The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-04-21

stand or stood on the edge of the
Tenderloin in a modern Ave story building.
And it typi6ed a certain spirit that there
was in San Francisco.
For on the ground fioor was a public
restaurant where there was served the
best dollar dinner on earth. It ranked
with the best and the others were in San
Francisco. Here, especially on Sunday
night, almost everybody went to vary
the monotony OF home cooking. Every
one who was any n in the town could
be seen there Of and on. It was perfectly
respectable. A man might take his wife
and daughter there.
On the second floor there were private
dining rooms. Inc to dine there. with one
or more OF the opposite Sex, was risque but
not especially terrible. But the third
foor-and the fourth hoor-and the fifth,
The elevator man Of the Poodle Dog. who
had held the job for many years and ne yer
spoke unless spoken to, wore diamonds
and was a heavy investor in rea! estate.
There were others as famous in their way
the Zinka, whore, at one time, every 6ne
went after the theatre. and Tate's; which
has lately bitten into that trade, the Palace
Grill, much like the grills Of Eastern hotels,
except for the price; Delmonioo's. which
ran the Poodle Dog neck and neck in it's
own line, and many others, humber but
great at the price.
CITY NEWER sLKPr.
The city never went to bed. There was nc
| closing law, 20 that the saloons kept open
nights and Sundays at their own sweet
will. Most OF them elected to remain open
until 8 o'clock in the morning at least.
Yet this restaurant life does not exactly
express the careless, pleasure loving char
acter Of the people. In great part their
pleasures were simple, inexpensive and
out of doors. No people we're fonder OF ex-
petitions into the country. Of picnios-
which might be brought of at almost any
season Of the year-and often long tours
in the great mountains n forests. And
hospitality was nearly a vice.
AS in the early mining days, II they liked
the stranger the people took him in. At
the first meeting the local mar probably
had him put up at the club; at the second, he
| vited him home to dinner. AS long as he
stayed he was being invited to week end
parties at ranches, to little dinners In this
or that restaurant and to the houses of his
new acquaintance, until his engagements
grew beyond hope Of ful6lment. There was
rather too much Of it.. At the end Of a fort
night a stranger with a pleasant smile and
a good story left the place a wreck. This
tendency ran through all grades of society
except, perhaps. the sporting people who
kept the tracks n the fighting game
alive. These also met the stranger-and
also took him in.
CLUBS OF 1t CITY.
Centres Of man hospitality were the
clubs. especially the famous Bohemian and
the Family. The latter was an offshoot of
the Bohemian, which had been growing
fast and vieing with the older organiza-
ton for the honor Of entertaining pleasing
| and distinguished visitors.
The Bohemian Club, whose real founder
is said to have been the late Henry George,
wae formed in the '7Os by a number of news
| paper writer's and men working in the arts
or interested in them. It had grown to a
| membership Of $50. 1t still kept for its
nucleus painters, writers, musicians and
| actors, amateur and professional. They
were a gay group of men, and hospitality
was their avocation. Yet the thing which
set this club of from all others in the world
was the midsummer High Jinks.
The club owns a fine tract Of redwood
forest fifty miles north of San Francisco,
on the Russian River. There are two
varieties Of big trees in California: the
Seouoid g%igdnted and the Sequoid sernper-
uirens. The great trees Of the Mariposa
grove belong to the gigdnted species. The
semperrirens. however. reaches the diameter
of is feet, and some Of the greatest trees
of this species are in the Bohemian Club
grove. 1t lies in a cleft of the mountains;
and up one hillside there runs a natural
out OF doors stage Of remarkable acoustic
properties.
In August the whole Bohemian Club. or
such as can get away from business, go
UP to this grove and camp out fortwo weeks.
And on the last night they put on the inks
proper, a great spectacle with poetic words,
music and eff ects done by the club, in praise
Of the forest. III late years this has been
practically a masque or an opera. 1t costs
about SIC, 600. 1t takes the spare time OF
scores of men for weeks; yet these 200
business men, professional men,, artists,
newspaper workers, struggle for the honor
of helping out on the Jinks; and the whole
thing is done naturally and with reverence.
It would hardly be possible anywhere else
in this country; the thing which makes it
possible ia the art spirit which Is in the
| Californian. 1t runs in the blood.
Some one has just been collecting statistics
which prove this point. who's Who in
America" ia long on the arts and on learning
and comparatively weak in business and
the professions. Now some one who has
taken the trouble has found that more
persons mentioned in who's Who" by the
thousand Of the population were born in
Massachusetts than in any other State; but
that Massachusetts, Is crowded closely by
California, with the rest nowhere. The insti-
buttons OF learning in Massachusetts account
for her prominence; the art spirit does it
for California. The really big men nurtured
on California influence are few, perhaps;
but she has sent out an amazing number of
good workers in painting, in authorship,
in music and especially in acting,
SOCIETY IN THE CITY.
sHigh society," in San Francisco had
settled down from the rather wild spirit
of the middle period; it had como to be
there a good deal as it Is elsewhere. There
was much wealth; and the hills Of the west
- lItttA -.-. r-~-I~r t~ -1Nh a~1