icon for podpress  the bella union and the barbary coast [26:32m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

all sorts of san francisco legends shared her stage and its story, among them oofty goofty, big bertha, lola montez, emperor norton and lotta crabtree. today’s podcast tells the story of the 60 years in which the “bella” was the most popular show in town.

for further edification:
» the barbary coast - herbert asbury, 1933
» san francisco theatrical memories - james madison, 1925
» women in early san francisco
» emperor norton - sparkletack
» marriott’s “avitor”

random episode from the archives:
#4: steam beer - the authentic san francisco style

musical support:
thanks to tom brown’s player piano for this week’s music, discovered at internetarchive.org, thanks to a creative commons license.