Mabel Thayer Gray

Mabel Thayer Gray was an American writer best known as the co-author, with Elizabeth Gray Potter, of The Lure of San Francisco: A Romance Amid Old Landmarks, published in San Francisco in 1915. The book blends storytelling with local history and reflects a deep interest in the city's Spanish and early American past.

Library and public-domain records confirm her role as joint author, and surviving references suggest that this is the work for which she is chiefly remembered today. A historical photograph preserved by Calisphere also places her among women in academic regalia at Mills College, hinting at an educational background connected with that community.

Although detailed biographical information about her is limited, records indicate she lived from 1870 to 1946. What remains clear is her contribution to a distinctive kind of California writing: warm, place-centered, and eager to preserve the atmosphere of old San Francisco for later generations.