In the year 1883 many fruit ranchers in California began to receive letters from San Francisco. Each letter was signed "L. Scatena & Company, by A. P. Giannini." Each told about a reliable firm in San Francisco which paid fair prices for fruit and vegetable crops and sold them promptly to hotels, restaurants and groceries.

But when the rancher took their produce to this firm they discovered that Mr. A. P. Giannini was just thirteen years old! He was Amadeo Peter, Mr. Scatena's stepson.

A. P. Giannini grew up promoting the fruit and vegetable business of his step-father on the San Francisco waterfront. As a very successful adult he established the Bank of Italy for the benefit of the Italian people living in San Francisco.

San Francisco's Telegraph Hill
David F. Myrick
Howell-North Books
1050 Parker Street
Berkeley, California 94710
Copyright 1972
220 pages
Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 72-93699
ISBN 0-8310-7093

David F. Myrick has long had an interest in the history and geography of the western United States which began when he learned that one of his ancestors left Vermont in 1850 by covered wagon to come to San Francisco. Living on Telegraph Hill for almost three decades, he shared his enthusiasm for this special place with his neighbors. After serving for five years as editor and publisher of the neighborhood journal Telegraph Hill (no The Semaphore), he wrote the history of the hill.

Contents include: The Place; The History; The Marine Telegraph; The People; The German Castle and the Cable Car Line; Early Quarries and the Sea Wall; The Gray Brothers, Incredible Quarrymen; Pioneer Park; Coit Tower; Telegraph Hill in Print; North-South Streets: Sansome and Battery, Calhoun, Montgomery, Kearny, Grant, Stockton, Washington Square; East-West Streets: Broadway, Vallejo, Green, Union, Alta, Filbert, Greenwich, Lombard, Chestnut, Francisco and Bay; Streets of the Past Donors of Pioneer Park; Streets of the Past.