The San Francisco call., 1910-03-24
SPIRIT OF OLD
SAN FRANCISCO
AGAIN BREATHES
Cafes Once More Ring With
Carnival Cheer as Dancers
Glide Over Floor
All Classes MingIe in Good Fell
IOwship and "City That
Was" RecIaimS Own
"E-e-e-everybody two-stepe'

Cdi ESlIdlN OF ALS groups ABOUT lie III
tie tables. Has anybody here seen
Kelly?'
The persistent query concerning
Kelly having failed to elicit any re-
sponse save a few sporadic handclaps
from distant corners of the cafe. sun
dry signals to the scurrying walters
and numerous ''what'n you haves?' the
- loist gives up. reaches for a mega
phone and calls for the dance to pro-
ceed
Up, the length Of the little brass
rallied orchestra platform prances a
violinist. turning. twisting, grimacing
and performing fancy steps, but withal
sending his bow across the strings In
most satisfactory time and rhythm, and
behind him the other instruments of
the orchestra crash, bang and rattle
into the strains Of the latest popular
dance
EYES FLASH MESSAGES
-. Half empty glasses are suddenly up
lifted and then return with sharp
clicks to the polished table tops. There
are quick exchanges of words, mods.
smiles and sometimes MESA ges flashed
clear across the room from eyes to
eyes. They are rising from the tables.
H4nStE OF D0 tWoSs tQe young WoiutH
giving quick twitches to their skirts
and pat to headgear and unruly locks
Of hair. their escorts ficking tobacco
ash from their coats as they rise.
tiver the low railing Of the orchestra
platform leaps a young chap in
checked suit. who little while ago was
singing with a quartet. At a nearby
table "a girl excuses herself to three
men in evening dress and turns TO join
him Of the criSs cross raiment. She is
petite. pink skinned clear eyed. rosy
Tipped gowned in the latest of fash
iOnably tailored creations, and her fluffy
blonde hair IS surmOunted by yellow
turban trimmed with gold lace and
tipped with an amazingly graceful
scarlet feather. They meet and are the
first 10 step out on the polished floor.
They fall into step TO the music; an
other couple enters the floor from the
opposite side: still others are coming;
more are rising from the tables. The
dance is on.
THE LOVING TWOSTEP-
But what is this dance? Watch the
couple just stepping on the floor. Her
arms reach up and her hands clasp be-
hind his neck; his arms. beneath them.
draw her close. but his hands are on
her shoulders. In tight embrace they
glide easily into the step, but where is
-he exhilaration of the first quick glide
cross the floor? Their step is SLOW
: almost deliberate: their bodies sway
slightly from side 10 side; they have
kept the rhythm for minute, but have
scarcely turned the corner of the floor
is this the first figure of some stately
dance-some new development of the
minuet2 The suggestion wins a laugh
from the man of superior knowledge at
the next table. That Why, that's the
loving twostep, f" he explains.
So this, by grace of the police COM
missions removal of the ban upon
dancing in cafes. is the long heralded
Paris Of America" at last? All this
the lights. the gowns, the flashing mir
rors, the laughter, the clink of glasses,
the flow of wine, the music. the dance
all this is the heart of the western
-'Paris2'
THE OLD SAN FRANCISCO
Ask those two fellows at the farther
table, whom so cany stop to speak to
as they pass. They are thinking back
tonight Of old days before the fire and
Of the old places-of Jack Morgan's,"
of the old "Dunn's," of THE Press"
cafe Of 'Crowley's," of The Oriental"
Of Pratt & Tierney's.' Of 'Kapp &
streets" and of a dozen more where
the night life of the big. joyous, care
free city" centered.
ASK them if this is The Paris of
America"
NO once more NO MOI Paris,
but only old San Francisco back again.
Four years have passed and the city
has had many celebrations. 1t has ac-
claimed its own material reconstruc-
tion; IL has welcomed the birth of new
civic pride and spirit; ii has decked
itself in greeting to the greatest bat
tleship fleet that ever sailed the Pa
ciic: it has hidden the world TO its
Portola festival: it has made its streets
ring with the carnival spirit of New
Years ewes. Tonight it is looking
again on the night life that in the days
OF old made ii unique among American
cities.
Call it Paris" il you will; but. after
al. it's only one more phase of San
Francisco life come into its own again.
The cry goes up that THE lid is off,"
"a nd sitting in this cafe of the down
town tenderlofn we are looking be-
. meath the lid and finding only familiar
cenes. Like the rest of the city this
new tenderloin has grown again in the
old district and. like the new city. it is
much the same as the old, save bigger
and more pretentious in every way
CUISINES Is GOOD
In the district bounded by the east
side of Mason street, the west side of
Taylor and the south sides of O'Farrell
and Turk. the new cafes are fiourishing.
Three nights with the ban against
dancing removed have served to work
a Transformation. The big cafes. that
have remained week after week with
empty tables. have been thronged since
the dance floors have been cleared.
Ask the proprietors. They wear smiles
that won't come off" and they assure
you heartily that Business is good"
IN most Of the big cafes the dance
floors were laid and only the removal
Of tables was necessary,-to the inau-
guration of the new regime, when the
order permitting dancing was made
At ~Stack's'' the carpets are still lown
and at "Schiff's" and THE Mirror lin
oleum is serving as a make shift until
the new floors can be laid. In the
others the revelry reached its height
from the night the signal for dancing
was given. Take them all-"Eddie
HanloD's," THE Alturas. Spider Kel-
ly's." The Breakers THE High Life"
THE Rehearsal" THE Peacock"
''Crowleys." "Breen's" and "Dunn's"-
and everywhere is the terpsichorean
whirl and the reign of merriment.
ALL CLASSES MINGLE
Look again at the dancers and those