iPedia Free Information Center

Information about Herb Caen

For the hockey player, please see Herb Cain.


Herbert Eugene Caen (April 3, 1916 – February 1, 1997) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist working in San Francisco. Born in Sacramento, California, Caen worked for the San Francisco Chronicle from the late 1930s until his death, with an interruption from 1950 to 1958 during which he wrote for the San Francisco Examiner. His collection of essays entitled Baghdad-by-the-Bay was published in 1949. He died of lung cancer in San Francisco and his funeral was one of the best-attended events in recent city history.

Early years

Caen gained fame with his column "It's News to Me," which was first published July 5, 1938. His columns were known for their dry wit and his intimate knowledge of the happenings in his city. Caen had a considerable influence on pop culture and its language; most notably, he coined the term "beatnik" in his April 2, 1958 column [1] and popularized the word "hippie" during San Francisco's 1967 Summer of Love. He also playfully popularized many other (if more obscure) concepts and terms, such as Frisbeetarianism. To reflect the multiculturalism and exotic character of San Francisco he coined the term Baghdad by the Bay, and often referred to San Francisco that way. Caen was reliable but not infallible; in 1985 he reported that journalist Hunter S. Thompson was working as the night manager of the Mitchell Brothers' O'Farrell Theatre. Thompson indeed was living in San Francisco then and a close friend of the Mitchells but did not work for them in any capacity, and many customers reportedly showed up at the nightclub, eager to meet the Gonzo journalist but disappointed to be told he was not there.

Three-dot journalism

Caen often referred to his column as "three-dot journalism" since it mostly consisted of short items broken up by ellipses. He ran the popular "Namephreaks" feature which presented people whose names were related to their occupations or hobbies (such as Nancy Canceller who worked the cancellation machines at the post office). He regularly ran columns with this topic, one of his most popular. Entries were often submitted by Strange DeJim, who frequently sent jokes to Caen and who many suspected was not a real person but an alias Caen selected for himself. Strange DeJim revealed himself after Caen's death as a writer who lives in San Francisco's Castro District [2].

Herb Caen Way...

For many years, San Francisco had a double-decker freeway along much of its waterfront on the east side of the city, called the Embarcadero Freeway as it was built over the street named the Embarcadero. Many residents, Caen among them, considered it an eyesore as it blocked views of the bay; for this reason it was never completed. Caen frequently lambasted it in his column, dubbing it The Dambarcadero. In 1989 the Loma Prieta earthquake severely damaged the freeway, and the decision was made to demolish it rather than repair it. Remaining in place, but now open to the sky, is the Embarcadero, a small portion of which is named Herb Caen Way... [sic], with the three dots included in honor of his writing style. The wide promenade serves as the most eastern street in San Francisco, wrapping the city from the northeast corner, proceeding along the waterfront, and terminating near the new stadium for his beloved San Francisco Giants [3].

Awards

Caen received a special award from the Pulitzer Prize board in 1996 "for his extraordinary and continuing contribution as a voice and conscience of his city."[4] He referred to it in his column as his "Pullet Surprise"

Caen can be seen in Jack O'Connell's San Francisco documentary The Hippie Revolution (1996), a reworking of O'Connell's earlier Revolution (1968).

Fireworks following funeral

Caen willed to the city of San Francisco a fireworks display which was given at Aquatic Park in front of Ghirardelli Square following his death. This tribute was attended by many of his friends and fans.

External links

Herbert James Cain (born - December 24, 1912, in Newmarket, Ontario - died February 23, 1982 in Newmarket, Ontario) was a Canadian professional ice hockey left winger who played 13 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Montreal Maroons, Montreal Canadiens, and Boston Bruins.
..... Click the link for more information.
April 3 is the 1st day of the year (2nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 0 days remaining.

Events

  • 1043 - Edward the Confessor is crowned King of England.

..... Click the link for more information.
19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1880s  1890s  1900s  - 1910s -  1920s  1930s  1940s
1913 1914 1915 - 1916 - 1917 1918 1919

Year 1916 (MCMXVI
..... Click the link for more information.
February 1 is the 1st day of the year (2nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 0 days remaining.

Events


..... Click the link for more information.
20th century - 21st century
1960s  1970s  1980s  - 1990s -  2000s  2010s  2020s
1994 1995 1996 - 1997 - 1998 1999 2000

Year 1997 (MCMXCVII
..... Click the link for more information.
Pulitzer Prize

Awarded for Excellence in print journalism, literary achievements, and musical composition
Presented by Columbia University
Country  United States
First awarded 1917
Official website
The
..... Click the link for more information.
Topics in journalism
Professional issues
Ethics & objectivity
Sources & attribution
News & news values
Reporting & writing
Fourth estate • Libel law
Education & books
Other topics

Fields
Advocacy journalism
..... Click the link for more information.
City and County of San Francisco
"The Painted Ladies"

Flag
Seal
Nickname: The City, The City by the Bay, San Fran, Frisco,[1] Baghdad by the Bay[2]
..... Click the link for more information.
City of Sacramento, California

Flag
Seal
Location of Sacramento in Sacramento County, California
Coordinates:
Country United States
State California
..... Click the link for more information.
Editing of this page by unregistered or newly registered users is currently disabled due to vandalism.
If you are prevented from editing this page, and you wish to make a change, please discuss changes on the talk page, request unprotection, log in, or .
..... Click the link for more information.


The 2005-07-27 front page of
"The Voice of the West"
Type Daily newspaper
Format Broadsheet

Owner Hearst Communications
Publisher Frank J. Vega
Editor Phil Bronstein
Founded 1865
Price US$ 0.46 + tax Daily
US$ 1.
..... Click the link for more information.
San Francisco Examiner

Type Free daily newspaper
Format Tabloid

Owner Clarity Media
Publisher John Wilcox
Editor Jim Pimentel
Founded 1863/1865
Headquarters 450 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA 94105
United States
..... Click the link for more information.
Lung cancer
Classification & external resources

Cross section of a human lung. The white area in the upper lobe is cancer; the black areas indicate the patient was a smoker.
ICD-10 C 33. -C 34.
..... Click the link for more information.
July 5 is the 1st day of the year (2nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 0 days remaining.

Events


..... Click the link for more information.
19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1900s  1910s  1920s  - 1930s -  1940s  1950s  1960s
1935 1936 1937 - 1938 - 1939 1940 1941

Year 1938 (MCMXXXVIII
..... Click the link for more information.
Beatnik is a media stereotype that borrowed the most superficial aspects of the Beat Generation literary movement of the 1950s to present a distorted (and sometimes violent), cartoon-like misrepresentation of the real-life people and the spirituality found in Jack Kerouac's
..... Click the link for more information.
April 2 is the 1st day of the year (2nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 0 days remaining.

Events

  • 68 - Galba, governor of Hispania, names himself legatus senatus populique Romani

..... Click the link for more information.
19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1920s  1930s  1940s  - 1950s -  1960s  1970s  1980s
1955 1956 1957 - 1958 - 1959 1960 1961

Year 1958 (MCMLVIII
..... Click the link for more information.
hippie subculture was a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread around the world. The word "hippie" derives from word "hipster", and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district.
..... Click the link for more information.
The Summer of Love was the summer of 1967, particularly in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, where thousands of young people loosely and freely united for a new social experience. As a result, the hippie counterculture movement came into public awareness.
..... Click the link for more information.
Frisbeetarianism is a parody religion. The basic tenet is that when you die, your soul goes up on a roof and you can't get it down. A lesser known aspect is the holy event known as "The Ascension", wherein someone comes along with a ladder and collects all the souls.
..... Click the link for more information.
Baghdad
بغدا?
A mosque in Baghdad, circa 1973.
The location of Baghdad within Iraq.
..... Click the link for more information.
Ellipsis (plural ellipses; from Greek ἔλλειψις 'omission') in printing and writing refers to the row of three full stops (… or . . .
..... Click the link for more information.
post office is a facility authorized by a postal system for the posting, receipt, sortation, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.[1] Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies.
..... Click the link for more information.
Castro District, more well known as The Castro, is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California, which is also known as Eureka Valley.

Description

San Francisco's gay village is most concentrated in the business district that is located on Castro Street from Market
..... Click the link for more information.
freeway — also known as a highway, superhighway, autoroute, autobahn, autopista, autovía, autostrada, dual carriageway, expressway, or motorway — is a type of road designed for safer high-speed operation of motor vehicles through the elimination of at-grade
..... Click the link for more information.
State Route 480

California State Routes

< US 466

Unconstructed - Deleted - Freeway - Scenic

State Route 480 was a proposed state highway in San Francisco, California, United States, consisting of the elevated double-decker
..... Click the link for more information.
The Embarcadero is the eastern waterfront roadway of the Port of San Francisco, San Francisco, California, along San Francisco Bay. It sits atop an engineered seawall on reclaimed land.
..... Click the link for more information.
The Loma Prieta earthquake was a major earthquake that struck the San Francisco Bay Area of California on October 17, 1989 at 5:04 p.m. The earthquake lasted approximately 15 seconds and measured 6.9 on the moment magnitude scale (surface-wave magnitude 7.1).
..... Click the link for more information.
Sic is a Latin word that means "thus" or, in writing, "it was thus in the source material".

Sic may also refer to:
  • Sic, Cluj, a commune in Romania
  • SiC, Silicon carbide, a semiconducting material, also used to make metalworking tools from

..... Click the link for more information.


This article is copied from an article on Wikipedia.org - the free encyclopedia created and edited by online user community. The text was not checked or edited by anyone on our staff. Although the vast majority of the wikipedia encyclopedia articles provide accurate and timely information please do not assume the accuracy of any particular article. This article is distributed under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License.
Herod_Archelaus


page counter