San Francisco has always been a rough and tumble town where wealth has been amassed and lost in quick succession.

Its’ annals are littered with colorful, sketchy, dualing scoundrels and politicians. Some of them like Lodoform Kate, notorious madam on Maiden Lane who made a fortunate with her crib of woman who were priced by ethnic background and race, eccentric George Washington Coombs who believed himself to be the first president and Oofty Goofty who was billed as the Wild Man of Borneo have slid into obscurity. Others like Lotta Crabtree, Shanghai Kelley, Mark Twain and Bret Harte carved out their niches and are immortalized in movies and their books. But there is one only person who has become the most beloved character and that is Joshua A Norton, known to everyone as Emperor Norton.

Although Emperor Norton died in 1880, the self proclaimed Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico, still lives on in the Bay Area and around the world in art, literature and impersonation. Details of his life can be found at SF History Encyclopedia, SF Museum.org and Emperors Bridge.org

Here he is seen on a Blue and Gold Ferry at Pier 41

We also spied him on Bryant between 24th and 25th Streets in the Mission looking a bit like a Confederate general. The bottle cap art is by Scott Bowers.

Apparently the Emperor likes chocolate. At the San Francisco Chocolate Factory at 286 12th Street, he can be seen enjoying a chocolate bar. No, that is not a cell phone.

The Emperor can be seen mingling with other San Francisco notables, who are unknown to us, at the downtown Hilton Hotel. This mural is located at the parking entrance to the hotel.

There he is again in the large mural at Columbus and Broadway. Contrary to the rest of his life, things seem rather dull here as he presides over the drying of the laundry.

The impressive facade of the intrepid leader’s Boozeland can be seen at 510 Larkin Street.

The Emperor stares out from the recently hung sign at this establishment.

To add to the strangeness of the ruler’s life, we see him here with buildings growing out of his head while guarding the door to Boozeland. Boozeland on Facebook

On Thursdays and Saturdays at 11:00am and 2:30pm, you will find him at Union Square to begin one of his historic tours of San Francisco. Information about Emperor Norton’s Fantastic Time Machine walking tour can be found at Emperor Norton Tour.

Here he is seen at Justin Herman Plaza after participating in the annual Saint Stupid Day parade.

We ran into him again as he was en route to the Gay Pride Parade. This time he was accompanied by Lola Montez.

This exhausts our knowledge of Emperor Norton manifestations on the street. We suspect appearances may come and go. Images of an Emperor Norton sculpture by Jeremy Fish can be found on the internet. There is always the Emperor Norton Drawing Room to check out at the Monarch.

Article and photography by Larry Jones.