This past week or so, we have all been overwhelmed by information on the royal family due to the death of Queen Elizabeth II. This brought up the memory of the mostly forgotten Emperor Norton I, whose ...

No other city in the world so honors its eccentrics as does urbane San Francisco. In the 1860’s, the city was the demented domain of a host of harmless witlings, dizzards, giddy-heads and zanies. In ...

San Francisco has a long history of opening its arms to colorful characters, but few can rival Imperial Majesty Emperor Joshua Norton I, the self-proclaimed Emperor of the United States. This charming ...

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – DECEMBER 4: Joseph Amster brings to life the eccentric 19th century San Francisco character, Emperor Norton, ruler of the United States and Protector of Mexico, during a ...

The monstrous Bay Bridge linking San Francisco and Oakland, Calif., may soon be given a new name: the Emperor Norton Bridge. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors has voted 8 to 2 to rename the span ...

His CIA code name is Condor. In the next seventy-two hours almost everyone he trusts will try to kill him.

The bouncer outside Emperor Norton's Boozeland, in the Tenderloin, got mad at me for holding my license in a way that obscured the birth date. Come on. Who are we kidding? I'm not nearly pretty enough ...

The veritable story of a citizen of San Francisco who, after being destroyed in the 1857 stock market crash, believed himself to be the emperor of the United States. When he died, 10,000 people ...