San Francisco has had plenty of characters, but only one emperor. For two decades, Joshua Abraham Norton walked the city's streets as "Norton I, Emperor of the United States," and the city treated him as if the title were real.

A fortune lost on rice

Born in England and raised in South Africa, Norton reached San Francisco around 1849 and did well trading goods. FoundSF's essay by Chris Carlsson says that in December 1852, during a rice shortage that had pushed prices from 4 to 36 cents a pound, Norton agreed to buy a shipload of 200,000 pounds of Peruvian rice at 12.5 cents. More rice ships soon arrived, the price collapsed to 3 cents, and Norton lost everything. Wikipedia says he declared bankruptcy in 1856.

The proclamation

In 1859 Norton declared himself Emperor of the United States in a proclamation printed by the San Francisco Daily Evening Bulletin on Sept. 17, 1859. On Oct. 12, 1859 he decreed the abolition of Congress, and in 1866 he added the title "Protector of Mexico." He had no actual power, but Wikipedia notes that some businesses honored the currency he issued. He also got free ferry and train rides and help from friends with rent and meals. Surviving Norton notes now sell for more than $10,000 at auction.

The bridge he called for

Among his decrees was a call for a bridge and tunnel across the bay. FoundSF calls it the first proposal for a transbay bridge and tunnel. Both were built long after his death: the Bay Bridge opened in 1936 and the Transbay Tube came later. A 1939 plaque from E Clampus Vitus honoring that decree hung at the Cliff House and then at the Transbay Terminal, and is now inside Old Molloy's Tavern in Colma. FoundSF also notes he banned the word "Frisco," with a $25 fine.

Where to find him today

By 1865 Norton lived in a small room at the Eureka Lodgings, 624 Commercial Street. In 2023, then-Board President Aaron Peskin introduced a resolution to add "Emperor Norton Place" as a commemorative name for the 600 block of Commercial Street. Norton collapsed at California Street and Grant Avenue on Jan. 8, 1880. The Chronicle reported that about 10,000 people came to view his body before the funeral. Since 1934 he has been buried at Woodlawn Memorial Park in Colma, where an annual pilgrimage has been held since 1974.