San Francisco: Jewish history

Interested in Jewish aspects of the City by the Bay?

Were your ancestors among its earliest inhabitants? While many of the city’s early Jewish residents landed on the East Coast and made their way west, ships brought others into San Francisco from Asian ports.

Here’s an interesting article on a new book, Jewish San Francisco and an interview with its author, retired Rabbi Edward Zerin, 86.

The book covers the community’s history in 200 black and white pictures, the earliest from 1848. Zerin scoured local archives, borrowed photos from private collections and travelled to Colorado to find others.

Zerin will sign copies of his book at the Jewish BookFest at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, at 2:15 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 5.

Jewish San Francisco, by Edward Zerin (128 pages, Arcadia Publishing, $19.99).