MEETINGS 2025

We hold live meetings with an option to view remotely via Zoom. Meetings start at 7 p.m. Congregation Sherith Israel is located at 2266 California Street, at Webster.

Parking: Check the signs. The surrounding streets contain several passenger white zones that are not active after 6 p.m. and can be used for parking in the evenings. Note that paid parking at the closest garage to Sherith Israel IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE after 7 pm at CPMC at 2100 Webster, AKA the Pacific Professional Building.

There is 24-hour parking available a half-block further north on Webster at 2401 Clay, with entry on Clay Street. 

Muni: 1, 2, 22, 24.

Admission is free for members; there is a $10 admission for nonmembers. (More information can be found on the membership tab.)

TUESDAY, MAY 27, 7 P.M., live and on Zoom:

Paul Drexler: The Little Frog Girl

Photo courtesy of Paul Drexler

Jeanne Bonnet, a 19th-century transgender pioneer, would find today’s sexual identity struggles disturbingly familiar. Jeanne was born into a family of French actors. She was a very popular performer, often playing the role of a young coquette on the stage. Then tragedy struck; her mother passed away, her sister was committed to an insane asylum where she died, and her father, emotionally and physically shattered, moved to Oakland. Learn her story at our May meeting from Paul Drexler. 

Between 2014 and 2018, Drexler wrote over 50 true crime stories as a columnist for the San Francisco Examiner. He received the Oscar Lewis Award from The San Francisco History Association in 2017. His book, Notorious San Francisco: True Tales of Crime, Passion and Murder, was published in 2019 by R.J. Parker Publishing. His next book, Murder at the Movies, will be coming out in 2026. 

How to watch the presentation online

Zoom streaming is available only for SFHA members. The San Francisco History Association will send out the Zoom link and password to current members on the morning of the meeting day. Check the website membership tab to renew or obtain current membership. Please add info@sanfranciscohistory.org to your email address book, and check your spam or bulk mail folder.