for the sum of one dollar and a half up to three dollars.
The Grand Hotel, the annex to the Palace, and just
across the street, offers the same rates as the Palace.
The Lick House, the corner of Montgomery and Sutler
streets, will take you for three dollars up to five
per day. The Occidental, corner of Montgomery
and Bush streets charges also from three dollars up
to five per day for board and room. The California
Hotel, an imposing structure, on Bush street, supplies
rooms at the rate of one dollar per day and upwards.
The Baldwin, corner of Market and Powell streets, charges
for board and room at the rate of two dollars and
a half up to five per day; and the Russ House receives
guests, giving room and board at the rate of one dollar
and a half up to two dollars and a half per day—this
hotel is situated on the corner of Montgomery and
Pine streets. There are many other hotels where
the traveller can be made comfortable at a moderate
cost. It is the same with many private houses
which are open for guests. In the latter a parlor
and bedroom with the luxury of a bath may be had for
two dollars per day. A single room can be secured
for a dollar a day. In such a case you can obtain
your meals at one of the numerous restaurants for
which San Francisco is noted. There are the restaurants
at the Palace, the California and other prominent
hotels, the Maison Doree in Kearney street, Westerfeldt’s
in Market street, and the Cafe in the Call Building
on the top floor of the tower, from which you have
a commanding view of the city in all directions.
Good servants can be had at the rate of thirty dollars
per month, especially the much abused Chinese, who
cook and do the laundry work, and wait on the table,
and render a willing service. I recall the faithfulness
of the Chinaman “Fred,” who tried to please
his employer, and also the fidelity and zeal of “Max,”
the Dane, or Mads Christensen. Max was an ideal
waiter. He had been only nine months in the United
States, and yet he had learned sufficient of the English
language to understand what was said to him and to
express himself clearly. It is an example of
persistence; and Max had the qualities which, in a
young man, are bound to lead to success.
In addition to the other great buildings you cannot
fail to notice the New City Hall, a magnificent pile
including the Hall of Records to the east of the main
structure. The location is somewhat central, being
opposite Eighth street, just north of Market street,
and bounded by Park avenue, Larkin and McAllister
streets. The plot of ground on which it is erected
has an area of six and three-quarters acres and is
triangular in shape. The front is eight hundred
feet in length, the Larkin street side five hundred
and fifty feet, and the McAllister side six hundred
and fifty feet long. While the architecture is
difficult to describe, as being of any particular order,
yet it may be said that it is partly classical, partly
of the renaissance style and that it has a suggestion