859 O'Farrell St. |
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Opened: November 7, 1907 as Blanco's Cafe and Restaurant. The operator, Antone Blanco, had earlier run the Poodle Dog restaurant on the northeast corner of Mason Eddy. This new venture was one of the first major dining spots to open downtown after the earthquake and fire of 1906. The building is on the south side of the street between Larkin and Polk. Photo: Google Maps - 2017.
Architect: A.W. Edelman, according to research by Harry Angus. Murals in the space have been credited to Attilio Moretti.
The early history of the site. Tenderloin historian Peter M. Field, author of the 2018 Arcadia Publishing book "The Tenderloin District of San Francisco Through Time," comments:
"About 1874, a small Victorian mansion was either rented or built on the site by Mrs. Marie Louise Hungerford Mackay, the wife of Comstock Silver King John Mackay. She had moved the family from Virginia City, Nevada, to what was then considered the eastern edge of the Western Addition. This was just a block east of 920 O'Farrell, Harriet Lane Levy's storied childhood home--see her autobiography '920 O'Farrell Street,' the wonderfully written story of a German Jewish girlhood in 19th century San Francisco. This was a very respectable, primarily German Jewish neighborhood of successful and prominent merchants, businessmen, and professionals, sprinkled with the mansions of people we've all read about.
An undated image of Mrs. Mackay.
"After several years Mrs. Mackay, who came from the impoverished upper classes before she married John W. Mackay and hence was socially ambitious, concluded that San Francisco was a social backwater, and so moved the family to New York, then London, then Paris, where she eventually married off their daughter to one of the many poor European nobles, who in those days were preying upon the offspring of the American nouveau riche, in this case a prince of the blood. About 1877, the Mackays sold the house to their San Francisco financial manager, yachtsman Cornelius 'Con' O'Connor.
"O'Connor died in 1897. His family or the estate leased or sold it to Christopher A. 'Blind Boss' Buckley, about 1902. By that time, this grafting Democratic boss had already made his pile, owned a ranch in Livermore called Ravenswood, and his political star was fading. He lost the house in the 1906 fire."
A cartoon image of Buckley that Peter located in the UC Bancroft Library collection.
The 1907 Cafe construction -- plus the 1908 hotel annex. Peter Field comments:
"The property was built on in 1907 by Antone Blanco, who before the fire had built and owned the most recent iteration of the city's several Poodle Dog restaurants, on the northeast corner of Mason and Eddy streets in the Tenderloin. The project included Blanco's Cafe and Restaurant at 859 O'Farrell, and a later building called Blanco's Annex, a hotel built on the adjoining lot east of the Cafe.
"I haven't come across any relationship between Chris Buckley and
Blanco's, except that they both were on the same lot, though in
altogether different eras. The Buckley family could have owned the lot--though we don't
know this--and kept it, in which case they could have leased it to
Blanco.
The scandal of 1912. It's a story passed along by Jan Whitaker, in the article "Famous in its Day: Blanco's" on the blog Restaurant-ing Through History:
"In July of that year a Sausalito woman hired detectives to shadow her
husband who was enjoying a romantic dinner at Blanco's in the company of
another woman. Spotting the detectives but not knowing who was under
surveillance, Blanco's manager went from table to table notifying all
the guests of the detectives at work. Numbers of couples made a quick
exit from the back door. Needless to say, the privacy curtains on the
mezzanine booths shown in a c.1915 postcard were more than merely
decorative."
Peter Field went digging and reports that the night of the back door exits at Blanco's was covered in "Night Of Revelry Will Result In Divorce," a page one story in the July 16, 1912 issue of the San Francisco Chronicle.
A c.1915 postcard of Blanco's during a banquet. Thanks to Glenn Koch for sharing the card from his collection.
Expansion plans. But the end comes for Blanco. There was evidently a plan to enlarge the restaurant in 1917. This wasn't pursued as talk of prohibition was in the air. Jan Whitaker notes:
"In 1917 a plan to add two stories to the restaurant was abandoned, perhaps because of the looming nationwide ban on the sale of alcohol."
And Blanco himself was in trouble. Peter comments:
"About
1909 Blanco had built a second Poodle Dog half a block
up and across the street from his pre-fire Poodle Dog on Mason Street.
These businesses kept going until 1918 when he was forced to
close all of them and agree to a court-ordered stipulation to never
again go into the restaurant and hotel business in San Francisco.
"He
died the following year, a broken man. Mostly this was because the
neighborhood's two famous French restaurants he owned had become places
of assignation where straying single young men and husbands would bring
or meet their female friends for a liaison, and this came out in open
court. These were women who they couldn't introduce to, or associate
with, in polite society."
The restaurant continued to operate but under different management.
The blow of Prohibition. In 1919 they advertised:
"Good-bye to
good old wines. Good-bye to good old times. But good eats will remain."
But restaurants found that it was difficult to stay in the black without liquor revenue. The management also had other difficulties. Jan Whitaker notes that in 1921 the manager of Blanco's Hotel was arrested for not keeping an accurate register of guests, a violation of city ordinances.
In the 1920s Blanco's continued to be recommended in guidebooks to the city. Although prohibition ended in 1933 the depression continued to deepen and the operation failed in 1934. The buildings and contents were sold at auction. Peter notes that the city directories list Blanco's through 1934.
Reopening as the Music Box. After a bit of renovation the venue reopened on October 17, 1935 as the Music Box. Peter Field notes that the opening was mentioned in the Examiner's October 19 page 16 story titled "Bright Spots At Local Night Clubs." He adds:
"As for the issue of ownership, a display ad on page 5 of the Examiner's October 19 issue shows that it was owned from the start by George L. Riccomi and Sam Nussbaum. They were listed in the city directories as the owners during its years of operation, through 1940. Both of these men already owned other clubs in the city, and apparently partnered to start up The Music Box."
Jan Whitaker notes:
"It had been partially modernized. Murals were replaced with mirrors and many other decorations by artist Attilio Moretti had been removed. Ruth Thomas, co-author of 'Eating Around San Francisco' (1937), reported that she was given a tour of the Music Box and saw Venetian glass chandeliers and life-sized plaster statues of women in a basement storeroom."
A Music Box postcard from the Glenn Koch collection. Thanks, Glenn!
Peter Field comments about the operation:
"It started out offering floor shows featuring dance teams, singers, vaudeville performers, and like that, but after several months it added high-class girlie shows, featuring scantily clad women dancing hulas or any other schtick that served as an excuse to perform in minimal attire. The club stayed with this policy from then on."
A busier looking Music Box card from the Jack Tillmany collection.
An undated photo of the space as Music Box. Thanks to Lee Brenkman for sharing the photo on the Facebook page
Vintage San Francisco.
The Sally Rand era. Peter Field comments:
"The newspapers of the
time reported that Sally Rand came to San Francisco several times in the
1930s to appear in a couple of different clubs to perform her fan
dance. The venue she's most remembered for was the Music Box, where she
performed regularly during the Golden Gate International Exposition at
the newly formed Treasure Island in 1939."
A 1939 ad for an appearance of Sally Rand at the Music Box. It appears with an article about the performer on the website of the
Museum of the City of San Francisco. Thanks to Harry Angus for locating the page.
An undated photo of Ms. Rand that was located by Peter Field.
Sally's
big venture in 1939 was running a show on Treasure Island in the
Golden Gate Exposition's amusement area, the "Gayway." That's Sally in
the center, keeping her clothes on this time. Thanks to Peter for
locating this postcard for the attraction. It comes from Chris Carlsson
of
Shaping San Francisco.
The Exposition opened February 18, 1939 and closed September 29, 1940. Thanks to Peter for locating this photo of the Ranch. He comments:
"The Midway concession was called 'DNUDE RANCH,' with a line through the D. This featured live
barely-clad cowgirls in postcard poses as they spun lariats and leaned
revealingly on two-barred fences about the set. While the
periodic police raids on her Treasure Island concession were said by
some to have have been staged, with resultant jumps in attendance from
the publicity, the raids on her performances at the Music Box were for
real.
"Mid-20th century defense attorney Jake Ehrlich wrote the story in one of his books, 'A Life In My Hands.' He got the charges dismissed by getting the judge to agree to taking the entire court--attorneys, their assistants, the court reporter, the bailiff, and practically anyone else who could convince the judge to include them, to the Music Box for a private performance of Miss Rand's fan dance, after which she served Bloody Marys. The next day the judge quickly dismissed the case, saying he couldn't imagine anyone finding anything obscene about Miss Rand's show."
Sally was broke before the end of 1939. The story was covered in "'Bang!' Went Sally's Bubble--And She's Broke," a December 3 article on page 6 of the Examiner's American Weekly section that was located by Peter Field. It was explained that while Ms. Rand was the proprietor of the attraction at the Golden Gate Exposition she was just a "featured performer" at the Music Box and didn't have an ownership stake.
The Music Box after Sally. The club limped along with headliners both famous and not after Sally's engagement ended. Peter Field located a brief mention in the Examiner's "Around Town" column on October 13, 1940 noting that George Riccomi had finally found another big name performer for the club.
A 1940 event at the Music Box. Thanks to Harry Angus for locating the photo.
Yvette Dare and her sarong-stealing parrot were one Music Box attraction in 1940. Thanks to Peter Field for locating the ad.
Unable to find performers with Sally Rand's drawing power, George Riccomi, as president of the company owning the club, filed for bankruptcy protection in 1940. Thanks to Peter Field for locating the news in "Bankruptcy Plea Filed by Local Theater-Cafe," the Examiner's page 28 article in their June 6 edition.
Peter notes that the Music Box is listed in city directories from 1936 through 1940 and again in 1942 and 1944.
Reopening post-war as Blanco's Cotton Club. This venture opened in 1948 as a jazz club under the management of Barney Deasy. It was the city’s first desegregated club. Performers included trumpeter Allen
Smith and Lionel Hampton. Business was initially hot but it was difficult to meet expenses during engagements featuring large orchestras.
This opening ad appearing in the June 23, 1948 issue of the Chronicle. Thanks to Peter Field for locating it. He comments:
"This was an effort to reprise Harlem's Cotton Club in San Francisco, including all-black staff and entertainment provided to a mixed audience. Urban legend has it that the place failed within six months due to racial discrimination from the all white SF Musician's Union.
"The discrimination, it turns out, was true only to the extent that the white Musicians Union threatened to strike and picket, which meant that the black staff, some of who were members of black unions, wouldn't be able to cross the picket lines. This was in the days when the white musicians claimed everything east of Van Ness as their own territory, leaving the rest for the black entertainers and workers.
"But the scheme blew up in their faces when the issue was publicized at a time when thousands of black WW II veterans had recently returned home and there was the first stirrings of the post-war integration movement. The result was that the new all black Blanco's staff, both union and non-union, crossed the
white Musicians' Union picket lines, forcing the white union to withdraw
its pickets after just two days, presumably because of the very bad
light into which the white union suddenly found itself bathed.
"The real story of its failure is more pedestrian and much sadder: this club had opened after World War II, that era in jazz and big band music where the bands and war-time inflation had priced almost all the big bands out of business. Blanco's was a sort of last gasp attempt in that direction, and the unbelievably high costs of hiring name big bands left little in the way of a profit margin for the fledgling enterprise, and it soon went into bankruptcy."
An August 19, 1948 ad in the Chronicle for Art Tatum at the Cotton Club. Thanks to Peter for locating it.
A 40s view featured in a July 2022 post on the
GAMH Facebook page. Thanks to Rob Doughty for spotting the post.
The Moose take over the location around 1950. They use the space for lodge meetings and special events. Harry Angus notes that at one point the city building inspectors condemned the building and it narrowly escaped demolition. Peter Field reports that the Moose are listed as being in the building starting in the 1951 city directory and running through the 1969-1970 edition.
A restaurant tenant takes over in 1969. Robert Charles gave the place a refresh and opened his new French restaurant, called Charles. He did some restoration including uncovering some of the murals. Peter notes that there's a listing for Charles in the 1969 through 1972 directories.
Becoming the Great American Music Hall. The building got its GAMH identity in 1972 after a purchase and remodel by Tom and Jeanie Bradshaw. It was sold to Palo Alto-based startup Riffage.com in May 2000. They planned to do to live Internet broadcasts of concerts of new music. Later in 2000 Diablo Management Group took it over. Boz Scaggs was a co-owner in 2014.
Status: It's now operated by Slim's Presents.
Thanks to Peter M. Field for his research.
Recent interior views:
A 2017 look to the stage by an unknown photographer.
A c.2017 stage view under different lighting. Photo: GAMH website
A c.2017 ceiling detail. Photo: GAMH website
A 2018 view from the balcony. Photo: GAMH website
A 2017 look to the rear taken by an unknown photographer.
A 2018 shot from onstage. Photo: GAMH website
A July 2022 photo from the
GAMH Facebook page. Thanks to Rob Doughty for spotting the post.
Another shot from the venue's July 2022 Facebook post.
More exterior views:
Blanco's, on the right, as seen in 1921. Thanks to Peter Field for locating this photo in the
Open San Francisco History Project collection. It was taken by Horace Chaffee for the city's Department of Public Works.
A detail from the 1921 photo.
The rear of the building in 2011 with the Blanco's sign still visible. Thanks to Peter Field for sharing his photo.
An undated photo by Tom Gray. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for sharing it.
Another Tom Gray photo from the Jack Tillmany collection. Thanks, Jack!
More information: Tenderloin historian Peter M. Field is the author of the 2018 Arcadia Publishing book "The Tenderloin District of San Francisco Through Time." It's available through Amazon.
Visit the page by Harry Angus about the Music Hall on his blog Jerry's Brokendown Palaces.
Jack Tillmany's Arcadia Publishing book "Theatres of San Francisco" can be previewed on Google Books. It's available from Amazon or your local bookseller.
See Jan Whitaker's 2015 post titled "Famous in its day: Blanco's" on the blog Restaurant-ing Through History for many stories. Thanks to Terry Koenig for suggesting the article.
Wikipedia has an article on the venue.
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