The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-05-04
COppA'S Was SAVED, ANYHOW
UifH THE ~ FRO FIRST EDIfiONS.
UtIHE. STORED ABOtE
Coppa Found A.SittsnG 90 bHs Dsers'ep
Days after the fire Mrs. RSteri i'euiH
ste, ensUn's tlotae Un aussian Itiii Pre-
ser, 81 by san francisco ttohemiaia club.

II appears from letters received this
wpek from Snn Francisco that two ~ the
irroplacra bile things IN San franci-co
we're SlVed from destruction In the IRE
and earthquake the Stevenson houre and
the more valuable part Of the Sutro Library.
The classified section Of the Sutro Library
was IN the Montgomery block, over COppa
famous restaurant. until n few months ago,
and there r. no reason Ia believe that u
had been removed since. still, there IL no
direct news that It was saved, the letters
being too busy in rejoicing that Coppas,
left In a little island Of the fire. pulled
through
This place Coppais-was a strange kind
Of a restaurant, II served a ~ cent table
d'h0te idnner. with native claret thrown in;
but is great merit lay in the company
Two or three years ago the art students.
writers and young painters who have
their homes and studios on the fringe of
the Latin Quarter found 1T out, fell in
love with toppa himself. and began to
make il a rendezvous. One hesitates TO
call these people bohemians. since the
word has been stretched 20 cover 40 many
unpleasant things; but they cane about
as near fitting the title in its original and
'lIlNDpll'Ni FilTN ~ nay group - f'Nb'
in this country. They were well estab-
lished and had a table sacred to their uses
when. about two years ago. Coppa an
nounced that he had been doing well and
was going to ~renovate,
"Glittering gold and mirrors" said the
painters and art students. Not much; you
replaster the walls and well do your
decorating for you
rn,, ,,..,l Ia,ataa II nplt lass
They had him stain the wall a soft, wine red.
after which they planned IA harmor!,ds
scheme Of cola borative decoration. Here
Robert Aiken made a +et of bas-reliefs,
next to it was a group" fancy by Burgess,
and next after that IN Indian sketch by
Dixon. Above the panels they ran "a
frieae, like the frieze in a great library.
of names entitled to the Hall of Fame.
Here they in%terspersed the names of the
worlds greatest with the names of the
gang" Next to "Velazquez" was Mar
tineH-; next to Shakespeare" Sterling"
and ~ On. Perhaps the most clever fancy
was the worms eve view OF II French
restaurant in full blast which decorated
the ceiling
Then there began TO happen what happens
to all such restaurants; the tourist heard OF
it, tame and the mbbern"cks began to
come 70 see the animals eat. The true
origirators of the plan, seated at their CEN
trail table, felt that they would nave to move.
But some one SAID:
IF we stay here and keep quiet, the rub
bernecks will get tired and leave Us alone"
So it happened; Coppa's was a thcme for
the little gossip. weeklies ,or months;
ceased from troubling, and Coppa's went
on IA ever.
on the Afth day after the earthquake.
when the fires had cooled a little and people
Iii l--i. no thA 80 un., lraA ~ -
four of the people of the central table met
and went 10 zee the ruins OF their old stamp
ing ground. That part of San Francisco
had been swept by the fire; IL was supposed
that there was not one brick standing on
another. But through the haae which hung
over Montgomery street they came upon
an island Of about Il block. which n freak
Of the fire had missed and behold the
Montgomery block, blackened, but nm
touched. On the steps OF his restaurant
Coppa bro Ike into his cellar and found a
case OF claret which the soldiers had over
booked in their smashing expedition. The
PEOPLE Of the centre table went out and
rlistled bread line provisions, and the pro-
prietor sat down with them to n dinner in
celebration Of the escape OF the place.
The next day Coppa managed TO find a
way to buy supplies, and the restaurant
resumed business. IL il the only restau-
rant standing within a mile, and it did not
lose even a napkin. In the island spared
by the fire stood unframed the studio of
Xavier Martinez, from which he had escaped
on the morning of the earthquake when it
seemed as though the building was about
to fall on him.
on the second noor OF the Montgomery
block was stored part of the Sutro Library,
or, az has been IA ia it was until a few months
ago. The Sutro collection was described
nj length in THE SUN last week. There
were perhaps Is, 900 volumes stored in this
MONTGOMERY street division, among them
the most valuable single books, Here were
the complete set of the first four Shake
spear folios, the Ben Jonson "Firsts," the
specimens Of Gutenberg printing. the fine
collec tion of English broadsides. best out