The Birth of San Francisco Cool

In an era of national conformity, San Francisco iconoclasts made the city synonymous with cultural rebellion.

San Francisco is best remembered for the 1960s counterculture and the Summer of Love. But the revolution began a decade earlier.

The Birth of San Francisco Cool reveals how 1950s San Francisco shaped—and, in turn, was shaped by—the artists, activists, athletes, and newcomers who saw an opportunity to create a more inclusive cultural landscape.

Focusing on the decade’s most influential residents—from Beat Generation writers like Jack Kerouac to Chinese American novelist Chin Yang Lee, basketball legend Bill Russell, and pioneering lesbian activists Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon—Steve Estes reveals how these trailblazers challenged conventional ideas about literature, race, politics, sexuality, and identity, laying the cultural foundation for social revolutions that would transform America.

Steve Estes is Professor of History at Sonoma State University. He is author of several books, including: Surfing the South, Charleston in Black and White, and Ask and Tell.