Jack London's Cottage

Called the "Boy Socialist: and the "American Karl Marx," Jack London succeeded so well as a writer under the capitalistic system that he could afford to build a "palace for his pigs," to popularize the sport of surfing, and to show off his bridge of artificial teeth to huge crowds. In addition to being one of the highest paid writers of his time, Jack London also ran for Mayor of Oakland twice and was pushed to run for the presidency -- all on the Socialist ticket.

He was born Jan. 12, 1876, in San Francisco as John Chaney. His parents were Flora Wellman, the headstrong daughter of a well-to-do businessman, and "Professor" W.H. Chaney, an itinerant astrologer, whose celestial counseling took a more earth-bound course (though he later claimed, in correspondence with London, that he was impotent and couldn't possibly be his father).

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