The San Francisco call., 1910-09-03

At recent meeting of the Downtown
| associa ton at the St Francis hotel,
Otto Sculler, the engineer of the Down
town association, introduced a set OF
plans for a Chinese arch and pagodas
to be erected at the entrance to China
town. The proposal was received with
much favor and the matter of cost ~
now being investigated. 1t is proposed
to erect this arch at the corner of Bush
street and Grant avenue.
There will be four ornamental pillars
surmounted with pagOdas- Upon the
sides of the pillars will be the form OF
giant Chinaman in bas-relief- From
the top of each pagOda a dragon VIII
wriggle toward the center of the street
Over the center of the street will be
a large red ball about four feet In
diameter. The dragons have their
heads pointed toward this ball and have
the appearance of endeavOrtng 10
swallow it.
The red ball and dra gon Is symbolic
of Chinese tradition. The Chinese are
taught to believe that the dragon is a
fire fighter and that so long as he does
not succeed in devouring the ball Of
fire China will have peace and pros
perity.
The pagodas will be painted in true
Chinese colors with yellow and red
predominant. There will be two cleo
trio lights to illuminate the dragons
and pagodas. On the top of each alter
nate pa agoda will be an American and
a Chinese flag.
An automatic sparker will light the
dragons and give them the appearance
of squirming and moving toward the
red ball in an endeavor TO swallow it.
The whole affair will be brilliantly il
Illuminated.
The purpose of the arch IS to make
the approach to Chinatown attractive
and object OF interest Tourists
would see here an oriental setting
which could not be found elsewhere.
The number of Chinese in the United
States is very small, and is constantly
decreasing. About half of the Chinese
in this country are to be found in this
city. A distinctive Chinatown would
be great attraction, especially to
eastern tourists
The Chinese merchants are cooper
ating with the Downtown association
in an effort to secure this oriental arch.
In last Saturdays Call there was
given a brief sketch of what the Down
town association did in the way of
bringing back trade to the burned dis
trict. how it caused the streets to be
put into proper shape. secured fire pro-
lection for the district and built up the
district until it has been transformed
of magnificent structures.
The association has undertaken to
beautify and embellish this district 1t
has installed 40 electrolers at a cost
of $16,S00- These electroIiers were de-
signed and the lighting planned by
local engineers and architects. They
were also manufactured and installed
by local concerns.
So attractive have these e1ectroliers
proven that requests have been received
from st. Louis, Galveston, Washington,
New York and other cities asking for
illustrations and information concern
ing them.
In furtherance of this scheme to
beautify the district the association
plans to erect an ornamental Chinese
arch at the entrance to Chinatown, pic
ture and description of which will be
found upon another page of this paper.
Having shown an aggressive spirit
toward the development of it's own dis
trict, the association has acquired an
energy which it often exerts for the
general welfare. This is notably true
of its interest in the Panama-Pacific
exposition.
At meeting May % it was sug-