Size in a city greatly modifies character.  In 1864 I found a compact community; whatever was going on seemed to interest all.  We now have a multitude of unrelated circles; then there was one great circle including the sympathetic whole.  The one theater that offered the legitimate drew and could accommodate all who cared for it.  Herold’s orchestral concerts, a great singer like Parepa Rosa, or a violinist like Ole Bull drew all the music-lovers of the city.  And likewise, in the early springtime when the Unitarian picnic was announced at Belmont or Fairfax, it would be attended by at least a thousand, and heartily enjoyed by all, regardless of church connection.  Such things are no more, though the population to draw from be five times as large.

In the sixties, church congregations and lecture audiences were much larger than they are now.  There seemed always to be some one preacher or lecturer who was the vogue, practically monopolizing public interest.  His name might be Scudder or Kittredge or Moody, but while he lasted everybody rushed to hear him.  And there was commonly some special fad that prevailed.  Spiritualism held the boards for quite a time.

Changes in real-estate values were a marked feature of the city’s life.  The laying out of Broadway was significant of expectations.  Banks in the early days were north of Pacific in Montgomery, but very soon the drift to the south began.

In 1862, when the Unitarian church in Stockton street near Sacramento was found too small, it was determined to push well to the front of the city’s growth.  Two lots were under final consideration, the northwest corner of Geary and Powell, where the St. Francis now stands, and the lot in Geary east of Stockton, now covered by the Whitney Building.  The first lot was a corner and well situated, but it was rejected on the ground that it was “too far out.”  The trustees paid $16,000 for the other lot and built the fine church that was occupied until 1887, when it was felt to be too far down town, and the present building at Franklin and Geary streets was erected.  Incidentally, the lot sold for $120,000.

The evolution of pavements has been an interesting incident of the city’s life.  Planks were cheap and they held down some of the sand, but they grew in disfavor.  In 1864 the Superintendent of Streets reported that in the previous year 1,365,000 square feet of planks had been laid, and 290,000 square feet had been paved with cobbles, a lineal mile of which cost $80,000.  How much suffering they cost the militia who marched on them is not reported.  Nicholson pavement was tried and found wanting.  Basalt blocks found brief favor.  Finally we reached the modern era and approximate perfection.