When I was going to SF State I wrote a paper on why the freeways dead ended in SF and did not continue through like they do in most major cities. As part of this I learned a lot about Eugene McAteer, but I was trying to find out more so I called the librarian at McAteer High School (now SOTA). She didn’t know anything about Senator McAteer… When I had learned all about him (from pulling SF Chronicle microfiche from 1957-1959), I called her back to tell her. She wasn’t really interested – she just accepted the name of her school without question. I, however, am fascinated by this stuff! I learned some new ones here and got more background on the ones I already knew about. Enjoy!
SF Gate Article: S.F. landmark namesakes – how many do you know?