The San Francisco Call was a newspaper published in San Francisco from 1878 to 1929. They had an Oakland office for many years, and frequently wrote about goings-on in Oakland and the East Bay.
Between 1897 and 1913, the Call was owned by John D. Spreckels. In 1907, the Oakland office was at 428 11th Street (in the "Bacon Block") and the phone number was Oakland-1083. At the time, the general manager was Charles W. Hornick, and Ernest S. Simpson the managing editor.
In 1913, the paper was sold to William Randolph Hearst. Yeah, that guy ("Rosebud..."). Given the Call's earlier scourging of Oakland Tribune owner William Dargie over corruption issues, it wouldn't be unreasonable to think Hearst bought them just to shut them up.
Timeline
- 1878-1895: Published as The Morning Call
- 1895-1913: Published as The San Francisco Call
- 1913-1920: Merged with the Evening Post and published as The San Francisco Call and Post
Oakland Wiki
The archives of the SF Call from 1890 to 1913 are freely available online at the California Digital Newspaper Collection, so the Oakland Wiki makes frequent use of them. Many articles about Oakland's history during that period and before would be much less complete without the SF Call.
Additional Links
- San Francisco Call at the California Digital Newspaper Collection
- San Francisco Call at the Library of Congress