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

The Land of Bohemia
Bohemia! What vulgarities are perpetrated in thy name! How abused is the
word! Because of a misconception of an idea it has suffered more than any other
in the English language. It has done duty in describing almost every form of
license and licentiousness. It has been the cloak of debauchery and the excuse
for sex degradation. It has been so misused as to bring the very word into
disrepute. To us Bohemianism means the naturalism of refined people. That
it may be protected from vulgarians Society prescribes conventional rules and
regulations, which, like morals, change with environment. Bohemianism is the
protest of naturalism against the too rigid, and, oft-times, absurd restrictions
established by Society. The Bohemian requires no prescribed rules, for his or her
innate gentility prevents those things Society guards against. In Bohemia men
and women mingle in good fellowship and camaraderie without finding the
sex question a necessary topic of conversation. They do not find it necessary to
push exhilaration to intoxication; to increase their animation to boisterousness.
Their lack of conventionality does not tend to boorishness. Some of the most
enjoyable Bohemian affairs we know of have been full dress gatherings, carefully
planned and delightfully carried out; others have been impromptu, neither the
hour, the place, nor the dress being taken into consideration. The unrefined
get everywhere, even into the drawing rooms of royalty, consequently we must
expect to meet them in Bohemia. But the true Bohemian has a way of forgetting
to meet obnoxious personages and, as a rule, is more choice in the selection of
associates than the vaunted “400.” With the Bohemian but one thing counts:
Fitness. Money, position, personal appearance and even brains are of no avail if
there be the bar sinister--unfit. In a restaurant, one evening, a number of men
and women were seated conspicuously at a table in the center of the room.
Flowing neckties such as are affected by Parisian art students were worn by
the men; all were coarse, loud and much in evidence. They not only attracted
attention by their loudness and outre actions, but they called notice by pelting
other diners with missiles of bread. To us they were the last word in vulgarity,
but to a young woman who had come to the place because she had heard it was
“so Bohemian” they were ideal, and she remarked to her companion: “I do so
love to associate with real Bohemians like these. Can’t we get acquainted with
them?”
“Sure,” was the response. “All we have to do is to buy them a drink.”
In San Francisco there are Bohemians and Near-Bohemians, and if you are like
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