San Francisco and Pottsville: Connected at birth?

This is another that appeared in the Pottsville Republican years ago. It actually is part one of the movement to change the name of Pottsville to something else.

To increase local tourism, our experts have been wasting their time comparing Pottsville with Jim Thorpe. A better comparison would be to compare Pottsville with San Francisco because of the striking similarities.

• San Francisco's rise to prominance was attributed to "gold" while Pottsville's rise was attributed to "black gold" or anthracite;



• Both cities have beautiful quaint homes built upon steep hills;



• San Francisco has its cable car, Pottsville has cable television;



• San Francisco has the Pacific Ocean, Pottsville has the Crimson tide and the Green wave;



• San Francisco's downtown was leveled by an earthquake, Pottsville's downtown was partially leveled to make room for parking lots;



• San Francisco has the "Cow Palace," Pottsville has "Bull's Head."



• San Francisco is located near Palo Alto, so is Pottsville;



• San Francisco has eccentrics filling its streets, Pottsville has ten times as many;



• San Francisco is noted for "acid rock" and Chinatown, Pottsville has "acid rain" and two Chinese restaurants;



• San Francisco is proud of the "Giants," Pottsville is proud of its "Giant" Supermarket.

The Carbon County seat however did have the courage years ago to acquire the remains of a deceased public figure and rename itself in his honor. Mauch Chunk became Jim Thorpe once the corpse arrived; the rest is history. Perhaps with the close connection between San Francisco and Pottsville the remains of a deceased San Franciscan musician could be purchased with the use of PADCO funds. Maybe if we are lucky Pottsville could become a more hip, "Jerry Garcia, Pennsylvania."