USA > California > San Francisco County > San Francisco > The annals of San Francisco; containing a summary of the history of California, and a complete history of its great city: to which are added, biographical memoirs of some prominent citizens > Part 55
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ANNALS OF SAN FRANCISCO.
own, since through them alone her merits were discovered, ac- knowledged, and rewarded.
Other theatres have grown up in this city. The "San Fran- cisco Hall," a neat little temple, was erected in Washington street, above and near Montgomery street, early in 1853, was conducted by Mrs. Sinclair, and has had some talented performers on its boards. The " Olympic," another small theatre, now closed, was opened in the Armory Hall building, at the corner of Wash- ington and Sansome streets, in the fall of the same year. This had but a very brief and sickly existence. The French popula- tion have likewise another theatre, the " Union," in Commercial street above Kearny, which for a short time was devoted exclu- sively to the performances of that class of people. It was subse- quently opened by Miss Laura Keene, who is now (July, 1854) giving popular entertainments there with a very good American stock company. The Germans and Chinese have each likewise had places where entertainments adapted to their respective na- tional tastes have been furnished. The Orientals particularly have been very liberal in their support of their countrymen's enterprise. Opera troupes and ballet companies, Italian, Ger- man, Spanish, Mexican, French, and English have at various times claimed and obtained a liberal share of the public patronage.
It is not our design to go more minutely into the history of the corps dramatique. The exalted rank and large patronage attending the legitimate drama in San Francisco, have deserved the account we have given. In its theatres, the greatest talent of the world now regularly appear, to enumerate whom, would no longer belong to the characteristic features of the place, to which we seek to confine ourselves. It remains, merely to men- tion, in addition to those whose names have already occurred, a few of the many eminent performers and dramatic pioneers in the city. Among the "stars" that have visited San Francisco are Mesdames Anna Bishop, Anna Thillon, Elisa Biscaccianti, Lola Montez, and Misses Catherine Hayes, Susan and Kate Dennin, the Rousset sisters, and Laura Keene ; Messrs. J. B. Booth, James E. Murdock, and J. Hudson. The prominent stock performers have been Mesdames Chapman, Evrard, Burrill, Proctor, Robinson, Thorne, Waller, Booth, Celeste, Claughley,
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PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS.
Duprez, Hambleton, Judah, Mansfield, Montague, Pelby and Woodward ; Misses Carpenter, Chapman, Coad, Edmunds, Oceana Fisher, Kate Gray and Julia Gould ; Messrs. Baker, Barry, J. B. Booth, jr., Edwin Booth, Chapman, Collins, Coad, Evrard, Hambleton, Haywood, Kent, King, McGowan, Maryatt, Samuel Murdock, Proctor, Robinson, Ryer, Thorne, Thompson, Venua, Waller and Wilder.
The gay populace of San Francisco, however, have found other sources of popular diversion than those just mentioned. During 1849, '50 and '51, the toreos-bull-bates,-at the mission, were largely attended. Now, in the same vicinity arc two race- courses, probably not surpassed by any in the world, where, espe- cially on Sundays, the day usually selected for all these exhibitions, the most celebrated of the fleet steeds of California are matched against each other, to the delight of interested multitudes.
Russ's Garden, a short distance from the thickly-populated portion of the city, between the Mission Road and the South Beach, also affords the weary citizens an opportunity of relaxa- tion away from the scene of their toil. This is one of the most beautiful spots and popular places of resort in the vicinity. Hither celebrations, excursions, and the like rejoicings, are held by societies and coteries on their various anniversaries and fête- days ; while continually gay carriage loads or cavalcades, or soli- tary individuals, mounted or on foot, wend their way thither and amuse themselves about the pleasant grounds with games, ath- letic feats, or merry feasting. In the spacious amphitheatre at this place, sundry interesting public exhibitions are occasionally given to amuse the crowds that here assemble.
In 1850, a company of model artists exhibited at the Parker House with very poor success ; and even Dr. Collyer's company, who opened rooms on a greater scale in Commercial street, re- ceived no better patronage,-showing that the public taste was not so vitiated as was supposed.
Balls by the various races of inhabitants, carried on according to their peculiar customs, have been of constant occurrence, and are now so frequent as to interest only their respective participants. The German Turnvereins amuse themselves at their gymnasia- while in Battery street, between California and Pine streets, a
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similar establishment, kept by Mr. Frank Wheeler, is provided for general subscribers. A large Music Hall has been erected in Bush street, near the corner of Montgomery, by Mr. Henry Meiggs, and here quiet folk are entertained with concerts, oratorios, lectures, fairs, and the like. The "Mercantile Library Company," " Young Men's Christian Association," and other societies, at various sea- sons every year, afford the literary public opportunities of listen- ing to scientific, moral and other instructive discourses by emi- nent speakers.
Thus do the people of San Francisco employ their leisure hours. Possessed of so many opportunities of gaining wealth, they freely use it in the purchase of those enjoyments which relieve their minds and bodies from the harassing toil to which they have been subjected in its acquirement. Thus, notwith- standing the immense wear and tear of such unexampled energy as is here required in any occupation, the unstinted and universal use of reasonable relaxation and pleasure, enables them to retain their vigor, and lead far more agreeable and useful lives than do the miserable hoarders of slowly-gotten gains in other countries.
WHITNEYJO
Fancy Ball, California Exchange.
SOME PHASES OF SAN FRANCISCO "LIFE."
PERHAPS never before in the world's history has there been ex- hibited such a variety and mixture of life-scenes within the same extent and among an equal number of people, as in San Fran- cisco for the two or three years succeeding the discovery of gold. Created by a sudden appeal to the covetousness of human na- ture, and thus having drawn together a promiscuous crowd from nearly all nations, it represented a new school in the wild pine- woods, where all the scholars were strangers to each other, and each was a pupil to all the rest, and none were teachers except by example ; or a mixed camp of an army of allies, amid the army-chests of the enemy, friendly relations maintained by an armed neutrality. Jack Tar, after the termination of a long cruise, with his prize-money in hand, never was more determined upon a lark, than was a large portion of the sojourning multitude of the city. Away from law, away from public opinion, away
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from the restraints of home, half wild with the possession of sud- den and unaccustomed wealth, " On with the dance, let joy be unconfined," seemed the motto best suited to the conduct of a large portion of the people. The puritan became a gambler ; the boy taught to consider dancing a sin, soon found his way to masked balls ; monte became as familiar as the communion, and the catechism was forgotten, while the champagne popped, sparkled, and excited. At first it was a society composed almost exclusively of males, and as a natural and inevitable consequence, men deteriorated. Excitement was sought in such sources as could be found. The gaming-table, with its cards and dice ; the bar, with its brandy-smashes and intoxication,-these occu- pied the wild and reckless, while those whose ideas of wealth stopped not with the first buckskin bag of dust, sold goods at a hundred times their cost, got grants of land for a song, soon to be worth thousands uncounted, and spread out all their hands to take in all the shore.
But soon woman began to join the anomalous crowd. Then a new phase of society appeared. Then reason tottered, and passion run riot. The allurements of the Cyprian contested the sceptre with the faro bank ; champagne at ten dollars a bottle sold as readily in certain localities, as did brandy at fifty cents a glass in the saloon. Men suddenly rich, squandered more in a night than until within a few months they had been able to earn, or to possess, in years. Dust was plentier than pleasure, pleasure more enticing than virtue. Fortune was the horse, youth in the saddle, dissipation the track, and desire the spur. Let none wonder that the time was the best ever made. Natur- ally enough masked balls soon came in the train of women, wine, and gold. Many of these ball-rooms were soon dedicated to the service of Terpsichore, Cupid and Momus ; and it must be con- fessed, also, that Bacchus shared no trifling portion of their devo- tions. Imagine a vast hall, nearly one hundred feet square, with a bar of fifty feet in length, built with an eye to tasteful archi- tecture, and with a hand in the pocket, glittering in front with gold-leaf, and in the rear supported by a battalion of cut-glass decanters, colored glass ornamental articles, a golden eagle perched above the stock of liquors and wines-the American cannot
-
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SOME PHASES OF SAN FRANCISCO "LIFE."
drink a cock-tail comfortably unless the "star-spangled banner" float above, and the national eagle look with at least a glass-eye into his potation ;- in the centre a piece of machinery, exhibiting the sea in motion, tossing a laboring ship upon its bosom ; a water-mill in action ; a train of cars passing a bridge ; and a deer- chase, hounds, horsemen, and game, all in pursuit, or flight. Opposite, a full band, crowding every nook of the room with sweet echoes, marches, cotillions, mazourkas, gallopades, waltzes. On the third side, a cake and coffee-stand ; and behind it a fair face, limber tongue, busy hands, coining dust from thirst, gal- lantry, and dissipation.
It is dark, the hour nine ; the rain drizzles outside, and the quaker-grey out-doors, wet, chill, mud, gloom of the rainy season, drive the lonesome, the hilarious, and the dissipated to the door where the ticket-taker admits the pleasure-seeker, who has de- posited his umbrella in the general depôt for those movable roofs, and been relieved by a policeman of any dangerous weapon-gold and silver excepted-which may accompany his person. By the private entrance come the maskers, male and female. The Spanish bandit, with his high tapering hat, orna- mented with ribbons ; the gipsy, with her basket and cards ; the Bloomer, bountiful in short skirts and satin-covered extremi- ties ; the ardent young militaire, with a borrowed uniform and sparse moustache, which requires, like swarming bees, the assist- ance of a clattering tin kettle to congregate the scattered por- tions ; the Swiss ballad-singers, with their hurdy-gurdy and tambourine ; the flaunting Cyprian, not veiled by domino or mask ; and the curious, but respectable lady, hidden by cloak and false visage. There is the Frenchman in a fantastical dress ; a Gallic count imitating the Yankee ; the Yankee affecting " Aunty Vermont ;" and men already feeling the force of their libations, affecting sobriety.
Now the band commences, the bow is drawn, the breath blown, and domino and mask are whisked about into the midst of the dizzy maze by the Turk who has forgotten his cimeter ; the Pole who has nothing of Kosciusco or Poniatowski except the tall cap et cetera ; the Vermonter imitating a courtier of Charles II., and a Red Republican affecting Silsbee or Dan
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Marble. Away they whirl through the waltz, or dash along the mazourka, or crash away promiscuously in the gallopade. Where there are no masks exercise brings no new rose tint nor crimson to the soft cheek-the rouge or carmine is too thick for that. The music draws to a close and ends with a grand flourish. Off to the bar and coffee stand go the maskers, the gentlemen to treat, the others to be treated. So a few hours wear away. The potations begin to operate, the violent seek rencontres, old scores are to be settled, and new quarrels commenced. Jea- lousy's eyes take a greener tinge from the bottle imp, and woman, forgetting her last prerogative-gentleness-joins the ring and gives point and effect to feminine oaths by the use of feminine nails. Gradually the room is thinned, the first departing being careful to select the finest umbrellas. And when daylight comes, it finds the usual characteristics of such " banquet hall deserted." Such is a slight description of the "California Exchange " in the height of its ball-day glories, where in one night thousands of dollars were taken for tickets, and thousands at the bar for drinks.
Another scene. See yonder house. Its curtains are of the purest white lace embroidered, and crimson damask. Go in. All the fixtures are of a keeping, most expensive, most voluptu- ous, most gorgeous, the favorite ones with the same class of hu- manity, whose dress and decorations have made so significant ever since the name of their city and trade, " Babylon." It is a soirée night. The "lady" of the establishment has sent most po- lite invitations, got up on the finest and most beautifully embossed note paper, to all the principal gentlemen of the city, including collector of the port, mayor, aldermen, judges of the county, and members of the legislature. A splendid band of music is in at- tendance. Away over the Turkey or Brussels carpet whirls the politician with some sparkling beauty, as fair as frail ; and the judge joins in and enjoys the dance in company with the beauti- ful but lost beings whom, to-morrow, he may send to the house of correction. Every thing is conducted with the utmost pro- priety. Not an unbecoming word is heard, not an objectionable action seen. The girls are on their good behavior, and are proud once more to move and act and appear as ladies. Did you not
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SOME PHASES OF SAN FRANCISCO "LIFE."
know, you would not suspect that you were in one of those dread- ful places so vividly described by Solomon, and were it not for the great proportion of beauty present, you might suppose your- self in a salon of upper tendom. But the dance is over ; now for the supper table. Every thing within the bounds of the mar- ket and the skill of the cook and confectioner, is before you. Op- posite and by your side, that which nor cook nor confectioner's skill have made what they are-cheeks where the ravages of dissipation have been skilfully hidden, and eyes with pristine brilliancy undimmed, or even heightened by the spirit of the recent champagne. And here the illusion fades. The cham- pagne alone is paid for. The soirée has cost the mistress one thousand dollars, and at the supper and during the night she sells twelve dozen of champagne at ten dollars a bottle ! This is a literal fact, not an idea being a draft upon the imagination, or decorated with the colors of fancy. No loafers present, but the male ton ; vice hides herself for the occasion, and staid dignity bends from its position to twine a few flowers of social pleasure around the heads and hearts of these poor outcasts of society.
It is a dark, stormy, dismal evening of December, '49. Few places save the gambling saloons are comfortable. Scarce a fire or stove can be found elsewhere. The restaurant where you " feed " is at best but a skeleton frame of strips of board covered with " Lowells," through which the rain comes down in misty particles and aggregated streams. There is no fire save in the kitchen. Wood is forty dollars a cord, room is scarce, company is not very select, and you go any where else for change, for soci- ety, for comfort, for heat. Perhaps it is the night for your " chill," the restaurant is also a bar-room, its floor is a rush mat laid upon the ground, and on this in your bed of two blankets you are to sleep, after the last glass of liquor has been sold, not before. So you escape and go where there is at least heat, into the gambling saloon. Look on. See the fever as it rages. Monte, faro, rou- lette, these are its types, and the sleek, nimble-fingered gentry who sit at the centre of each side of the table, are the doctors who prescribe. Depletion is the prescription and human leeches the remedy. The diagnosis of a cool observer would undoubtedly be "golden lunacy."
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Hear the ring of silver, the clinking of gold, the shuffling of cards, the rattling of dice, the call of the gambler at his table of rouge et noir, " Make your bets, gentlemen-the game is made -five-eleven-seventeen-twenty-twenty-four-twenty-nine -thirty-one-red wins ;" hear the band discoursing exciting music, fit for better places and better company ; breathe the oft- respired air which has passed through a thousand lungs, and is impregnated with a hundred diseases, the odors of villainous rum, and the effluvia of a furnace of cigars. See the reckless tempter of fortune pile down his coin and dust on some favorite card, and notice how adroitly another card is turned or dealt ; how sum by sum passes from the belt and buckskin of the miner into the dealer's pile, until the earnings of months have left the laborer penniless. With empty pockets but a full heart, he drinks the potation ordered at the gambler's expense, and rising from the table walks away. To-morrow morning a dead body will be found on the hill side, upon which his own hand has inflicted the fatal blow. Do you ask whose is that poor senseless piece of mortal frailty ? From an entrance into such a hell as the gam- bler's saloon, is it so far morally to pecuniary ruin, and from that to despair and suicide, that you cannot trace the course of him who thus goes step by step to destruction ? That dead body sat last night at the gambling table, trusted the cards, dared fortune, drunk the draught of intoxication, grew wild with the dizzying fumes about him-and there he is.
Another picture. It is Sunday afternoon. Service is over at church and "meeting house.". The Christian who went to worship, and the belle whose desire was to excite admiration, have returned home, the one to reflect or to read, and the other to calculate possible triumphs, or to coquette. The streets are full of pleasure-seekers, and lovers of nature and art, some all listlessness, feeling like him in the play, "there's nothing in it," others all attention, and finding interest in every thing. Sud- denly from the piazza of an old adobe on the plaza arises the voice of one crying in the wilderness. He "raises " a hymn in a voice which would be dreadful in its power, were it not melodi- ous. Hark ! You may hear the words half a mile off. The city hall sends back the echo like a sounding board. You may
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SOME PHASES OF SAN FRANCISCO " LIFE."
stand at the foot of Merchant street and distinguish every sen- tence :
"The chariot! the chariot ! its wheels roll in fire ! "
Had the vehicle spoken of really rolled over the planked streets of the city, it is doubtful if the tumult of its lumbering wheels could have drowned the voice of him who was thus describing in thunder-like music, its advent, and the supposed dust it would raise. Nothing short of the whistle of a railroad could expect to make head against that tornado of musical praise.
That voice at once arrests attention. The loiterer turns aside from his careless walk, stops, and listens. The miner in his slouched hat and high boots, hears the sounds of worship, recollects the day, thinks of the home and the dear ones far away, and of the hours when he too worshipped with them in the old church pew, in the country town, with the graves of the rude forefathers of the village visible from the spot where he sat ; the old elms bending gracefully beneath the weight of years and foli- age over the dust of those who planted them ; and where he listened to the trembling words of the gray-haired old clergyman as he read, or spake from that old-fashioned pulpit, and he joins the motley crowd. The loafing Mexican arouses from his reverie and the smoke of his cigarette, gives an extra puff from his nos- trils, throws his variegated serape over his left shoulder, leans against the fence, and listens to words which he does not under- stand, smokes the weed which he does understand, and thinks of some padre to whom he confessed a long, long time ago. John Chinaman passes along, and seeing books, and being of a literary turn, ceases to jabber in the language of Confucius, joins the outskirts of the company, and risks the integrity of his yard-long queue among the "outside barbarians." The Malay, with his red, pointed cap, stops a moment to wonder, and perhaps forgets awhile the well-known trade of piracy when listening to a gospel which he cannot comprehend. It is not long ere there is a sufficient audience. The singing has brought together the con- gregation. There is room enough for all. There are no cush- ioned pews, standing room is free, and the plaza fence is picketed by a continuous row of listeners. The worship progresses. Prayer, singing, reading of the Scriptures, text and sermon follow.
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All can hear, all can see-there is no sexton nor usher, nor is one needed. It is a primitive service, very earnest, and by no means ridiculous.
There may be more than one opinion respecting street preach- ing in cities, and even in San Francisco many condemn it. But there can be but one opinion as to the sincerity of the Rev. Mr. Taylor ; and probably there are few who will not admit that he has exerted a very great influence upon the wandering masses, recalling them often when they least expect it, to a recollection of the days when they worshipped in their native villages, when life was younger, and hope fresher, the thoughts purer, and the heart lighter, and thus putting before their downhill wheels a trig to save them from ruin.
Another scene. It is New Year's Day. God made this day -there can be no dispute upon that head. You might submit it to the city council, and they would not smother the remnant of their religion by a denial. The Legislature at Benicia would be truthful for once, and answer "aye." You might ask all San Francisco, and no chairman would be needed to put it to vote, no clerk to record the ballot. Nothing short of Divinity could have done it. The aroma of heaven in springtime comes floating upon the air. It is as bracing as the cool north-west winds which kiss the bright waters of Casco Bay, as mild as the Indian sum- mer which lies like a silken mantle over the landscapes of Louis- iana. Italy might breathe it with a deep and delightful respira- tion, and believe it that which visits Naples or the Tiber. Switz- erland might feel stronger with its inspiration, and think it a zephyr coming down from the glaciers, warmed into tepidity by the genial plains, while basking in the smiles and warmth of spring.
There is nothing blue this day, save the skies, and every thing puts on a robe of golden beauty, colored in the sunlight, and bordered on the edges of the day with trimmings of stars. Nature's great face wears a smile as irresistible as that of the girl you love most dearly. One cannot but feel its influence, for it seems spread out every where. The lowlands are alive with glory. Over the hill tops the light comes and goes in flashes and streams of wondrous brilliance. The lazy breezes stoop down
SOME PHASES OF SAN FRANCISCO "LIFE." 673
to the laughing waters as they pass, and the amorous waves pout up their moist lips to the kisses of the wooer.
On goes the day in its joyousness, full of a gush of sentiment, as if the elements themselves sympathize with human hearts, and are determined to have a lark on New Year's Day. The sun smiles unusually cosy from every pore of his jolly face. The dull earth awakens like Eve from her first sleep, and is bathed in blushes to find herself so beautiful. The bay lies around the hem of our city's robe of beauty, like a spaniel at the foot of his master, and the ships, resting like swans on a sea of silver, swing leisurely with the tide, and like the ladies, await calls.
All maledom empties into the streets-all ladydom remains at home. It is a gala day, a holiday, a day for polishing anew the chain of friendship and interlocking the links of love. It is a practical New Year's Day, one set apart to repair any omission or error of the year which has passed. It is like the merry march with which the returning funeral band spirits off the sad thoughts which the recent burial excited. The old year has been laid with his white beard in the tomb, and every body is happy to enjoy the smiles of the new comer.
Oh ! it is a lovely babe-one upon which its parent may look with pride, satisfaction and hope. It seems a spark struck off from the great wheel of ages by the revolutions of time-one of the sands in his glass changed to gold. The streets are full of joy in the persons of splendidly dressed men on their tour of friendship, acquaintance, or love, who seem almost to forget the outdoor glories, in anticipations of those who preside over the domestic hospitalities. Bright and cheering as is the sunlight without, are the smiles within door, and soft as the balmy air are the words breathed by the festive board.
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