Hard soil has bestowed a grudged beauty - for the mobility, the
fire, which belongs to the Frenchwoman. The second generation of France
was in this crowd, it is true; but climate and exercise had grown above
their spiritual charm a cover of brilliant flesh. It was the beauty of
Greece.
With such a people, life was always gay. If the fairly Parisian gaiety
did not display itself on the streets, except in the matinee parade, it
was because the winds made open-air cafes disagreeable at all seasons of
the year. The life careless went on indoors or in the hundreds of pretty
estates - "ranches" the Californians called them - which fringe the
city.
San Francisco was famous for its restaurants and cafes. Probably they
were lacking at the top; probably the very best, for people who do not
care how they spend their money, was not to be had. But they gave the
best fare on earth, for the price, at a dollar, seventy-five cents, a
half a dollar, or even fifteen cents.
If one should tell exactly what could be had at Coppa's for fifty cents
or at the Fashion for, say thirty-five, no New Yorker who has not been
there would believe it. The San Francisco French dinner and the San
Francisco free lunch were as the Public Library to Boston or the stock
yards to Chicago. A number of causes contributed to this. The country
all about produced everything that a cook needs and that in abundance -
the bay was an almost untapped fishing pound, the fruit farms came up to
the very edge of the town, and the surrounding country produced in
abundance fine meats, game, all cereals and all vegetables.
But the chefs who came from France in the early days and stayed because
they liked this land of plenty were the head and front of it. They
passed on their art to other Frenchmen or to the clever Chinese. Most of
the French chefs at the biggest restaurants were born in Canton, China.
Later the Italians, learning of this country where good food is
appreciated, came and brought their own style. Householders always dined
out one or two nights of the week, and boarding houses were scarce, for
the unattached preferred the restaurants.
The eating was usually better than the surroundings. Meals that were
marvels were served in tumbledown little hotels. Most famous of all the
restaurants was the Poodle Dog. There have been no less than four
establishments of this name, beginning with a frame shanty where, in the
early days, a prince of French cooks used to exchange ragouts for gold
dust. Each succeeding restaurant of the name has moved further downtown;
and the recent Poodle Dog stands - stands or stood; one mixes his tenses
queerly in writing of this city which is and yet is no more - on the
edge of the Tenderloin in a modern five story building.
