Happy 100th Birthday, Mayor Joseph L. Alioto!

"North Beach Boy Makes Good"
March 20, 1937. SFPL

The San Francisco History Center presents an exhibit honoring former mayor Joseph L. Alioto.

Joseph Lawrence Alioto was born on February 12, 1916 in San Francisco's North Beach district. His father was a Sicilian immigrant and owned a fish processing company. His mother was a San Francisco native. Joe attended Sacred Heart High School, St. Mary's College in Moraga, and Catholic University Law School in Washington, D.C.

In 1967, Alioto staged a 56-day campaign and was easily elected San Francisco's 36th mayor, becoming the City's third Democratic chief executive officer in 60 years. Described as articulate and sophisticated, with a great rapport, the popular and colorful mayor served two terms (from 1968 to 1976) during a time of political and social unrest.

Joseph Alioto campaigning for mayor. [n.d.] SFPL

Mayor Alioto is credited with creating jobs and transforming the skyline with the construction of the Transamerica Pyramid and the Embarcadero Center. The entire city was developed; the India Basin industrial park and Diamond Heights neighborhood were born. The mayor revealed plans for Yerba Buena Center and the waterfront, and envisioned Market Street as a fashionable thoroughfare transformed with brick sidewalks and trees. He dedicated BART in 1972, but turned down the governor's idea of extending the Embarcadero Freeway. He also helped preserve the Crystal Springs watershed open space area south of San Francisco and arranged for public access to Crissy Field.

Along with these accomplishments, Angela Alioto said her father would be remembered as a coalition builder. His minority appointments included the first African American deputy mayor and first Latino, first Asian American, and second African American to the Board of Supervisors.

After leaving City Hall in 1976, Alioto returned to his anti-trust law practice. He died two weeks short of his 82nd birthday in 1998, in his beloved city of San Francisco.

Mayor Joseph Alioto walking with wife Angelina (R) and daughter Angela. [1967] SFPL

The exhibit will be on view in the San Francisco History Center on the 6th Floor of the Main Library until Monday, February 22, 2016.

The Joseph L. Alioto mayoral papers are available for research at the San Francisco History Center.