The San Francisco call., 1896-11-28
MERCHAN rs WHO
ARE PROGRESSIVE
Streets Which Will Be
Made Attractive for
Commerce.
The Go. Ahead Success of the
Mission and Richmond to
Be Emulated.
Polk, Larkin and xth to Be Brought
Into Active Compe tition With
Market Street.

Market, Kearny and other downtown
streets, which heretofore had monopoly
of the business transacted in the retail
trade, will ere long have, in the language
of the street, ito get move on to them
selves" if they wish TO retain the prestige
which was theirs for number of years.
The first outside business street to wake
up to the age.of progress and improvement
was Polk, whose property and
business men created no small boom few
weeks ago by having that thoroughfare
lighted by series of electric arc lamps
from sutter street to Vallejo. With a reg
uIar whoopup of music and red lights on
a recent Saturday evening they convinced
the people of the Western Addition that
Polk street had some public-spirited mer-
chants on its line. Since that time busi-
ness b as improved over 20 per cent.
This condition of affairs so encouraged
the property-owners and merchants that
the hump" which blockaded the north
ern end of that street from Greenwich to
Lom bard will be removed as fast as men,
horses auG money can be made to accom-
plish the work. So progressive have they
been that the engineers are now preparing
plan for street levels and other matters
to give an outlet to the street to its north
ern limit.
Larkin street from Sutter to Market has
caught the contagious fever of improve
ment and progress to such an extent that
DR.. Hill and other business men and prop
erty-owners nave formulated q call for q
meeting of those interested in the scheme
to meet at an early date next week, when
steps will be taken to give this street an
impetus on the progressive scale. Elec-
trio i'll fs wi lt1r nofo h
fare over its length as above mentioned,
and in addition 10 this the 6x4- pane win
dows, with the pioneer sem blance of some
country village where the ends of houses
are made to face the streets, will give
place to full fronts, with plate-glass show
windows and other modern inventions.
which is change that removes the ap-
pearance of decay and dry rot from old
houses and makes them look like new.
Last but not least comes Sixth street
where the same spirit of progress has
seized the men who own property and the
merchants who rent the stores for busi-
ness of commerce.
from to-day be transformed from half
lighted place at night to one of splendor
and brilliancy. There will be no less than
eighteen arc lights placed in the center of
the street from Market to Folsom. These
will be SO distributed that they will be
PioSCO III i1ohS "a thC ctIeclS WHICH
open into the main one and which here
tofore have been so dimIy lighted by an
occasional and stray gas lamp as to make
it both dark and dangerous to enter any of
them after sundOwn.
The property-owners and business men
on this street have with but very few ex-
ceptions responded most cheerfully to the
call OF progress so that sufficient money
to light up had been subscribed inside of
twenty-four hours after the movement
had been fairly started.
The few picayunish property-owners,
who declined to get into the van, will be
noted, and if their stores do not have con-
slant and permanent tenants they NAV
find out that to live in Rome one must do
as Rome does
The hitch that seemed to exist between
the two electric light companies in sup
plying the required illumination has had
something to do with retarding the work
on Larkin and Sixth streets. But SO far
as the latter street is concerned the COM
mittee having this branc of progress in
hand has succeeded in getting concessions
which are satisfactory and which will con-
tinue to enable the contribu to keep
the street illuminated continuously.
The same terms will, In all proba ability,
be made with Larkin street, and Polk
street will. wnen the present contract ex-
pires al the end OF four months, obtain
similar conditions, which consist of 81 rs
per lamp per week, whereas at present the
price is So week.