The Elegant Art of Dining: Bohemian San Francisco, Its ... - iMedia

the world is to be depopulated through the coming of the fad of Eugenics. The
Italian mother has but two thoughts--her God and her children, and it is to care
for her children that she has brought from her native land the knowledge of
cookery, and of those things that help to put life and strength in their bodies.
An Italian girl said to us one day:
“Mama knows nothing but cooking and going to church. She cooks from
daylight until dark, and stops cooking only when she is at church.”
It was evident that her domestic and religious duties dominated her life, and she
knew but two things--to please her God and to care for her family, and without
question if occasion demanded the pleasure of her family took precedence.
San Francisco’s Latin quarter is appealing, enticing and hypnotizing. Go there
and you will learn why San Francisco is a bohemian city. You will find out that
so many things you have thought important are really not at all worth while.
Go there and you will find the root of Bohemian restaurants. These people have
studied gastronomy as a science, and they have imparted their knowledge to San
Francisco, with the result that the Bohemian spirit enters into our very lives, and
our minds are broadened, and our views of life and our ideas have a wider scope.
It is because of this condition, born on the slopes of Telegraph Hill, that we are
drawn out of depressing influences, out of the spirit of self-consciousness, and
find a world of pleasure, innocent and educational, the inspiration for which has
been handed down through generations of Latina since the days of early Roman
empire, which inspiration is still a power for good because it takes people out
of themselves and places them where they can look with understanding and
speak the language of perception. Little Italy’s charm has long been recognized
by artists and writers, and many of them began their careers which led to fame
and fortune in little cheap rooms on Telegraph Hill. Here have lived many
whose names are now known to fame, and to name them would be almost like a
directory of world renowned artists and writers. Here is still the memory of Bret
Harte and Mark Twain. Here is where Keith had his early studio. Cadenasso,
Martinez, and many others know these slopes and love them.
To all these and many more the Latin Quarter of San Francisco possessed a
charm they could find nowhere else, and if one desire to bring a saddened look
to the faces of many now living elsewhere it is but necessary to talk of the good
old days when Bohemia was on Telegraph Hill in San Francisco. Here they had
their domicile, and here they foregathered in the little restaurants, whose claims
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