Funny Money!

A couple of years ago, I stopped into the Wells Fargo History Room on Montgomery. They have an authentic stagecoach from the old West on display there. It, probably, was never robbed by Black Bart nor had John Wayne riding shotgun, but it’s neat to see.  They also used to have a contraption there where you could have your picture put on phony money images. This is what they gave me when I asked the government for bail out money a few years ago! Speaking of money, This is where some of the hard earned tax dollars that you give back to the government used to come from; the old San Francisco Mint at 5th and Mission Streets, seen here after the 1906 Earthquake. This building has caused some controversy because there are swastikas at the base of the old lamp posts in front of it, placed there before the swastika was notorious. Of course, I don’t mean to be insensitive or offensive to people bothered by this symbol, but it is a, relatively, unknown San Francisco fact, so I’ve posted a picture of one of them. At the far right in the modern picture of the Mint is the corner of the old Pickwick Hotel, where Sam Spade stashed the stolen bird statue when it came in to his possession in the Maltese Falcon.