And to Think I Saw it on Gough Street

House number, 194 Gough Street

The email arrived at 3:30pm on Thursday afternoon: "Go see this today!" The message included a link to a short piece from the San Francisco Chronicle and a video. The article announced an open house at 194 Gough Street in Hayes Valley, the flat where Reuben Lucius Goldberg (1883-1970), aka Rube Goldberg--contraption king, Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist (creator of comic strip characters Bobo Baxter, Boob McNutt, Mike and Ike, Professor Butts, and Lala Palooza), author of such notable works as Foolish Questions, How to Remove Cotton from a Bottle of Aspirin, The Rube Goldberg Plan for the Post-War World, and sometime sewer worker--once hung his hat while visiting his father Max in the city.

Reuben Lucius Goldberg was born in San Francisco on July 4, 1883 to Max and Hannah Goldberg. He was one of three boys and a girl. Rube graduated from Lowell High School in 1900, and the University of California, Berkeley in 1904 with a degree in Mining and Engineering (he cartooned for the Pelican while a student there). After graduation he was hired by Thomas P. Woodward, the Engineer for the City of San Francisco, where he "mapped sewer pipes and water mains." (Peter C. Marzio, Rube Goldberg: His Life and Work). He was a cartoonist for the San Francisco Chronicle and The Bulletin, eventually leaving San Francisco for New York and success as one of America's greatest humorists.

But Rube always remembered his roots. According to the San Francisco Call, Rube purchased a lot on the southeast corner of Oak and Gough Streets from Johanna F. Lutz, sometime around November 19, 1910. Architect Bernard J. Joseph designed the building with shop space on the ground level, and two flats on the second floor. It was completed in 1911, and subsequently named the R.L. Goldberg Building.

Entry 6053, Building Contract for R.L. Goldberg

It is described by the San Francisco Planning Department as "A two part commercial block with a glass base and upper story with angled pilasters and doubled brackets supporting the simple cornice; the parapet above the bays rises in gentle peaks. The windows between the bays have handsome molded surrounds with peaked keystone ornament. This building was owned by the celebrated cartoonist and "inventor" Rube Goldberg as income property." The building style is described as "Eclectic."

R.L. Goldberg Building, 182-198 Gough Street

Picture Snapping Machine, Inventions! (1996)

With less than an hour and a half  before closing, I grabbed my picture snapping machine and a cartoon enthusiast/San Francisco History Center colleague and the two of us ran down the street and up the stairs to 194 Gough Street, where we met Rube's granddaughter Jennifer George, along with Jacqui Naylor, resident for the last twenty-five years of Rube's old flat. Exploration was encouraged: we rambled through the front rooms, with their original wavy glass windows and remnants of Goldberg-era wallpaper. We were told that Rube drew his cartoons in the corner front room, where the light was just right. We wandered down the hallway with its original lighting fixtures and front door opener (a Goldberg-esque contraption itself), the bathroom with wonderful free-standing bathtub, and finally the kitchen, from where we spied the old tin roof.

Up the stairs to Rube Goldberg's flat

Rube Goldberg era wallpaper in a front room

The front room where Rube drew his cartoons

Original hallway light fixture

How to open the front door from the top of the stairs

Our chance to take a peek at possibly the last residence in San Francisco connected with the great Rube Goldberg was over in an hour. We were grateful to see many of its original fixtures still intact and preserved, and to learn some of its history from family and friends. Here now, but for how long?

Detail, The Art of Rube Goldberg (2013)

For historical information about the city's buildings, readers can start with "How to Research a San Francisco Building," and visit the San Francisco History Center, especially for in-depth research. The department is also the City Archives for the City and County of San Francisco, and includes the San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection, The collection has at least two photos of Rube Goldberg, which may be viewed in the digital photo collection.

The Schmulowitz Collection of  Wit & Humor holds a number of books by and about the marvelous Rube Goldberg. All materials are accessible through our online catalog.

The Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley houses Rube Goldberg's papers.

In addition, Rube's granddaughter Jennifer George has published The Art of Rube Goldberg: (A) Inventive (B) Cartoon (C) Genius (2013).

Rube Goldberg, [1914]

Thanks to Jennifer George, Jacqui Naylor, and Beverly Upton.