Emperor Joshua Norton came to San Francisco at the age of 30 from Capetown where he was raised. He arrived with what would be today a fortune of $1,000,000. He had known great business success in San Francisco until he made one wrong move and lost everything. He disappeared for a couple of years; no one knew where he was, including, it seems, Emperor Norton himself. But he resurfaced with grand style, and penniless as he was he lived the high life, proclaimed himself The Emperor of these United States, and printed his own currency that was accepted everywhere he went.
Well, once the manager of a famous SF hotel we all know called the police to have him carted away for being a vagrant, which he was most assuredly not. Find out who ended up eating crow.
Listen here to the Emperor tell his own truly remarkable story, a tribute to both his resilience and to the history of San Francisco where the, shall we say severely-original, many of whom he names, have always been welcome.
With luck, the day will come post-pandemic when the Emperor will resume his favorite activity, taking people on walks through his San Francisco. Until then, because he was generous enough to share his story with us all, you can see him on this Love Letters Live Youtube episode starring, yes, Emperor Joshua Abraham Norton in full regalia. So much fun!