Destination: San Francisco with John King

Join local historian and former San Francisco Chronicle urban design critic John King for a special talk exploring the history behind Destination: San Francisco, an exhibit tracing how the city became one of the world’s most recognizable travel destinations. Drawing on materials from the San Francisco Public Library’s San Francisco History Center, King will discuss how aviation, tourism, and visual culture helped shape San Francisco’s global identity.

From the opening of the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge to the spectacle of the Golden Gate International Exposition, the talk highlights the moment when the city began marketing itself as a leisure destination accessible by air. Early campaigns by airlines such as Pan American Airways and United Air Lines helped transform local landmarks—including the beloved San Francisco cable car system—into enduring symbols recognized around the world.

The presentation will also explore how photography and design—from mid-century airline advertising to modern commissions by the San Francisco Travel Association—have continued to shape the city’s image for generations of visitors.

Through images, ephemera, and stories spanning more than 85 years, King offers a fascinating look at how San Francisco learned to present itself to the world—and why those same icons still define the city today.

About the Speaker

John King is the author of Portal: San Francisco's Ferry Building and the Reinvention of American Cities, first published by W. W. Norton & Company in 2023 and later released in paperback with an afterword that brings the story up to date. The book explores how the transformation of San Francisco Ferry Building reflects broader changes in American cities, weaving together urban history, culture, and unexpected influences ranging from vintage postcards to the Bay Area’s food scene and the television show Somebody Feed Phil.

King served for many years as the urban design critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, where his writing examined the city’s evolving architecture, public spaces, and civic identity. Through his criticism, he explored how the built environment reflects the larger histories and cultures that shape life in the San Francisco Bay Area.

King retired from the Chronicle in October 2024. His career has been recognized with numerous honors, including a Lifetime Achievement Award from the San Francisco Press Club. He has also been recognized by the Berkeley Public Library Foundation as one of twenty writers honored at its annual author’s dinner.

Nationally, King is an honorary member of the American Society of Landscape Architects and was the first recipient of the Gene Burd Urban Journalism Award from the Urban Communication Foundation—an honor later shared by Pulitzer Prize–winning critics Inga Saffron, Blair Kamin, and Paul Goldberger. King himself has twice been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism, and in 2018 he spent four months as a Mellon Fellow in Urban Landscape Studies at Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection in Washington, D.C..

Throughout his career, King has brought curiosity, humor, and deep historical awareness to writing about cities—qualities that continue to shape his work on the endlessly evolving landscape of the San Francisco Bay Area.

$5 for Members, $15 for Non-Members

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Host or Publisher Mechanics' Institute