San Francisco, CA
Valuable coins placed throughout San Francisco by shop owner for scavenger hunt
SAN FRANCISCO – A San Francisco coin collector and shop owner plans to give away $10,000 worth of rare coins in a scavenger hunt.
He’s hoping to get more people interested in coin collection and says this is a great way to educate people about the role coins play in history. The hunt starts on Friday and there will be clues posted online.
Seth Chandler, owner of Witter Coin in San Francisco’s Marina District, is giving away a total of 11 coins; five gold, five silver and one copper. He said the rare coins are pieces of history made in San Francisco. The coins won’t be hard to find and Chandler expects them to be found in a matter of hours.
“I thought of the idea to place 11 different coins, all made in San Francisco, in 11 different neighborhoods,” said Chandler. The value of the coins ranges from $250 to $2,500 each. A $20 gold coin from 1915 and a penny made in 1909 are the two most valuable.
“I love coins. I’ve been collecting coins since I was four-years-old,” said Chandler. “When you hold a round piece of metal when it’s two or three hundred years old, you think about our founding fathers. You think about the country the coin was made in. You can really connect with history.”
This scavenger hunt is open to the public and aligns with National Coin Week.
“San Francisco is the king of coin cities, the only city in the country with three mints,” Chandler said.
A U.S. Mint still operates in the Upper Market area. It produces special edition, commemorative coins.
The city’s first U.S. Mint started operations in the Financial District in 1854. It’s now home to the San Francisco Historical Society, a museum.
The second U.S. Mint building in San Francisco is on Fifth Street in the SoMa neighborhood. It is now a venue space.
“There is no artifact that even comes close to our coins to tell a story of a civilization,” said historian and coin collector, Don Kagin. “It tells so much about who we are and what we are and our U.S. Mint has done a good job.”
Chandler said he and his staff have hidden coins in locations across the city, but that they will be giving clues on social media. Each coin will be in a plastic bag along with a card that has information on how to contact his store: Witter Coin.
“We’re encouraging people to bring it back here to our shop on Lombard Street just so we can meet them, see how excited they are. But most importantly, educate them about the coin they found,” said Chandler.
He said at noon on Friday, he will post photos with clues on the store’s Instagram: Witter Coin.
He also gives this one hint: “Think like a tourist.”
Good luck and happy hunting!
San Francisco, CA
Hayes Valley Quadruple Murder Suspect Convicted on All Counts
Lee Farley, 36, was convicted Friday of shooting and killing four men in the Hayes Valley neighborhood in 2015.
In a statement, prosecutors said that Farley was found guilty of using a rental car from Walnut Creek to perform a drive-by shooting on an idle Honda Civic, firing 18 shots into the vehicle before fleeing.
All four victims died on the scene.
Farley, who initially plead not guilty, was serving time for unrelated charges in 2016 when authorities connected him to the shootings, according to reporting from SFGATE.
“Our strong legal team fought hard, understanding that while nothing we do can bring back their loved ones, that hopefully this verdict brings them some comfort,” said District Attroney Brooke Jenkins in the statement.
Farley is set to be sentenced on Dec. 16.
Photo via X
San Francisco, CA
San Francisco Giants Predicted to Spend This Offseason in Free Agency
The San Francisco Giants are heading into free agency and the offseason as a very interesting team to watch.
It was another disappointing season for the Giants in 2024, as they finished under .500 once again and missed the playoffs for the third straight year.
The struggles in San Francisco resulted in a change in the front office, as Buster Posey took over as the President of Baseball Operations.
With the decision to add Posey to the front office, the hope is that he will be able to lure in some of the top caliber free agents that they have been missing out on in recent years.
The Giants haven’t been shy about spending money, but that money hasn’t always went to the right places.
Recently, Tim Kelly of Bleacher Report ranked teams in different tiers based on what they will spend this offseason. For San Francisco, he placed them in the tier that will be spending this winter.
“Perhaps the most interesting team on this list is the Giants, with former NL MVP Buster Posey now serving as their president of baseball operations. He’s talked about wanting to figure the shortstop position out, which is why we’ve projected the Giants as the landing spot for Adames. But San Francisco has had a hard time getting star players to sign on the dotted line in recent years, probably due in large part to Oracle Park being seen as a bad place to hit at 81 times a season.”
While the Giants have the desire to sign a superstar and the next face of the franchise, there have been some indications that they might not break the bank this offseason. However, at the same time, they have been linked to some of the top free agents this winter.
Currently, the biggest need for San Francisco is in their lineup. While Juan Soto would be a great addition, him going to the Bay Area seems unlikely. However, a player like Willy Adames or Alex Bregman might be a more realistic target. Neither one of those players would be cheap, but both would instantly upgrade the lineup.
In addition to trying to upgrade the lineup, the Giants also saw Blake Snell decline his player option to become a free agent. Considering how good Snell was in the second half of the season, it will be interesting to see what the plan is to either bring him back or replace him.
While San Francisco will certainly be spending this offseason, the real question will be how much the organization is willing to invest.
San Francisco, CA
Atmospheric river storm causes minor flooding in San Francisco
Some San Francisco roadways and neighborhoods experienced minor flooding Friday as the atmospheric river dumped heavy rain on the city.
Matthew Coric said he was inside his restaurant when all the sudden he noticed water rising outside.
“Water was coming over the curb already and Rainbow Grocery closed for the day because they flooded or started to flood, and the next two restaurants had water in their restaurant already,” said Coric.
Two years ago during another big storm, the entire block flooded with several feet of water.
Coric told KPIX he was determined to not let that happen again, so he and some of his employees grabbed brooms and anything else they could get their hands on and ran towards the flooding.
“These two drains right here on either side of the street, we literally couldn’t see them. This was up above the curb. We were just blindly scraping trying to get it unclogged until we could see the little tornado start,” said Coric.
He said they were able to unclog the drain just in time to stop the water from flooding his restaurant, and that it took about 30 minutes for the water to fully recede.
While he is happy they were able to avoid another crisis, he said he wishes the city would have been monitoring the area so that he and his employees didn’t have to fix it on their own.
“It flooded two years ago, and then last year the city was like high alert. They would park their trucks out here and make sure nothing happened. But now it’s been two years, they forgot about us again and same thing happened,” said Coric.
He said, from now on when it rains, he’s going to monitor the drains himself and step in anytime he sees them getting clogged.
He recommends that others in areas where flooding happens do the same.
“If you’re out on the street, anybody right, and you see the drain overflowing, I know if you can wait for the city that’s great, but it might not come. Just clean it yourself or get somebody that can just to save everybody a bunch of headaches,” said Coric.
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