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

Perhaps the most marked characteristic
. Of San Francisco is its iDdividuality. No
. city In the United States presents so many
different aspects, or is like ii in many OF
ITS quaint and interesting phases. 1t is at
once old and new. busy and ethargic, cos
mopolitan and American, progressive and
.old-tash iOned, according TO locality, the
conditions of the people ard business re-
Qulrements. On one street the observer
: will see lofty and imposing structures.
'Othce buildings surprising in magnificence
and completeness of detail those OF any
other American city of the same pOpula-
:'tion as San Francisco; on another palatial
residences, the houses of the wealthy, sur
rounded by spacious grounds. and having
all the embellishments that architecture
and luxurious taste can provide, while on
: third may be passed the primitive houses
of pioneer days still standing. dilapidated
yet picturesque. There are districts Of
San Francisco so different in construction
ana pecullarltles 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 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
o: appearance of the place. 1t is scene that
may any day be observed on Front street,
this particular picture representing the
=: Dlock on that thoroughfare, between Jack
san aud Washington streets.
The architecture viii be seen to be more
suggestive of a town of $4,000 inhabitants
than of street in one of the great cities OF
the country. Yet 1t is within n cOmpara-
lively short distance Of solid old Mont
:: gomery street, with its great business
: blocks, its banks and Iue stores. Two
blocks west OF it stands the Postoffice
:: and the massive Appraisers building, 10
= which are daily attracted thousands of
people who never get any farther east un-
: less it be 10 go to the ferry on some street
car line. They are as much strangers TO
Front street as the commissi on men. the
small fruit-dealers and the teamsters that
crowd its sidewalks are TO the beautiful
environments Of the aristocratic quarters.
Mob Hill looks down upon the locality
depicted but sees il not, the view out upon
the bay and beyond in the baZy distance
being more enhancing. Telegraph Hill
rises on the north, but it turns its back on
Front street for the beautiful Golden Gate
and the ocean. Thousands upon thousands
III scjOurners visit San Francisco and go
away without ever having laid eyes on the
modest but ever stirring scene.
Front street is indeed not place to attract
the superficial observer, but 1t Is neverthe-
less one of tie landmarks of the city. Time
has changed its general make-up but little.
: One-StOTy wooden structures have here
and there given place to taller buildings,
but IN the 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
. recognize the outlines of the street he
lsed to know lin the days Of old, and
{he DAYS of gold"
~ AT present Front street is largely oc-
e: nupieG by commission merchants who
!: handle vast quantities of fruits and pro-
duce. Its Sidewalks are usually lined with
fruit boxes ana sacks of vegetable which
. would be found very inconvenient to the
: public ii tie street were much used by
pedestrians But as It is there is little
need OF strict enforcement of the or
=: nlnances against street distractions. for
= the place is out of the way of the rushing
.tbrong, and the people who frequent il
expect to meet with bags and boxes and
. 7chicken-coops ana all the rest of it, and
they do not grumble at contact with the
:" tb ings 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 alterca-
tions over the right of way, the innumer-
able vehicles haul their loads into the
.;street and OUT, and the routine goes on
year in and year out. just As it 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
water front it has seen its day and has its
=: memories. 1t has been the water front
Itself, and it has had 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-
aaY.