San Francisco英文简介

Room One:San Francisco in the New Century
The dawn of the twentieth century was a time of great hope and prosperity in Northern California.Everyone was looking forward to the new century that would surely be the greatest in the American West's very short history.Few looked backward to the Native American tales of movements of the earth,the fires that had destroyed San Francisco numerous times in mid-nineteenth century,and the destructive earthquakes of 1865 and 1868 in the Bay Area.There were a few muted warnings.A catalogue of prior earthquakes in California was published in 1898 by the Smithsonian Institution,but few libraries bothered to stock it.
The fire chief wanted a backup water system and the insurance industry thought it was "inevitable" that the city would again burn to the ground.Life went blithely on in the "queen city" of the West.With a population of 400,000,San Francisco was the largest city in California and the economic capital of the West.The buildings were the tallest,the restaurants the finest,the entertainment,the most risque,and the factories the most productive.
Not all were well off,however.One in three inhabitants were foreign born.Immigrants from southern Europe and Asia were swelling the population and providing cheap labor.On the evening of April 17,1906 the greatest single display of visible wealth in the West adorned the audience assembled at the Grand Opera House on Mission Street to hear the Italian tenor Enrico Caruso sing.
The weather was unusually balmy.Carriages and a few belching automobiles arrived at the entrance and disgorged their passengers.The jewels sparkled.The fashionable,high-necked gowns were vibrant.The men traded jests in the foyer while smoking between acts.Supper was taken after the opera.A newspaper reporter trudging home in the early morning hours of Wednesday,April 18th noticed that the horses stabled at Powell and Mason Streets seemed unusually restless.
Grand Opera:The 1906 Season
San Francisco had long been a haven for creativity,as literature,photography,fine arts,and music all flourished there.The economic boom of the 1890s lent the bohemian city a gaiety that did not disappear at the turn of the century:With fortunes made and money flowing,wealthier San Franciscans turned their attention to culture.They were determined to refine their city's reputation and make it a recognized center for the arts.Their efforts were rewarded with the engagement of the Metropolitan Opera Company's production of Bizet's "Carmen." Staged the evening of April 17,1906 at the Grand Opera House on Mission Street,"Carmen" was the most exciting cultural event of the season.The renowned tenor Enrico Caruso played the character of Don Jose; famed soprano Olive Fremstad was cast in the title role.
The Grand Opera House program for its 1906 season reflected the economic prosperity and high level of cultural interest prevalent in San Francisco at the time.Its cover is a stylish rendering of a couple in evening clothes,the woman in a long white dress and veil and the man in top hat and dress suit.The profusion of advertisements for material goods highlight the city's burgeoning consumer demands.Wealthy citizens had the funds,leisure,and inclination to don their best and patronize highbrow entertainment.Tickets to that evening's performance were expensive and difficult to find; their stubs marked both social standing and seat reservations
Wealth and the Wealthy
Mark Hopkins and Leland Stanford were one half of "The Big Four," industrial barons who made their fortunes through railroads (the other two members were Charles Crocker and Collis P.Huntington).During the 1870s,Stanford and Hopkins built enormous,ostentatious mansions on San Francisco's Nob Hill,a neighborhood dominated by the very rich.The two men personified San Francisco's easy-come economy,and they intended their houses as public monuments to their wealth and power.Completed in 1876,Stanford's residence consisted of 50 rooms and housed an art collection worth an estimated $2 million.Next door was the Hopkins home.Finished in 1878 after Hopkins' death,it was an artless melange of architectural styles that featured a profusion of spires,turrets,and other gingerbread details.
Stanford and Hopkins were both long dead by 1906,but their mansions remained as examples of the conspicuous consumption that colored San Francisco's already colorful reputation.On a more somber note,the buildings also symbolized the wide gap between social classes that only a great calamity could possibly narrow.
The Growth in Population
Due to increased foreign immigration and the rise of domestic industry,American cities experienced a population boom in the late 19th century.San Francisco was no exception.Its population had been increasing exponentially since the Gold Rush.There were less than 35,000 residents in 1852; by 1900,the US Census counted nearly 343,000.One of the leading factors of that growth was a steady stream of Chinese immigration during the latter half of the century.Not only did this phenomenon raise San Francisco's population,it inspired an anti-Chinese labor movement whose broad charges were illustrated by this lithograph.
Autographed by "C.M." and housed in the Bancroft Library's Robert Honeyman Collection,this piece used the "bird's-eye view" style common at the time.From a contrived vantagepoint on an unidentified hill,it shows San Francisco as caught in a triangle of Chinese immigration 鈥 Vancouver,BC being one point of entry,the docks of the Pacific Mail Steamship Co.the other.The city teems with Chinese who occupy all manner of industrial works,and across the sea looms the threat of China,illustrated as a sun-like visage with Chinese facial features and a queue.The message is clear:hundreds of miles of land and leagues of ocean were not barriers enough to thwart mass Chinese immigration.Moreover,it proved extremely popular,as the political movement culminated in the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.Yet the Chinese remained an integral part of the city's population and helped San Francisco to become the largest urban center in California.
Politics and Politicians
Large cities across America enjoyed strong-willed,if not nefarious,politicians.San Francisco enjoyed a different twist on this theme,a man behind the scenes.Of French and Jewish descent,Abraham Ruef was an intelligent,shrewd man who had been involved in politics for most of his adult life.He joined the Republican Party at the age of 21,but became disillusioned with the confines of formal party structure.Turning toward a more lucrative career as legal counsel for labor unions and other private clients,Ruef saw the advantage of matching politics with parallel enterprises.He established the Union Labor Party in 1901 and plucked Eugene Schmitz from the orchestra pit,successfully installing the former conductor as the head of a puppet city government.
Schmitz may have occupied the Mayor's seat,but Ruef was the real power behind the throne,directing his party to electoral victories in 1903 and 1905.Ruef and his followers declared that they stood for the common man against institutional elitism.Their opponents charged that the Union Labor Party meant graft and corruption.Yet as long as the city prospered,there seemed little Democratic and Republican leaders could do.
So Many Places to Stay!
San Francisco had been a destination since 1849 and the tradition continued during the following decades.Drawn to its beautiful location,climate,and economic opportunities,visitors and transplants alike flocked to the city.They often stayed in one of the beautiful high-rise hotels located downtown.
Opened in 1904 and named after the patron saint of San Francisco,the Hotel St.Francis was one of the city's newest buildings.With "an army of well-trained employees under chefs whose names are famous wherever Epicurus is revered," it catered to the whims of the wealthy traveler.According to this souvenir book,the St.Francis offered Tyrolean-themed cuisine,a 4000-volume library,and special tours of Chinatown,among other amenities.The opulence of the Union Square hotel reflected the city's prosperity on the eve of the earthquake and fire.