San Francisco historian Woody LaBounty is now telling the little-known story of the historic Geneva Office Building and Powerhouse.
Writing a definitive history of the city’s first electric railway facility at Geneva and San Jose avenues was a natural project for LaBounty, who is the president and CEO of preservationist group San Francisco Heritage and a former history columnist for The Ingleside Light.
“I always try to highlight the sort of unsung histories of the city,” LaBounty said. “I got started doing a lot of preservation and history work on the west side of town, including the Ocean View-Merced Heights-Ingleside, because I felt like there were significant stories that weren't getting told. I love taking a place that people may have noticed but don't know anything about and just sort of opening their eyes to how deep the history runs in these what people think of as sleepy parts of town.”
The building complex, which is known as the “Carbarn” to some locals, lost its original carbarn — storage for Muni vehicles — years ago. Where it sat is now the Cameron Beach Yard. The complex's powerhouse has been renovated and put in use as a performing arts hub, but the Office Building remains in the same condition it did after the 1989 Loma Prieta eathquake put it out of service.
The Friends of the Geneva Office Building & Powerhouse, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation and adaptive reuse of the complex, first pitched LaBounty to write one chapter for a book about the building. But in February 2023, he took over the project to complete it in time for the building’s 125th anniversary on April 22.
Titled “Geneva Car Barn,” the 191-page book explores the brick beauty's rich history through well-sourced photographs and extensive research. LaBounty reveals ties to famous San Franciscan Mary Ellen Pleasant and key historical moments such as the 1906 earthquake and the creation of the San Francisco Municipal Railway.
The telling of the Geneva Car Barn’s story also holds a deeper meaning for LaBounty and the Friends group. They all want the book will be a call to action for City Hall to complete the restoration and finish the Office Building.
“If you ever have a chance to talk to an elected official, tell them this building is important, and you want to see it finished,” LaBounty said. “That's the story. Read the book to learn the history, but be prepared to advocate for the building because that's the only way these things get done.”
SF Heritage and the Friends will host a lecture and book release party at the Geneva Powerhouse on Wednesday, April 22. Copies of the book can be purchased at the event or on the Friends' website.
The Ingleside Light caught up with LaBounty to learn more about the new book.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What was your writing and research process like?
For me, the thing was there's so much. I had to give myself sort of a boundary of what to talk about. It had to tell the history of the building, but it also had to lead the reader to a call to action essentially which is now that what an important and significant building this is, not just to the neighborhood but to the city, how do we all work together to get the restoration done so that it can be relevant for the next 125 years? So when you have that sort of framework, you have to end with this call to action that more needs to be done, then it's easier to figure out the threads of the stories that you're writing about to get to that point. I have this very simple way to write a history book, which is you figure out the chapters, what are you trying to say in each chapter, and then what's the first line and the last line of each chapter, then you fill in the middle. It's like building a building itself. It's very simple. It's like build the framework, and then you have the freedom to kind of figure out the creative part in between.
DEFINITIVE HISTORY: "Geneva Car Barn: The Past and Future of San Francisco's Geneva Office Building and Powerhouse" is 191 pages of pictures and deeply researched storytelling. | Anne Marie Kristoff/Ingleside Light
Was there anything that stood out to you while researching the Car Barn’s history?
There's many. One thing is, we used to have these very intense labor strikes, this very strong union town, and some of the most intense were streetcar workers striking against the company. This building has the most tangible remnant of those very bloody and violent strikes. On the east side of the building, there's a portal that is carved out of the upper floor. They called it the scab door and that was where strike breaking workers who were hired had to basically enter and exit the building in a safe way to get to the cars away from the workers they were replacing so they carved a little door in the upper floor so they could get up there and they could sleep up there and then they could come down behind the fence to get into the street car and go through the protesting striking workers and it's still visible if you can get on the other side where the yard is. That's a kind of cool, interesting thing, and like I said, to learn that Mary Ellen Pleasant, who is this incredibly influential person in San Francisco history, owned a roadhouse and a ranch right on that property. People often think this neighborhood doesn't have this sort of deep history in San Francisco. They think of it as a newer neighborhood because of the housing stock, but she was here with a ranch in the 1860s, so this neighborhood is just as important as any other neighborhood in the city and has its own rich history, and the site just shows that off.
What is the importance of creating a book like this?
Well, you know, it's funny. Everybody reads things on screens now, right? We have this very ephemeral-feeling society where you write an email, and you lose it, or it's a social media post, and you can't find it, so people still recognize that a book feels weighty, tangible and important. Creating a book for this anniversary is a way to signal that this site is important and deserves attention. It's significant, and after 30 years, it's time for the community to get their landmark opened and have it serve the neighborhood that it sits in. A book just kind of signals that. It's like, Oh, this is something important. This is something that is worth paper and ink and color photos and has a history that isn't something that's just a blog post, but is something that can be put in a library and be there for decades to read.
Why should people read the new book?
The most important reason to read the book, if you live in the neighborhood, is to know that you have an important landmark in your neighborhood and that you should be advocating for the city and the state to give the neighborhood what it deserves. Make this a center of community. Make it open and accessible to the public. Finish the restoration. If you don't live in the neighborhood, I think it gives you a reason to explore more of the city. People maybe don't know this building, or they passed it and don't know the stories behind it, and I'm hoping that they read this book and they go, “I need to get out more,” and kind of see the amazing history that's at every corner of this amazing city. Those are the sort of two things I hope people get inspired by by reading this.
