During Spanish-California and Mexican-California, Yerba Buena Cove was a well-known secret for smugglers. Before the town of Yerba Buena was established, smugglers knew to anchor their ships in San Francisco Bay to trade/sell all kinds of merchandise, including clothing, fabric, jewelry, alcohol, food, musical instruments, furniture—anything Californios wanted or needed from around the world. Carlina will tell us why so many ships came to Yerba Buena Cove when Monterey was the official port of entry. Discover who was involved in smuggling, how this smuggling started, and curious stories about the smuggling trade.

Carlina Ospina is a Bay Area native, a San Francisco history enthusiast, and an overall California Gold Rush fan. While bartending at a Financial District hotel during the dot-com boom, she saw similarities between the Gold Rush boom of 1849 and the tech boom of 1999, prompting her to research San Francisco’s early history. Her monthly podcast, “Monkey Block San Francisco's Golden History,” focuses on early San Francisco history. Visit https://monkeyblocksf.buzzsprout.com/

This program was live-streamed on September13 from the SFHS Museum in San Francisco. Please subscribe to our channel to learn more about the history of San Francisco:
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