The morning call., 1894-02-04
ON FRONT STREET.
The Old Thoroughfare AS
1t Is To-Day.
QUAINT SCENES DOWNTOWN.
8. Call " Artist Pays a Visit to an
Interesting Quarter of the
City.

: Perhaps the most marked characteristic
of San Francisco is its individuality. No
~ctty in the United States presents so many
different poets, or is like it in many Of
-. Its quaint and interesting phases. 1t is at
once old and new. busy and lethargic. cos
mopolitan and American. progressive and
old-tash i0ned, according TO locality, the
conditions of the people and business re-
qulTements. On one street the observer
Will see lofty and imposing structures.
Office buildings surprising in magnificence
and com pie teness Of detail those OF any
other American city of the same pOpula-
:. .{l0n as San francisco: on a9other palatial
Tesldeuce ces, the houses of the wealthy, sur
rounded by spacious grounds. and having
all the embellishments that architecture
and luxurious taste can provide, while on
q third may be passed the primitive houses
of pioneer days still standing, dilapidated
yet picturesque. There are districts Of
San ranCiscO so different in construction
and peculiarities that. though in close
proximity to each other. they seem almost
TO be paris Of widely separated communi-
ties.
The artist to-day presents picture Of a
street in the downtown district. one of the
busy marts of trade where, from the small
hours Of morning till night has fallen and
called a truce TO business pursuits, there is
an lncesSant rattle and hustle. a blocking
OF roadway and sidewalk and general
activity that Is in marked contrast to the
appearance of the place. Itis a scene that
may any day be observed on Front street,
this particular picture representing the
block on that thorOughfare, between Jack
son aud Washington streets.
The architecture will be seen to be more
suggestive of town of $4,000 inhabitants
than of a street 10 one of the great cities OF
e the country. Yet 1t is within cOmpara-
lively short distance Of solid old Mont
gomery street. with lis great business
blocks, its banks and hne stores. Two
blocks west of il stands the Postoffice
aud the massive Appraisers building. TO
which are daily attracted thousands of
people who never get any farther east un-
90 less it be TO 90 to the ferry Oh some street
car line. They are as much strangers to
Front street as the commission men. The
small fruit-dealerS ana the teamsterS that
crowd It's sidewalks are to the beautiful
environments Of the aristocratic quarters.
Mob Hill looks down upon the locality
depicted but sees it not, the view out upon
tile. bay and beyond in the baZy distance
being moro enhancing. Telegraph Hill
rises on the north, but it turns its back or
q Front street for the beautiful Golden Gate
and the ocean. Thousands uDon thousands
=. '0f soj0urDers visit San Francisco and go
away without ever having laid eyes on the
modest but ever stirring scene.
Front street is indeed Il OF place to attract
:. the superficial observer. but it is neyertbe-
: ltssUne of tie landmarks of the city. Time
has changed its general makeup but little.
One-stOrv wooden structures have here
and there given place to taller buildings,
but in tne main the general effect has been
little altered, and the 'Old-timer," unless
he be one of those who reached San Fran
cisco before the city had pushed itself out
= into The bay as TAR as Front street, will
recognize the outlines of the street he
used to know lin the days Of old, and
the DAYS OF gold"
AT present Front street is largely oc-
cupie0 by commission merchants who
handle vast quantities of fruits and pro-
duce. Its sidewalks are usually lined with
:ftuit boxes ana sacks of vegetables which
would be found very inconveDieDt to the
: public il the street were much used by
pedestrians. But as 1t is there is little
need of strict enforcement of the or
dinances against street obstructions, for
the place is out OF the way of the rushing
throng, and the people who frequent it
expect to meet with bags and boxes and
chicken-coops and all the rest Of it, and
they do not grumDle at contact with the
things they go there TO look for.
So The merchants pursue the even tenor
of their way. The wagons rush hither
and thither, the drivers engage in aIterca-
tionS over the right of way, the inpumer-
able vehicles haul their loads into the
street and OUT, and the routine goes on
year IN ana year our, Just as II has been
doing ever since most of the great big peo-
pie crossed the Battery-stIeet line and got
away uptown into broader streets and
bigger houses. In the old days Front
street was one of the principal thorough
fares of the city. In common with all that
territory lying contiguous to the present
q. water front it has seen its day and has its
memories. 1t has been the water front
itself, and it has bad exciting experiences
when the more pretentious parts of the
city were sand dunes and never dreamed
OF eclipsing In importance the old street
where GOLD dust in sacks was much more
plentiful there than is the coined gold to-