William Westerfeld House

There’s more to Alamo Square than the Painted Ladies. There’s also the William Westerfeld House! Its history is as rich as it is extraordinary! The current occupant, Jim Siegel, recounts the story on how he fell in love with this house from the backseat of his parents’ car! It reminded him of the house from his favorite show at the time, “The Addams Family”! And before this 8-year-old could save up and buy it, the house passed through many owners, bringing with them stories as goofy as they are creepy. Its history begins in 1889 when a German immigrant named William Westerfeld, who owned bakeries and candy shops, built this house. According to the legend, he built the tower so high because he wanted it to top the one of his brother’s house in the Nob Hill neighborhood. Anyway, William died fairly quickly, and the house was purchased by Tsarist Russians who set up a nightclub called Dark Eye in the basement. In the 1940s, the house was converted into multiple apartments and became a stop for jazz musicians. In the 1960s, it was mentioned as a hippie sheltering house in Tom Wolf’s journalistic novel Acid Test, for connoisseurs. Well, Russians, musicians, and hippies, so far so good! But things got complicated when filmmaker Kenneth Anger moved in. If you don’t know him, it’s quite normal. He only made underground, highly experimental short movies about surrealism, gay eroticism, and occultism. But his work quickly turned satanic, and he frequently collaborated with the founder of the Church of Satan, who would come to the house with his pet lion cub, as well as Bobby Beausoleil from the Manson family. This whole period brought in a rather dark crowd, and it’s known that several rituals and ceremonies were held there. The years have passed, but they didn’t stop the current owner from purifying and blessing his house before moving in!