N.E. corner Kearny St. and Clay St. | map |
Opening: This second floor venue on the east side of Portsmouth Square was operating as F. Gilbert's Melodeon beginning in December 1859. The proprietor was Ferdinand Gilbert. The building was erected in August 1850 by a Mr. Pierce. The second floor space was initially a ballroom. After an 1856 remodel the second floor had been used as an armory and display venue for a menagerie.
Gilbert's gets a mention in Chapter 6 of Herbert Asbury's "The Barbary Coast," a chapter mostly about the Bella Union. Discussing "melodeons," he says they were "low variety and music halls" but a step up from those dives whose only purpose was to separate you from your money. At the melodeons there was lots of liquor but no dancing. "They catered to stag audiences only, and occasionally offered very ambitious programs, but their performances, while course and vulgar and presented with what the Gilbert's advertisements called 'freedom from constrained etiquette,' were not particularly obscene."
The early look of the building as photographed by George R. Fardon (1806-1886). According to John Lumea this structure had been erected in 1850 as the California Exchange. For his article "The Emperor Was Not Amused" on the Emperor Norton Trust blog he located a version of the photo from Yale's Beinecke Library with a caption giving the name of the building.
Several sources date this as May 1855. It's a photo by George R. Fardon that was published in Fardon's San Francisco Album of 1856. It appears on the Online Archive of California website from the UC Bancroft Library collection. Their caption:
"Former
Post Office, the rally of the 'Law and Order' Party. Buildings on
Kearny Street at the east side of Portsmouth Square. The largest
building is the former post office (1852-1855) that, in 1856, became the
rallying place for the party opposed to the Vigilance Committee. Also
pictured are a stage office (with stagecoach in front), the Plaza
Intelligence Office and Golden Gate Bakery, and to the right, on Clay
Street, Young's Cloak, Bonnet, & Fancy Goods Establishment. The
masts of numerous ships are visible in the background, and the street is
lined with wagons and carriages..."
Later we see a remodeled version of the building. Among other changes, it ended up with a different number of bays. John Lumea comments on the reconstruction:
"In 1856, during the 3-month conflict engaged by San Francisco’s Second Committee of Vigilance, both the Vigilance Committee and the Committee’s opponents, known as the 'Law and Order Party,' vied for control of the California Exchange as an armory and a site for drill practice. Ultimately, the Committee took control of the building. And, in June 1856, the San Francisco Daily Evening Bulletin reported on a project to 're-construct' the top floor, so as to make it strong enough for practice drill and armory uses."
An item from Fireman’s Journal about re-constructing the California Exchange. It was reprinted in the June 23, 1856 issue of the San Francisco Daily Evening Bulletin. Thanks to John for locating this via the site GenealogyBank.
A December 12, 1856 ad in the San Francisco Daily Herald announcing the use of the second floor as an exhibition space for the California Menagerie. At the time, they were using an entrance on Clay St. Thanks to John Lumea for locating this via GenealogyBank. He notes that this was four months after the Second Vigilance Committee
had disbanded and the building was no longer used for military purposes.
See John's
article for more about the proprietor of the menagerie, John Adams, later known as Grizzly Adams. He moved out of the building in August 1859.
An 1859 remodel with a Mr. Huerne as the architect and a Mr. Shoemaker as the contractor. This nice history of the building appeared in the November 10, 1859 issue of the San Francisco Daily Evening Bulletin. Thanks to John Lumea for locating it via GenealogyBank.
"Opera This Evening." Gilbert's New Melodeon gets open in the second floor space. Thanks to John Lumea for locating this ad in the December 5 issue of the San Francisco Daily Herald via the site Genealogy Bank. He comments:
"Notice, on the bill, 'La Petite Lotta.' That’s Lotta Crabtree, who had just turned 12 the month before. Originally from France, the proprietor Ferdinand Gilbert most recently had lived north of San Francisco, in Marysville and Oroville."
A
c.1860 corner view of the remodeled building. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for sharing this version of
the photo from his collection. It can also be seen on
Calisphere from the UC Berkeley Bancroft Library collection and on the
San Francisco Public Library website. Mike Fusello posted the photo on the
San Francisco History Facebook page where it elicited many comments. In his
Emperor Norton article John Lumea notes:
"The most obvious explanation for the changes to the building since Fardon's photograph of May 1855 — different storefronts and second-floor windows; the addition of cornices and other moldings — would seem to be the 're-construction' of 1856, the remodel of 1859, or both."
The theatre in the early 1860s. Note the establishment's entrance in the left bay of the building, with signage that we don't see in the previous photo. Also note added signage outside the corner 2nd floor windows. That's Clay St. on the right. The photo is on Calisphere from the California State Library collection. Thanks
to Bob Ristelhueber for finding it for a post on the BAHT Facebook page. The San Francisco Public Library has a cropped version.
The image appeared on page 12 of the 1894 publication "Souvenir, early days in California," published by Perham W. Nahl, San Francisco. They dated it as 1854, evidently a bit too early. The caption noted that the coach in front was
headed for Mission Delores. The omnibus service, the "Yellow Line," had begun in 1852, San Francisco's first regular public transportation. Additional text that appeared in the 1894 publication:
Mark Reed found this item in the April 24, 1861 issue of the Sacramento Daily Union:
"Last
night the police arrested three women and one man, who were exhibiting
themselves as Model Artists at Gilbert's Melodeon."
And thanks again to Mark for locating this item in the April 25, 1861 issue of the Daily Alta California:
"Conviction
of the Model Artists. -- The females arrested at Gilbert's Melodeon for
an indecent exposure, on Monday night, were tried before Judge Cowles
yesterday, and convicted of the charge, the jury bringing in their
verdict last night. They probably will be sentenced to-day."
Part of an article appearing in the June 25, 1861 issue of the
Sacramento Daily Union:
Thanks to Mark Reed for locating this June 25 article. He notes
that Colonel Jonathan Drake Stevenson was an early and very prominent
pioneer.
The Stockton Independent issue of November 15, 1862 had an item about Gilbert. Thanks to Xavier Le Garrec for locating this:
"Gilbert's
Melodeon -- Mr. Gilbert, proprietor of the Melodeon of that name, in
San Francisco, has sold out his interest in the establishment to Messrs.
Little & Burroughs, for the sum of $6,000. Gilbert is shortly going
to make the tour of Europe."
Despite the change of ownership, John Lumea reports that the theatre was still being advertised as Gilbert's Melodeon as late as October 1863. By this time Mr. Little had a new partner, a Mr. Bradley.
An October 18 ad in the San Francisco Sunday Mercury that John located via the site GenealogyBank. Note that the bill included Sophie and Irene Worrell. They were two daughters of William Worrell, who would soon be operating the theatre.
Gilbert was back in action by October 1863 when he and several partners took over the
Union Theatre on Commercial St., calling it Gilbert's New Idea. He was also involved in
The Willows, a resort at 18th and Mission. In late 1863 he opened
Gilbert's Museum and Menagerie on Market St. just east of Montgomery.
By January 1865 Gilbert's old venue at Kearny and Clay had become Worrell's Olympic, operated by William Worrell.
The Daily Dramatic Chronicle had the news that the former Gilbert's location had become Worrell's on the front page of their January 16, 1865 issue. This was the inaugural issue of the paper. The image was a post on the Chronicle Facebook page. On the bill note the "Continued Success of the Fairy Sisters Sophie, Irene and Little Jenny Worrell." John Lumea has done the research:
"William 'Billy' Worrell (1823–1897) was a celebrated circus clown who developed a stage act with his three young daughters, the aptly named Worrell Sisters. The already popular sisters went on to fame of their own, moving to New York, where they leased a theater and — in a review that appeared in the New-York Tribune of 18 May 1867 — were dubbed 'the Three Graces of Burlesque.'"
"Glorious Success." Worrell's Olympic has half of the front page of the
Daily Dramatic Chronicle for April 15, 1865. This is what was happening in San Francisco
theatre and entertainment the day Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. Thanks to William David French, Jr. for finding the ad for a post on the BAHT Facebook page.
Gilbert was soon back in control of the theatre and it was rebranded as Gilbert's Melodeon. John Woodard, previously the stage manager for Worrell, was now managing the venue. Thanks to John Lumea for locating this item via GenealogyBank that appeared in the May 8, 1865 issue of the Daily Dramatic Chronicle. In the city directory that year the theatre was listed as Gilbert's Olympic, Kearny opposite Plaza.
In the process of phasing out the Gilbert's name for the theatre. Thanks to John Lumea for locating this heading for the ad that appeared in the September 9, 1865 issue of the Daily Dramatic Chronicle.
Two days later: the heading for the September 11, 1865 ad in the Chronicle with Woodard listed as the "sole manager" and Gilbert not in sight. Thanks to John Lumea for locating this. He says it appears that Gilbert might have retained a minority interest for a while longer.
A June 5, 1867 ad for "The Naked Truth, Or, The Emperor's Dream" starring Frank Prescott that appeared in the Daily Dramatic Chronicle. E.G. Bert was managing the house. Bert had been one of Gilbert's partners when he took over the Union Theatre in 1863, a house that was later called Bert's New Idea Melodeon. Thanks to John Lumea for posting the ad on the San Francisco History to the 1920s Facebook page.
Thanks to John for his terrific research about this theatre. In "The Emperor Was Not Amused," his article for the Emperor Norton Trust blog, he discusses the reaction by Norton to the comic depictions presented in various theatrical productions during his lifetime. He notes that Norton lived right around the corner from the theatre, at the Eureka Lodgings on Commercial St., mid-block between Montgomery and Kearny.
The 1868 city directory lists the venue as the Olympic Theatre, NE corner Kearny and Clay.
Closing: Perhaps sometime around 1868.
A later look at the building from the San Francisco Public Library collection where they date it as "1873?" The car is Cable Car 10 from the Clay Street Hill Railroad Company, which began service in 1873, allegedly the world's first cable car. The image by Thomas Houseworth also appears on the Open SF History Project website. When the photo appeared in some San Francisco paper it was with this copy:
"These folks are off for a ride on the old Clay st. cable line, starting at Kearny and Clay, and they look as if they didn't relish the prospect a little bit. This was one of the popular 'residential lines' before the fire."
The expanded building on the site is seen as the "Plaza Store" with the Globe Business School on the 3rd floor. It's a detail from image 22 of the 1887 Sanborn Insurance Map in the Library of Congress collection. To the left it's Clay St. To the right of the building is Merchant St. The building on the right labeled "Old City Hall" had once been the Jenny Lind Theatre.
More information: Gilbert's Melodeon is discussed on page 326 of Amy DeFalco Lippert's 2018 book "Consuming Identities: Visual Culture in 19th Century San Francisco." It's on Google Books.
And don't miss John Lumea's "The Emperor Was Not Amused," his article about the theatre for the Emperor Norton Trust blog
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