Thanks for this thread, several interesting posts.

To add a local opinion: Someone living in Vallejo in 1969 would typically take Highway 80 west and the Bay Bridge into San Francisco — as opposed to 37 to 101 to the Golden Gate Bridge.

On the night of Stine of course, all bets were off, and Broadway to Divisadero to Lombard Street to the Golden Gate Bridge made sense as the closest escape thoroughfare.

Although . . . there was an on-ramp back then on lower Broadway to the Bay Bridge — it got destroyed in the 1989 earthquake.

Another fact: freestanding mailboxes such a the ones used by Zodiac had morning and afternoon pickups. All of the Zodiac letters mailed from SF were stamped "PM" meaning they were picked up in the afternoon. That also means they were placed in the box after the morning pickup. The question is: what time were morning and afternoon pickups? If we knew that, we could nail down the time frame that Zodiac mailed them.

I have also heard today – from a source I’d consider reliable – that one letter was sent from Outer Sunset and another near City College. If true – big if – that means Outer Sunset is near Route 1 and City College is a 5 minute walk from the San Francisco Chronicle and a ten minute walk from Mason and Geary. This would add more credence to the idea of two Zodiac "hot spots": the north-south corridor of Route 1 and a cluster between the Financial District and the 101.

Out of interest do you know which of the letters these were ?

I take it these are the two which I posted on the earlier map ?

Honestly, I’m not sure anyone knows which letters were mailed from which location. I know I don’t.

It’s possible that they are the same. Personally, I wouldn’t include Taravel and 23rd as Outer Sunset. That’s the only reason I would think it was different.

So, it had to be one of these two dropboxes that Zodiac used to mail the letter, and like the others, both are extremely close to Route 1 (19th Ave.)

Do we know for certain that those were the only drop boxes there at the time? I know in my neighborhood one was taken out just a few years ago.

Chaucer,
How did you come up with the placename of Balboa Terrace (a suburb) as a
place of interest? And what ‘City College’ are you referring to that you said is
"a 5 minute walk from the San Francisco Chronicle"?

Polly –

Those are current boxes. I have no way of knowing if they are from 1969.

Buyerninety –

Balboa Terrace comes from the map posted on page 1 of this thread. I believe the City College referred to is a campus located near the Chronicle offices. In retrospect, it is more likely the original campus located at 50 Phelan Ave.

Incidentally that campus is located less than 2 miles from Route 1.

Chaucer stated;
"City College is a 5 minute walk from the San Francisco Chronicle".

That is wrong. The distance from the City College of San Francisco to the
S.F. Chronicle, regardless of whatever Mission Street city address you use,
is more than 7 km as the crow flies.

Cragle, where did you see or hear this rumour about Balboa Terrace?

Buyer90 a

The address I initially thought was the original City College Campus is located at

88 Fourth St
San Francisco, CA 94103

That City College IS in fact a five minute walk to the SFC. I now believe that’s not the correct City College campus.

Chaucer stated;
"City College is a 5 minute walk from the San Francisco Chronicle".

That is wrong. The distance from the City College of San Francisco to the
S.F. Chronicle, regardless of whatever Mission Street city address you use,
is more than 7 km as the crow flies.

Cragle, where did you see or hear this rumour about Balboa Terrace?

Richard mentioned it back in 2018.

viewtopic.php?f=98&t=3870&start=10

Of not, if Richard’s hypothesis is correct, and Zodiac hand delivered the letter to the Examiner, the location of the Examiner’s offices in 1969 was at the corner of Mission St and 5th Street. This was a location they shared with the Chronicle.

Does anybody know how often the post would have been collected at the time on a Sunday ?

Does anybody know how often the post would have been collected at the time on a Sunday ?

Soze, as I have learned, is the expert on postal issues related to Zodiac. Hopefully, she will chime in.

Does anybody know how often the post would have been collected at the time on a Sunday ?

Soze, as I have learned, is the expert on postal issues related to Zodiac. Hopefully, she will chime in.

Hopefully , I ask as the Stine letter was postmarked PM on a Sunday ?

Does anybody know how often the post would have been collected at the time on a Sunday ?

Soze, as I have learned, is the expert on postal issues related to Zodiac. Hopefully, she will chime in.

The post office is a 7 day a week business. They pick up mail, process mail and deliver mail 7 days a week but in rare instances is it picked up or delivered on a Sunday. For mail to be picked up it has to be a public mail drop off box and it has to be marked for pickup on Sundays. So not every drop box is picked up. I do not know how many of these were around at the time of Z. For mail to be delivered on a Sunday you would have likely paid for something that guarantees a delivery in a certain time period. For example, last year, i mailed a 1-3 day priority mail package to my mother and it was delivered on Sunday. Really shocked her because she is of the opinion that the post office doesn’t operate on a Sunday because the post offices are closed. 7 days a week they operate.

Soze

Does anybody know how often the post would have been collected at the time on a Sunday ?

Soze, as I have learned, is the expert on postal issues related to Zodiac. Hopefully, she will chime in.

Hopefully , I ask as the Stine letter was postmarked PM on a Sunday ?

There is a post at Zk.com entitled "stamps" and started by a guy named Sean. He questioned the -pm on one of the envelopes. I wrote a long post about the mechanics of the post office that addressed the -pm mark. In it, i believe, I discussed Sunday post marks. Been a long time so don’t quote me here but from my remembrance the Sunday pm was done at a sectional center. There is one in San Francisco at 1300 Evans Ave. There is also one in Oakland at 1675 7th st. If you are not a member at Zk let me know and i will try and find the post.

Soze

Thanks. The below is the list of postmarks, days and times :-

408 Cipher San Francisco 31/07/1969 Thursday PM
Zodiac Letter
Stine Letter San Francisco 13/10/1969 Monday PM
Drpping Pen San Francisco 08/11/1969 Saturday PM
Bus Bomb San Francisco 09/11/1969 Sunday PM
Belli Letter San Francisco 20/12/1969 Saturday PM
My Name Is ? San Francisco 20/04/1970 Monday AM
Dragon Card
Button Letter San Francisco 26/06/1970 Friday AM
Johns Letter San Francisco 24/07/1970 Friday PM
Little List San Francisco 26/07/1970 Sunday PM
Halloween San Francisco 27/10/1970 Tuesday PM
LA Times Pleasanton 13/03/1971 Saturday ?
Exorcist San Mateo Clara29/01/1974 Tuesday AM
SLA San Rafael 14/02/1974 Thursday
Citizen Freemont 08/05/1974 WednesdayPM
Red Phantom San Rafael 08/07/1974 Monday PM

As you can see 2 were postmarked on a Sunday. It would be very interesting to know which boxes were collected on a Sunday if as you say it was uncommon. This could potentially narrow down the area where they were posted.??