19th Century Chinese Restaurant and Cigar Factory
Dupont Street Restaurant, S.F., Cal. (4764)
Publication: San Francisco: Taber Photo. [1890s].
Notes: An unmounted imperial cabinet card-sized albumen silver print of the exterior of the Hang Fer Lo restaurant and the Colombo cigar factory on Dupont Street, between Sacramento and Clay Streets in San Francisco's Chinatown.
Hang Fer Lo was the leading Chinese restaurant in the city before the earthquake. It operated on two floors above the cigar factory. This image probably dates from the 1890s (it is not in Taber's 1889 catalog of images). A small area of the Colombo sign has been painted over, adding the words "Bong Mon Cigar Factory." At the time, there was some prejudice against Chinese-made cigars. In 1887, the Oroville Weekly Mercury (August 5 issue) ran an article criticizing a business owner in Chico, California, for selling Colombo brand cigars instead of "white labor cigars."
The upper floors of the building belong to the Chinese restaurant and are adorned with paper lanterns, plants, and carved decorations. A sign reading "restaurant" is visible at the top center of the image.
7-1/2 by 9-1/2 inches. Captioned in the negative in a narrow strip along the bottom of the image.
Edition + Condition: A near fine image, with a bit of creasing. Never mounted.
Item No: #364055
Price: $750