San Francisco Legend Diamond Dave Joins Gator Family

Friday, September 29, 2017

GOLDEN GATE XPRESS -- Diamond Dave left San Francisco to travel to Israel and Europe in the beginning of the ’60s. Before he started this journey, he made a pit stop at home to see family and friends in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

There, he met up with an 18-year-old, Bob Dylan, with whom he shared a copy of folk singer Woody Guthrie’s autobiography Bound For Glory, and told him wild tales of hitchhiking across the country to San Francisco. During this encounter, Diamond Dave says “he turned Bob Dylan onto pot.”

Professor Peter Richardson teaches a class on the history of San Francisco at SF State. On the first day of class this semester, Diamond Dave walked through the door hoping to crash the course. When Diamond Dave started questioning Professor Richardson about his knowledge of San Francisco, Richardson did some research into Diamond Dave.

“Soon as I left class that day, I went home and went through Bob Dylan’s autobiography and sure enough, his story checked out,” said Richardson.

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