The archive includes collections dedicated to different parts of the Mission District and Bernal Heights, various city neighborhoods, as well as the Castro Theatre and Alcatraz Island. It\u2019s listed on the San Francisco Public Library site and has been used<\/a> for smaller neighborhood history projects<\/a>, like one by residents of Bernal Heights<\/a> \u2014 his former home<\/a> \u2014 that began in 2009.<\/p>\n \u201cAs he toured San Francisco\u2019s many neighborhoods repeatedly, he became aware that the city, like most cities, was changing,\u201d an introduction to the collection reads. \u201cGentrification, ethnic succession, industrial abandonment or conversion, the shift in workforce demographics, the rise and decline of the hippy era, the growth of gay San Francisco, and countless other socio-economic factors and events contributed to this change.\u201d<\/p>\n Kirkeberg officially retired as a professor in 2002 but continued to teach \u201cSan Francisco on Foot\u201d and a series of shorter, neighborhood-specific walking tour courses for adults through SF State\u2019s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.<\/p>\n Jaqcueline Proctor, one of his OLLI students, said she began taking classes at the university specifically to enroll in one of Kirkeberg\u2019s courses in the late 2000s. She took nearly every one he offered in the ensuing years.<\/p>\n \u201cThey were just extraordinary,\u201d Proctor told KQED.<\/p>\n Her favorites were a course chronicling the redevelopment of Moscone Center and the surrounding area, and another on the commercial corridor of Valencia Street. Now lined with upscale consignment shops and trendy wine bars and restaurants, the street was home to a number of mortuaries 100 years ago, when a streetcar ran down the common funeral procession route to Colma.<\/p>\n Kirkeberg\u2019s six-week OLLI sessions usually focused on a single city district, Proctor said, during which he would alternate between classroom lectures featuring his tens of thousands of photos of the city and adventures to those places, sprinkling in little-known history.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the fun things I really learned living in the city and doing all the walking is that all the commercial streets are in the valleys,\u201d she said. \u201cI live by West Portal, and it\u2019s like, \u2018Oh yeah, West Portal\u2019s pretty flat, but everything around it is uphill.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n According to the SF State magazine story, Kirkeberg taught that people don\u2019t like to shop \u2014 or tour \u2014 uphill. The magazine said he had a rule against inclines in his courses\u2019 routes, though Proctor remembers a few.<\/p>\n Easygoing, warm and funny, Kirkeberg created a community among his students, Proctor said. A group of about five of them still meet for walks weekly, years after he retired fully and moved to Oregon in 2019.<\/p>\n \u201cPretty much everybody in the class did all his classes,\u201d Porter told KQED.<\/p>\n Ann Scalf, another former OLLI student, said that even after Kirkeberg moved away, he and \u201ca bunch of us \u2018Max groupies\u2019\u201d would gather for lunch in the Castro when he visited San Francisco.<\/p>\n His legacy is also still felt across the San Francisco State campus.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Castro1.jpg\")
Looking north at the east side of the Castro; Note the laundromat at the middle of the scene. As Castro gentrifies, laundromats on the main streets disappear. (Courtesy of the Max Kirkeberg Collection)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/SFState.jpg\")
Kirkeberg, left, with St. Francis Lutheran Pastor Jim DeLange. (Courtesy of Valerie Wagner)<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/alcatrazisland.jpg\")
Penitentiary sign at Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, 1981. (Courtesy of the Max Kirkeberg Collection)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/AlamoSq.jpg\")
A 1979 telephoto from the 20th floor of 100 Van Ness of the Alamo Square area, east of Alamo Square. The street running along the left side is Hayes Street. Trees in the upper middle are from Alamo Square. (Courtesy of the Max Kirkeberg Collection)<\/p>\n