Theodore Augustus Barry (1825-1881) and Benjamin Ada Patten (1825-1877) established their credentials as California pioneers by arriving in their adopted state before January 1, 1850. Men and memories of San Francisco (1873) gives later arrivals a detailed picture of the city as it existed a few months before California statehood. They describe the streets and the residences and business that lined each thoroughfare and alley as well as the men and women who owned those homes, boarding-houses, hotels, restaurants, saloons, stores, offices, and shops. They also chronicle the fire of May 1851 which destroyed so many of the structures they describe. While they focus on the city as it was in early 1850, their sketches of its residents extend further, often forming capsule biographies of their subjects.

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Excerpt from Men and Memories of San Francisco in the Spring of 50 Years ago it was no unfrequent thing for old resi dentes, who, in the course of conversation, had arrived at a point of doubt or difference upon the location of some building, or the names of its occupants, their personal appearance, profession, or peculiarities in the Spring of to come to us for information on the mooted point, believing that our long continued residence and peculiar Opportunities for observation, together with unusually good memories, rendered our decisions worthy of consideration. As Time's incessant revolution whirls us on and on, still farther from those days, and looking back upon the long vista of years, the once familiar spots and well known forms and faces fade in the distance. These inquiries increase day by day, and so often have we been correct, that many of our friends have said: Write some of the reminiscences of those old times. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

In July 1846 San Francisco was a tranquil settlement of about 150 inhabitants. Three years later it was an international metropolis with more than 30,000 people thronging its streets. Recalled in this intriguing collection of personal anecdotes from those tumultuous times are the days when -- San Francisco Bay extended inland to Montgomery Street. -- Bears, wolves, and coyotes roamed the shore. -- The arrival of 238 Mormons more than doubled the town's population.

Examining California's formative years, this innovative study seeks to discover the origins of the California dream and the social, psychological, and symbolic impact it has had not only on Californians but also on the rest of the country.

"Comme la plupart des villes américaines, San Francisco s'est développée suivant un système de grille orthogonale, ne tenant pas compte de la topographie particulière (42 collines et une baie). Il en résulte un phénomène peu commun : les rues rectilignes jouent aux montagnes russes car l'outil du colonisateur et les reliefs sont entrés en guerre au mépris d'une rationalité évidente.