ina coolbrith was a literary legend in her day, a poet whose life reads like an epic novel, a pioneer who became california's first poet laureate. >> it was bestowed on her in 1915, during the pan pacific international exhibition, which was a really big deal. >> christopher pollock is san francisco's park historian. >> she lived just a block away, down, down the hill to the south, he says. >> coolbrith's friends were some of the most well-known writers of the west. bret hart, joaquin miller, mark twain is another person that she got to know over time. >> so she she really gets to know the cream of the crop of the poetry and literary set in san francisco. >> but ina coolbrith also had a secret in her past. alida george wrote a biography about coolbrith, who was born josephine smith, the niece of joseph smith, who founded the mormon church. >> she was very feisty and she stood up to people and she said what she thought, and george found examples of her feistiness. >> at just 15 years old, in a letter to her cousin about polygamy. >> is it right for a girl of 15 or even 16 to marry a man