I tend to live in the past because most of my life is there.

Caen continued to write though less frequently. His funeral at Grace Cathedral (broadcast live by the area's four network television affiliates) was followed by a candlelight procession to Aquatic Park where Caen's will had provided for a fireworks display—climaxing with a pyrotechnic image of the manual typewriter he had long called his "Loyal Royal" (see image above). When that column was discontinued in 1938 Caen proposed a daily column on the city itself; "It's News to Me" first appeared July 5.

A special Pulitzer Prize called him the "voice and conscience" of San Francisco.