City of White Gold

Interview with Dr. Terence Young

cityofwhitegold — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 06:17:42 +0000

City of White Gold just filmed an interview with Terence Young, PhD, in the Conservatory of Flowers in San Francisco. Terry is professor of historical geography at Polytechnic University, Pomona. He is also author of the fascinating and intricate book, “Building San Francisco’s Parks, 1850-1930.” We brought him up from Southern California to speak on the Silver Age creation of one of the world’s magnificent urban greenspaces, Golden Gate Park. The interview was fantastic, and the setting of a Victorian conservatory as backdrop enhanced the filming. The Conservatory of Flowers dates to 1878, the oldest structure in the Park.

Dr. Young spoke about the park movement in the United States during the 19th Century, San Francisco’s desire for an unrivaled urban park, and the trials and tribulations of building a greenspace on top of the city’s inhospitable terrain. We can’t wait to share the video with you!

We also spent time filming throughout Golden Gate Park, trying to capture as much of the Victorian essence of the park as possible. We look forward to editing all of this precious footage together. Until then, please take a look at these pictures of the interview. We hope you enjoy! (Thanks to Nilanjan “Neil” Nag for the photography.)

Upcoming Interview

cityofwhitegold — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 18:21:54 +0000

We’ll be interviewing this week! Interviewee Terence Young, PhD. will be sharing his knowledge on the creation of San Francisco’s one-of-a-kind Golden Gate Park during the age of silver. Dr. Young is an historical geographer at the California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. His expertise includes environmental geography, cultural and historical landscapes, and parks & preserves. He has lectured to many public audiences and published numerous journal articles. His 2004 book, Building San Francisco’s Parks, 1850-1930, explores links between ideas about nature, landscape design, and social order during the development of San Francisco’s park system. We can’t wait to film this interview!

Documentary in the Classroom

cityofwhitegold — Tue, 31 May 2011 03:47:50 +0000

City of White Gold was recently presented to 8th grade social studies students at St. Mary School in Gilroy, CA. In this grade students learn about the Civil War and the subsequent Gilded Age. Geordie was happy to introduce the classroom to a new topic: the discovery of silver in 1859 and its dramatic impact on the West. The presentation was a great success. The class was engaged in an interactive discussion that included a viewing of the sample reel. The teacher later wrote: “you’ve made quite an impact. The students are aware of the Silver barons and have actually mentioned it a few times.”

Read the students’ impressions of the event:

“It was very interesting to hear about it because I had always known about the Gold Rush, but never about the Silver Rush. It turns out the Silver Rush was crucial in our American History.”

Drake

“I learned from Geordie Lynch that there was a silver rush after the gold rush. It made people rich, it lasted long, and it brought many people to California. His video was very effective and it helped me learn a lot. And I think other junior high students would enjoy it too.”

Tricia

“He explained what the stock markets were, in a fun and effective way. He used fake money, and a stock market certificate to make the stock market clear to us… People would be part of the stock market, and people either became really rich, or in debt… It was harder to get the silver, because you had to go deep down in the mines and could easily get poisonous gases into your lungs… I did not know anything about the silver rush, and I was excited to learn about it.”

Hannah

“Thanks for coming to into our class to let us learn about the silver rush and how stocks work… Also great job on your documentary, hopefully we find out when it debuts and I will be able to watch it at home with my family.”

Mikey

“My reaction to Geordie Lynch’s video was that I was impressed on how good it was. Also it wasn’t just information, but it had a lot of pictures and it had background music.”

Daniel

“I thought the documentary looked very professional and outstanding. I felt like I was watching the History Channel. It helps me to get an idea about what I want to do for my Civil War Project and how it should be done as far as filming, editing, and research.”

Brigid

Thanks to Cecile Mantecon and her 8th graders for the invitation to share the subject and project with them!

Photographs of October’s Interviews

cityofwhitegold — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 04:16:54 +0000

New pictures are here of recent filming. Click on thumbnails below to see photos of interviews with architectural historian Judith Lynch and history professor Robert Cherny. Photography by Valerie Mandin-Kelly. Enjoy the photos! If you like what you see, consider donating to our next planned film expedition. Our goal is to reach the Comstock Lode in Nevada. Visit the Donate Page to contribute. Send us to the Comstock!

Filmed in October

cityofwhitegold — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 23:31:13 +0000

We just completed another film day of interviews a couple of weeks ago. We filmed at an 1880s Victorian home in the Lower Haight of San Francisco. In the earlier part of the day we interviewed Judith Lynch about Victorian architecture and its details, and the inspirations behind its progression.

In the afternoon, we interviewed Robert Cherny, Professor of history at San Francisco State. (Robert is also an academic advisor for the film). We covered three decades of San Francisco history, from industry to politics to the Chinese.

That make seven interviews so far. Our next focus is to get up to the Comstock for further filming by next spring, once the money is raised to do it. We’re looking at a few exciting sites to film at, as well as a couple of interviews waiting to happen up there. Virginia City, here we come!

ps: Photos of the recent interviews will be uploaded here soon.

Upcoming Interviews 2010

cityofwhitegold — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 19:47:53 +0000

City of White Gold has just received a grant from The Victorian Alliance of San Francisco, a preservation organization since 1973. Thanks to them and to individual contributions, we will be filming interviews very soon! Planned filming will be on October 11^th, 2010, in a fascinating San Francisco 1880s Victorian home with stellar interiors. Interviewees will be Judith Lynch, Victorian architecture journalist and teacher who was deeply involved with the Victorian Revival of the 1970s; and Robert Cherny, Professor of History at San Francisco State University who is intricately versed in 19^th century San Francisco and California history. We are excited and proud to be interviewing these writers and historians.

We are most grateful to all who allow filming to be possible. Special thanks to The Victorian Alliance for their most gracious financial contribution. Learn more about the organization by visiting their website-in-progress at www.victorianalliance.org.

cityofwhitegold — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 17:17:27 +0000

Here are some pics from the recent May interviews. Three separate interviews were filmed in one full day, one museum-quality San Francisco Victorian home, three different locations. Extreme preparation, focus and efficiency were key to a successful day. We started at 8:00am and rapped at 6:00pm, somehow with all our faculties still intact! Enjoy the photos. (Photography by Valerie Mandin-Kelly)

New Upcoming Interviews

cityofwhitegold — Mon, 10 May 2010 19:09:22 +0000

City of White Gold is excited to be filming soon, on May 23, 2010. We’ll be interviewing Charles Fracchia, historian and founder of the San Francisco Historical Society, Paul Anders, architectural historian with an expertise in Victorian homes and society, and Jim Flood, direct descendant of the silver king James C. Flood.

We’ll spend the day shooting the interviews in another gorgeous, museum-quality San Francisco Victorian interior. The house was built in the 1870s, and is decked out with furniture and interior design of the decade. It is a privilege to be able to film the experts in such great historical houses. Once the interviews are “in the can”, we’ll post photos. Stay tuned.

San Francisco City Tour

cityofwhitegold — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 16:07:45 +0000

A raffle was held for donors who attended the sample reel kick-off screening party. The winner invited 12 friends to enjoy a San Francisco city tour, hosted by the filmmaker. It was a fantastic day; one to be remembered. Check out this collection of photographs that were taken by the “tourists”.

Promo Reel Completed

cityofwhitegold — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 05:02:23 +0000

After months upon months (but who’s counting?) of reading books, interviewing the experts, scouting historical sites, preparation and pre-production, we were finally able to film the sample reel over the summer. Three trips to the Comstock in Nevada were in order: two for research and one for filming. We shot a day of interviews in one of the most well known Victorian interiors in San Francisco, and another day was spent locating and filming City exteriors. Ben (Ferrer, Director of Photography) and I were fortunate enough to shoot on the only clear day of the entire week, with just enough fog to make the cityscape shots worthwhile. Then began the process of editing and searching for the appropriate archival materials. About a month and some odd days ago we finished editing the sample reel, and today it’s available for viewing on the City of White Gold trailer page, and on the Facebook Fan Page. Enjoy!

The preview is only the beginning. Now it’s time to promote the possibility of a feature-length documentary, and to raise the money to get it filmed. Let the journey begin…(or continue, really)….