Clay Street in Chinatown, 1890s
Clay Street Hill, Chinatown, San Francisco (B 3096)
Publication: San Francisco: Taber Photo. [ca. 1880s].
Notes: A very nice ninethenth century albumen street scene photograph of San Francisco's Chinatown.
This photograph shows a sunlit Clay Street looking down hill, possibly from just below Stockton Street. A Chinese man in a work apron is walking in the foreground, facing the camera. Other men walk away from Taber's lens or cross the street as the Clay St. Hill Railroad cable car no. 2 reaches the intersection. Signs for two businesses are clearly visible on the right hand side. The tall vertical sign in the immediate foreground advertises Yuantang's (元堂) shop with medicinal herbs from various provinces of China. A sign farther back, at the corner of the next street, advertises Tai Ning Tong (太寧堂), another Chinese medicine shop.
This is an albumen silver prints on thin photographic paper, roughly 4-7/8 by 7-9-16 inches, captioned in the negative in a narrow strip along the bottom of the image. This image is included in Taber's ca. 1889 catalog of images available in his gallery.
Edition + Condition: This image has very good contrast, with better detail than the previous version of this print I have had. This print is not mounted but it has small surface scars on the verso, leaving the already-thin paper even thinner but intact in a few places.
Item No: #364047
Price: $600