Our Founder Ron Ross 

Dec 30, 1936 - Feb 2, 2022

San Francisco Chronicle obituary 

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We Lost an Old Friend

 

Every Saturday morning up at the crack of dawn, Ron would be out to garage sales, antique shows and ephemera sales. He would look for relics of San Francisco’s past. His interest in the 1906 earthquake and fire were the focus of collecting. All kings of San Francisco Collectibles would catch his eye, menus from famous SF restaurants, school year books, and places from the past Worlds Fairs, Cliff House, Sutro Baths and Playland at the Beach. 

 

Coming together for the first San Francisco Urban Fair a group of three collectors Ron Ross, Ray Clary and Michael Lucas joined together and formed the San Francisco History Collectors Association. Ron Ross was the first President and Editor of the newsletter. Without Ron’s hard work it would never have gotten off the ground. 

 

April 18th was Ron’s nightlight of his SF history year. He enjoyed the old San Franciscans and their stories. They loved him wanting to know their experience. He enjoyed being a part of the day from the beginning to the end. Ron entered the international news with the silver fire hydrant mistake. This brought more attention to the early morning ritual with increased attendance to April 18th events. 

 

San Francisco History Association has increased the public’s interest in SF history with monthly meetings, an interesting newsletter and free public displays. Ron will be missed by so many people, family, friends and the history community. 

 

We all have had a lot of fun sharing our love of San Francisco and its history. 

 

Peace and Love, 

 

Marilyn Lucas

SFHA President 1990-1991

 

Michael Lucas

SFHA President 1999-2000

 

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A Profile of Ron Ross
Founder of the San Francisco History Association
And Lover of San Francisco History 

By Lorri Ungaretti  

print version

On January 23, 2022, Ron Ross and I met to sit in the sun and share a pizza. The idea was for me to write a profile of him for the SFHA newsletter. Both of us knew he would die soon from cancer, but neither of us knew it would be a matter of days. Ron wasn’t someone who loved talking about himself—he was more interested in the world around him. And, of course, he loved his adopted home (San Francisco) and its fascinating history. 

Life in New York 

Ron was born in The Bronx on December 30, 1936. He had seven siblings, and his family lived in a six-room flat. The children slept three to a bed. He said he knew at a young age, “I needed my independence.” 

The Ross Family, 1956

He attended William Howard Taft High School, graduating in 1954. As an adult, he lived in Brooklyn for six months and moved around the New York boroughs for several years. He sounded proud when he said, “I’ve lived in four of the five New York boroughs.” 

Leaving New York 

Fast-forward to July 1964: Ron wasn’t happy in New York and had a friend, John Fusco, who had moved to San Francisco and liked it. “I came here just for a weekend,” Ron told me. “Fusco and his roommate took me on a tour of San Francisco, and I fell in love with the city.” He moved to Baghdad by the Bay in 1968. 

Ron at the Golden Gate Bridge, 1968

Ron at the Portals of the Past, Golden Gate Park, 1968

Back in New York, “I felt as if I was living three lives,” Ron explained. “One was work, one was with my family and friends, and one was in the gay world. I lived three separate lives and had to make sure they didn’t spill over into each other. I had to hide that I was gay. I even had girlfriends. I never felt I had to live that way here.” 

Once he moved to San Francisco, Ron’s life changed. “Once I went into a gay bar here, I never looked back.” His life in the gay community was as full as his life with San Francisco history. In 1974 he was elected Mr. Gay San Francisco by the Imperial Council of San Francisco and in 1976 they named him Imperial Czar of The Golden Gate Empire of San Francisco. 

Ron, Imperial Czar of The Golden Gate Empire of San Francisco, 1976

In 1981 Ron collected photographs of the era he loved the most about San Francisco and published a small, 60-page booklet to commemorate the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire. The dedication read, “This book is dedicated to the survivors of 1906 and to those that keep this historical past alive today.” He sold the books for $4 each. He was stunned in January when he learned that the book was on eBay for $89. “Can you believe that?” he asked. In 2006, Ron republished his book for the 100th anniversary of the earthquake and fire. 

Starting the San Francisco History Association 

“I was never interested in New York history when I lived there,” Ron said. Things changed when he came to San Francisco. “I knew about the 1906 earthquake —everybody did. I found a book in a used bookstore with views of San Francisco. I remember that it was five dollars. I covered each page of this book with acetate to protect it. Then I put it on my coffee table.” 

He frequently studied photographs of old San Francisco, “and then I would go to see if it was the same, if things were still there,” he said. At a library sale he bought old photos for $2 each. He went to flea markets, garage sales and wherever he might find San Francisco ephemera, which he began collecting. In the early 1980s, Ron attended the San Francisco Fair at Moscone Center and met other people who collected artifacts from the city’s past. 

Ron - Brooks Hall, Civic Center Plaza, 1987

“I was fascinated that there was no San Francisco history group,” Ron recalls, “so, in 1982, I decided to start one.” The first meeting of Ron’s group was August 1, 1982, “in a room next to a bathroom at the old Main Library. “Walter Jebe [author of San Francisco’s Excelsior District] was one of the first members. He was also a library commissioner, and soon after the first meeting, he got us a better room,” Ron chuckled. 

Ron named the group the San Francisco History Collectors Association.

San Francisco History Collectors Association pamphlet, 1982 

The new group held meetings regularly. There was always a speaker to explore one aspect of San Francisco history, but the social hour after the talk was the exciting part. Members brought items to sell or trade—“Collectors were learning about each other, what people were interested in and what they were collecting,” says Kathleen Manning, a charter member of the group. “People expanded what they knew about San Francisco history.” 

Before long, other local history buffs who weren’t collectors, wanted to join Ron’s group. Ron changed the name, removing the word collectors, and opened the organization to all people who were interested in San Francisco history. 

SFHA Board of Directors - Allen Dunn, Ron Ross, Michael Lucas, Walt Jebe, Marilyn Lucas, Mae Silver, 1982

The San Francisco History Association (SFHA) began meeting monthly. At first, Ron recruited the speakers, usually choosing people who had recently published a book. Soon after, Kit Haskell took on the role of finding speakers on varying aspects of San Francisco history, which she has continued to do for more than 25 years. The SFHA sponsored annual ephemera shows and donated 100% of proceeds to San Francisco educators to encourage them to teach students about the city’s history. 

SFHA Ephemera Show - Golden Gate Park - Kit Haskell, Ron Ross, Ed Baumgarten and Sandy Baumgarten, 2002

The SFHA membership meetings were hosted in various locations during the past 40 years. They started in the old Main Library and have met in the California State Building, the Fort Mason Gatehouse, the Unitarian Church, the San Francisco Museum at the Cannery (Gladys Hansen’s project), the Goddess Church on Portola Drive, the Mission Dolores School auditorium, St. Phillips Church, and now the Congregation Sherith Israel on California Street. Ron often joked, “We’ve almost been every religion!” 

Under Ron’s leadership, the SFHA hosted special event tours of historical locations and parties to celebrate historical events like the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition and the end of World War II. He also started the annual awards dinner to honor local historians and for the membership to celebrate together. For SFHA’s 30th anniversary in 2012, Ron encouraged members to dress in costumes related to San Francisco history. 

SFHA 30th Anniversary Dinner - Board of Directors: Ed Baumgarten (hippie),Sandy Cavallaro (Doggie Diner), Lorri Ungaretti (Laughin’ Sal), Kit Haskell (the flapper), Vicky Walker (Bummer and Lazaus), Ron Ross (Enrico Caruso), Kathleen Manning (as herself), 2012

1906 Earthquake and Fire Commemorations 

For more than 40 years, Ron helped produce the annual April 18,1906 Earthquake and Fire commemoration at Lotta’s Fountain. After the event downtown, the painting of the fire hydrant “that saved the Mission” at 20th and Church Streets followed, which Ron spearheaded in partnership with the Guardians of the City. In the pre-dawn hours of the 2012 event, attendees, in keeping with the yearly custom, spray-painted the fire hydrant gold–or so they thought. As board member Sandy Cavallaro was taking photographs with a flash, she noticed the paint was actually silver. She alerted Ron, who was mortified. They checked the extra cans, all of which had gold caps and silver paint. As the sun rose, everyone could see the hydrant was painted silver. A fast-acting history lover darted off to a nearby hardware store to retrieve gold paint. Within hours, the hydrant was returned to its usual bright gold. For years afterward, people loved to tease Ron about the silver fire hydrant. 

Gold cap silver hydrant - 20th and Church Streets, April 18, 2012 Ron unhappy with the hydrant being silver, April 18, 2012
 (or annoyed at a laughing Sandy Cavallaro for trying to take his picture with it)

GOLD hydrant, April 18, 2012 

Ron was known for his curt New York personality and his thick Bronx accent. But he will be most remembered for his love of San Francisco history and for finding ways to share that with everyone. 

Thanks for everything, Ron. We’ll miss you. 

Lorri Ungaretti, 

with special thanks to Sandy Cavallaro 

 

Ron, SFHA retirement dinner, October 20, 2019

Awards  

Here are the awards that Ron Ross received over the past 45+ years: 

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Ron SF History Days, Old Mint 

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Native Son columnist Carl Nolte tribute to Ron Ross February 13, 2022

 

An excerpt from "Native Son" columnist Carl Nolte's Sunday Chronicle's touching tribute to my 1906 Great San Francisco Earthquake & Fire Commemoration partner Ron Ross: ". . .Ron Ross, who died on Feb. 2. Ron was a historian, but not one of those solemn ones, studying the dusty yesterdays as if it were a gray procession of dry facts. Ron thought history could be entertaining, even fun. He was one of thousands of San Franciscans who came here from somewhere else and celebrated the history of his adopted city. Ron was 85 and had been ill with cancer for some time. He was born and raised in the Bronx and never lost his native accent or his wry New York City way of looking at things. He always rolled his eyes a bit when born-and-raised San Franciscans referred to their hometown as The City. Ron Ross was a New Yorker and knew better. But that didn’t stop him from falling in love with San Francisco on his first visit in 1968. He got a tour from his friend John Fusco and was smitten with San Francisco, its history, and its style. It was all new to him. “I was never interested in the history of New York,” he said. San Francisco was a different story. He became fascinated with daily life in the city’s past — particularly in ordinary artifacts, like pamphlets, advertisements, photos, picture postcards, and banners and pennants. He became an avid collector and an authority on ordinary people and their lives. In 1982, he attended a history fair at Moscone Center with other collectors and founded the San Francisco History Collectors Association. With the aid of Walter Jebe, an Excelsior district historian, the organization soon became the San Francisco History Association, which offered tours and lectures on local history. Ron developed a special interest in the 1906 fire and earthquake and people who had lived through the disaster. He liked to tell the story with a flair, and every year he organized a special event at the corner of 20th and Church streets, the site of a fire hydrant that had supplied enough water in 1906 to stop the huge fire and save the Mission District from destruction. He arranged to have ordinary San Franciscans spray the hydrant with gold paint every April 18. Ron was also active in the LGBTQ community, and in 1974 he was elected Mr. Gay San Francisco. He was a great friend of José Sarria, a native San Franciscan and noted drag queen, who styled himself “Empress Jose I the Widow Norton.” Ron was one of the pallbearers at Sarria’s grand funeral at Grace Cathedral in 2013. The funeral, fit for an empress and presided over by the Episcopal bishop of California, made history. Ron himself will be honored at the annual commemoration of the 1906 quake on April 18. The fire hydrant that stopped the great fire will be given a special coat of gold paint in his memory. 

 

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Ron Union Square, April 17, 2006 

Mark Leno and Ron - SFHA Awards Dinner 2010 - Double Play Restaurant 

 

Ron Ross photo album