FINDING SAN FRANCISCO PART VII: HIDDEN GEMS

 

Some of the best things to see in San Francisco have fallen off the tour book grid and yet paint as fascinating a picture of the city and its story as the renowned landmarks.

The Painted Ladies of Alamo Square have become icons of the city, but their popularity was generated more by pop-culture than history.

Full House ingrained them in the American psyche (as well as its very own Full House-house, which is also a popular, though less recognized site) and ever since Steiner Street has drawn thousands of fans. But the history of these pastel colored Victorian homes predates Full House and television by almost a century.

Built in the last decades of the 19th century, the homes exude the grand splendor of the Gilded Age in all aspects (gable roof, arched doorways, Italianate windows etc.) but one, the vibrant colors. Each of the seven sisters (as they are colloquially called) is also known by the color (the “Pink Painted Lady”, for instance) it vibrates in a way unseen in the Victorian era when the preference ran toward earth colors.

One of the places I had to see in San Francisco was the remnant of what was once its most important department stores, the City of Paris. In 1896, after much shifting around by its founders, French immigrants Felix and Emile Verdier, merchants specializing in silk and fabrics, the store opened in its final location opposite Union Square.

For the first half of the 20th century, the City of Paris acquired many distinctions. Maintaining close ties to its French roots, the store boasted the largest selection of imported wines in the country attracting the attention of cuisine connoisseurs such as Julia Child and Simone Beck. Brentano’s eventually opened a shop within the City of Paris which became the largest book store in the West Coast.

Throughout the war years the Verdier family opened a number of smaller branches around California but by the early 70s, due in part to changing economics and competition in the area, sales were declining. In March of 1972, the City of Paris closed and was sold to Liberty House which in turn sold the building to Neiman Marcus. In 1977, after Neiman Marcus scandalized locals by announcing plans to tear down the building, which was registered as a California landmark in the National Registry of Historic Places. Despite a petition carrying 66,000 signatures from locals arguing for the building’s preservation the building, which survived the 1906 earthquake, was demolished in 1981. All that remains today of what was once the City of Paris is the original glass dome and rotunda, keeping alive the memory of what was the pride of San Francisco’s shopping world for almost a century.

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