The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-06-09
TWO INTERESTING CITIES.

In all the elements OF the picturesque
and bizarre the two most interesting cities
in the United States are San Francisco and
New Orleans. New York is vastly bigger
than either and contains a greater diversity
and completely of population; but its over
shadowing spirit and character are those
of an American city, and in Chicago these
elements are carried to their hardest, high
est and least picturesque development
Philadelphia displays the finer American
characteristics in their most charming
aspects, and Boston is the American city
richest in "reminiscences of that delightful
early civilization on which the greatness OF
the Nation is founded.
But we are speaking now of charms
which these cities do not possess and which
have their origin largely in the influence Of
a strong foreign population. 1t is in this
regard that New Orleans and San Fran
cisco are unique and strikingly picturesque,
and yet each is different from the other in
its way. In New Orleans this quality has
finer grace and softness; in San Fran
cisco it is holder, sharper and more dis
tinct. In the former city time, racial
peculiarities and climatic conditions have
produced gentle and alluring quaintness,
while In the latter there is newer, larger
and more aggressive independence that
elevates quaintness to the picturesque
In place of the Incidence of New Orleans
we have the untempered restlessness Of
many strange races who are hardly as yet
in the beginning Of adjustment to alien
conditions. They are here to better their
fortunes and their ordinary conduct
hafra 4ha oHr rit xrh oh
brought them hither.
Just as most of the picturesqueness
which foreigners have brought to San Fran
cisco is to be found on the southern slope
of Telegraph Hill, just so the French quar-
ter of New Orleans lies below Canal street.
But the "Barbary Coast" of San Francisco
is more extensive than the French quarter
of New Orleans and contains a vastly
greater variety of foreigners. generally
living in settlements each distinct from the
other, and thus including villages OF Ital-
ians, French, Greeks, Spanish and Portu-
guese, city of Chinese and scattered ma
tives Of Japan, Arabia and Turkey, and of
course generous number of Germans all
over the city.
A stranger could hardly imagine the
wonderful variety which these foreigners
lend to the external aspect of the City, but
far more interesting than that are their
equally various pleasures and modes of life,
and the great vivaeity with which they
seek enjoyment On Sundays and holidays
they display zest in outdoor pleasures
which Americans might emulate with
profit.
4 radical difference between San Fran
cisco and New Orleans is that OF topog-
raphy, and this gives San Francisco an
advantage on the score OF pictoresqueness
over every other city in the country. 1t is
the only one of the larger cities that con-
tains so many high, bold hills, and that
presents from these elevations so handsome
pictures of mountain, bay and sea; and
finishing touch of perfection is bland
and exhilarating climate, which offers no
check TO zest for the pleasures which it
creates