{frisco} #24 Wren vs Patterson: Does The Word “Poontang” Belong In A Family Newspaper?
In this episode, I’m diving into one of my favorite San Francisco stories—the kind that lives right at the intersection of journalism, mischief, and outright audacity. It centers on two unforgettable characters from the San Francisco Examiner: the hard-driving, razor-sharp editor Bill Wren, and the wildly charismatic columnist Bob Patterson—better known to readers as Freddie Francisco. Bob was one of the most charming and fascinating men I’ve ever met.
This was the clash of two monumental titans over the use of the word “poontang” in the newspaper.
I walk you through Wren’s almost rise, a tale of grit and termination—from a runaway kid riding the rails west to becoming one of the most feared and respected newsroom bosses in the country—and how he hired Patterson, a brilliant writer with a criminal past, a trickster at heart. Their relationship was equal parts respect and chaos, which made what happened almost inevitable.
At the heart of the story is a ridiculous, very San Francisco kind of bet they made about whether the word “poontang”would ever appear in the paper again, after Bob used it in one of his columns.
What followed is pure Freddie Francisco: clever, subversive, and brazen.
It’s a small story on the surface, but it captures something bigger about Frisco, the era, and the kinds of characters who used to run the show.
