Gavin Newsom at San Francisco’s annual Gay Pride Parade in 2007, during his first term as mayor.

Gavin Newsom and the Frisco Aristos

While the California governor attempts to paint himself as a scrappy Everyman in his new memoir, behind the scenes, a powerful network of blueblood San Francisco dynasties has quietly buoyed his career for decades

By Paulina Prosnitz

In his new memoir, Young Man in a Hurry, which is out this week, California governor Gavin Newsom paints a picture of an adversity-plagued childhood in San Francisco. His father left the family when Newsom was a toddler, moving to Lake Tahoe and leaving his mother to work three jobs to make ends meet. He recounts being tormented by the neighborhood kids and his ongoing struggles with dyslexia.

At the same time, Newsom cannot avoid his family’s multi-generational ties with one of San Francisco’s wealthiest families: the Gettys. Newsom’s father was a close friend of oil tycoon J. Paul Getty’s sons Gordon and John Paul from their high-school days, and Newsom grew up alongside Gordon’s four sons, going with them on family vacations that included rides in hot-air balloons over the Serengeti and parties hosted by King Juan Carlos I of Spain. Later, when Newsom launched his hospitality business, PlumpJack, it was Gordon who provided the seed money.