagoon, a misaligned alley, a slain hero, and an apparent suicide highlight a stroll through the old World’s Fairgrounds and today’s landfilled multi-million dollar neighborhoods… Chris Carlsson will regale you with overlooked stories that still shape the San Francisco of today.

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Chris Carlsson’s tours are based on two decades of historical research and participation. He is co-founder and co-director of Shaping San Francisco, and chief curator of the archive of San Francisco history at Foundsf.org. He regularly conducts bicycling and walking tours on topics ranging from labor and ecological history, to transit, food, public art, and dissent. Carlsson has written three books, most recently "Hidden San Francisco: A Guide to Lost Landscapes, Unsung Heroes, and Radical Histories" (Pluto Press: 2020), as well as a novel set in a future “post-economic” San Francisco ("After the Deluge," Full Enjoyments Books: 2004), and edited six books including three “Reclaiming San Francisco” collections with the venerable City Lights Books.