The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1911-04-15
ey EIIzabeth AaIaht strona.

One of the many charms OF old San
Francisco was that It retained some
Of the attractive characteristics OF
village while possessing all Of the
features of a big city. TIE intimacies
and neighborliness Of a smRn town
were combined with the conveniences,
enterprises and interchangeable alert
ness of a metropolis. That's one Of
the things that held people here;
that's one of the things that drew
them back again if they ever were
here One of these attractions was
that people were easy to locate, and
that induced a sociability and a pc
culiar atmosphere found in no other
large city, so globe-trotters have de-
clared. One didn't travel miles Of
blocks like New Workers do without
seeing a familiar face. Just as the
villager knows that "Bill Jones is
daown to Hiram's store" holding
down the lid of the sugar barrel, or
Jimmy Smithins was over ter the
Postoffice lool1in' fer letters from
daown East" so could certain people
be found at favorite places Of loiter
before the fire.
But most of the old meeting places
of San Francisco's well-known char
acters were burned, and with the re-
facilitating of the city the men much
sought after changed their daily roht-
inc with a necessary change of bust
ness locations and business customs,
or because the former places were no
more. The old Occidental lobby be-
longs to the past. It was there that
the heads of the Army, the Navy and
other Federal departments, the Epis-
copal church, the Methodist church,
the Baptists and other religious de-
nominations could almost daily be
found greeting, meeting and assem-
bling. =
Transport day, that is, the arrival
or departure of a Government vessel,
was just as much of an occasion for
the gathering of these representa-
tives at the old Occidental Hotel as
was the traditional steamer days when
the city was young, and they congre-
gated in Portsmouth Square. In old
San Francisco, if you wanted to find
the heads of the big commercial firms
that handled the coffee and other
products of Central America; if you
wished to talk to the Central Amerl-
can merchants, they could always be
found either seated on the long leath'
err benches on the side, gathered in
the hotel clubroom, partaking of
drink or two, or assembled at round
table in the cafe of the Occidental.
And sure as you were of locating
the Guatemalans, Salvadorans, Nicar-
aguans and others from the tropical
countries, you could be equally sure
of greeting the generous proportions
of General Bamberger, the deep-voic-
ed politician, political war horse and
mining man, with many of his ilk
from Montana, Utah and other West
ern mining states, standing in front
of the Lick House, or lettering in the
lobby of that hostelry, block south
of the Occidental. Just as regularly
did politicians from Northern and
Southern California divide their pa
tronage during their stay in San Fran
cisco between the Lick House and
Grand Hotel. These politicians anG
other notables naturally attracted the
local men of their kind
George Knight would drop in to see
the political boss of Humboldt county
at the Lick House. Tom Bishop, IA
nous lawyer who occupied his leis-
ure time with farming, would spend
from 2 to 4 between the Lick, Occi-
dental and Grand hotels, meeting big
land holders and cleaning valuable
knowledge of the agricultural outlook
throughout the State. No one was
better acquainted with the haunts of
politicians and public men in those
days than that interesting character
of many Legislatures, Tom Nossier OF
Oakland Out of the gatherings at the
Lick, Grand and Occidental hotels he
absorbed valuable information of a po-
litical nature which somehow found
it's way back to the headquarters OF
United States Senator Perkins or VII
liam F. Herrin, by whom he was sup
posed to have been employed.
Old Palace Court.
The court of the Palace Hotel was
also an excellent source from which to
trace people. If you were looking for