THE SAN BRUNO MOUNTAIN ARCHIVES
The San Bruno Mountain Archives project is a digital public history effort that aims to:
Share stories that illuminate the unique significance of San Bruno Mountain
Give voice to grassroots and unconventional understandings and experiences of San Bruno Mountain
Explore the lively and complicated political history of San Bruno Mountain
Record the changing environmental and social conditions of the mountain and its surrounding communities
Establish a platform where people can both personally and collectively gain a wide-ranging and intimate appreciation of San Bruno Mountain and its ecological and cultural dramas
Gather, digitize, categorize, and circulate a vast collection of photographs, articles, leaflets, and more regarding San Bruno Mountain from a variety of sources.
Serve as a wholesome resource for those involved in the creation and delivery of engaging educational and interpretive materials and services on San Bruno Mountain.
The public is invited to contribute relevant materials to the collection. Email ariel@mountainwatch.org or call the office at (415) 467-6631 to discuss further.
Please continue to check in with the San Bruno Mountain Archive as new material will be continuously uploaded to both expand the collections shown below and create new collections.
The Committee to
Save San Bruno Mountain
Saving San Bruno Mountain is a never-ending journey, one that began in 1971. Explore the creativity and heart of the grassroots community that fought for the vision of San Bruno Mountain as public parkland for the people of northern San Mateo County.
San Bruno Mountain Hermits
The mountain is a place of refuge and healing. Its slopes and canyons have provided the essence of “home” in a unique way to countless people, plants, and animals. The stories of the San Bruno Mountain hermits have proved captivating and important in the folklore of San Bruno Mountain. Their presence on the mountain sparked difficult conversations about homelessness, mental health, the place of humans in nature, scales of environmental destruction, authorized and unauthorized housing, life ways, and more.
San Bruno Mountain Art
These works of art express many moments of intimate connection between the people and San Bruno Mountain. We are grateful to those who open themselves to patiently witness the life of mountain and interpret its character through art.
Paradise Valley, SSF
Tucked between the northern side of Sign Hill and the southern slopes of San Bruno Mountain, this Paradise Valley in South San Francisco changed significantly in the 1990s with the creation of the TerraBay developments. It was previously known for its abundance of coast iris, critical butterfly habitat, and pastoral character as the site of a 4H farm.
Northeast Ridge
The Northeast Ridge forms the northern boundary of San Bruno Mountain’s Guadalupe Valley. These grassy hills, prime habitat for the endangered mission blue and callippe silverspot butterflies, were the site of controversial developments in Brisbane allowed under the habitat conservation plan.
David Schooley
David Schooley joined the original Committee to Save San Bruno Mountain nearly 50 years ago; since then, his life has been thoroughly intertwined with the saga of San Bruno Mountain. At the heart of David’s existence is a raw dedication to a steady and sensitive watchfulness over this special place on Earth. David has inspired and touched countless people with his gentle jolliness and the depth of his humble familiarity and care for the plants, animals, and people of San Bruno Mountain. From David we learn how to seek, savor, and guard the soul of a place with all of the stubbornness, sweetness, and silliness of our wild, human hearts.
San Bruno Blazes
Whether indigenous burning practices, firecrackers, matches, or power lines, people of all ages have sparked fires on the mountain for ages. Fighting fire on the mountain is an old tradition as well, shared by ranchers, firefighters, townspeople, and others.
Signs on the Slopes
The letters of Sign Hill were not the first to mark mountain slopes. Learn about the many placements of signs on San Bruno Mountain. Some inspired local pride; others sparked community opposition.
Towers on the Peaks
Television and radio towers, those beaming structures emerging as light-houses among the howling sea of fog, began broadcasting from the peaks of San Bruno Mountain in the 1950s.
Snow on San Bruno
Experiencing the mountain covered in snow has been an uncommon but delightful occurrence, whether enjoyed from afar by commuters driving by the mountain or up close by kids.
Mysteries, Murders,
Misery, Mischief, and
Misfortune on the Mountain
The mountain is more than a public park, an ecological refuge, and a scenic backdrop. It has been a site of tragic blunders, gruesome violence, delinquency, desolation, mystery and assault.
Hunts & Mishaps On
Mount San Bruno
Hunting and target shooting were common on San Bruno Mountain through the 1970s.
Trashing San Bruno Mountain
Illegal dumping was widespread on San Bruno Mountain. It is still common to see discarded junk along the roadside of Guadalupe Canyon Parkway, but it doesn’t compare to the trashing of the mountain that was more widespread and before the designation of public parkland on San Bruno Mountain.
The Crocker Land Company
& the Mountain Estate
For nearly 100 years, most of San Bruno Mountain was under the private ownership of the Crocker Land Company, primarily used for ranching and dairies. Various development plans for their mountain estate were proposed in the 60s and 70s, sparking the beginning of the movement to save San Bruno Mountain.
Bayshore Heights
The foothills of the mountain’s Northeast Ridge, forming the southern boundaries of Visitacion Valley, were gradually transformed into housing, becoming an area of Daly City known as Bayshore Heights.
Sign Hill - Microcosm of the Mountain
The famed foothill of San Bruno Mountain. While the letters boast of the proud city that spreads around its base, the hill itself is a sign of something bigger. Sign Hill is a microcosm of the mountain. Explore Sign Hill and you will feel the hints of the mountain it evokes. Like San Bruno Mountain, Sign Hill is full of interesting stories, unique ecologies, and people who care deeply for it.
Mount Bruno Blue Gum Eucalyptus
Eucalyptus on San Bruno Mountain: introduced windbreaks, sylvan park amenities, invasive impediments to native butterflies, fire hazards, subjects of heated debate, and more.
Exploring “Nearby Wilds”
The emergence of nature-based group recreation on San Bruno Mountain has roots in the Bay Area hiking clubs beginning in the 1930s.
Saving Siplichiquin
San Bruno Mountain is Ramaytush Ohlone land. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, an effort took place to save an indigenous site from destruction on San Bruno Mountain.
The Original San Bruno Mt. Botanical Garden
From the late 1990s to the early 2000s, a volunteer group known as the Friends of San Bruno Mountain created a native plant botanical garden near the main entrance of San Bruno Mountain State & County Park. Though the garden was discontinued a few years later, efforts are underway to recreate it in the same location.
Colma Creek - From the Mountain to the Moon
Follow the changing flow of Colma Creek’s journey from San Bruno Mountain to the tidal marshes of San Francisco Bay.
San Bruno Elfin Butterfly
Revealing the stories of the butterfly shrouded in fog at the peak of San Bruno Mountain.
Agitating for a Park
Northern San Mateo County cities and residents lacked access to public open space. They pressured hesitant elected officials to purchase portions of San Bruno Mountain for a park. Furthermore, there were competing visions of what type of recreation the mountain would provide.
Mount San Bruno Bayfill Battles
There were many schemes put forth to tear down San Bruno Mountain and use its rock and earth as bay fill. Various actors, including Save the Bay, local cities around the mountain, and the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, thwarted such plans.
The Original Mission Blue Nursery
The Mission Blue Nursery began in a greenhouse complex adjacent to South San Francisco's Orange Memorial Park. Founded by Friends of San Bruno Mountain, the nursery was later rebuilt in Brisbane and became part of San Bruno Mountain Watch.
San Bruno Blasts
The explosions that rocked the mountain and the labor movement.
The collections shown above are stored on our Flickr page.