Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Vintage pulp-fiction covers leap to life on one of Downtown's worst blocks with the Hot
Boxxx Girls, the city's best classic drag show, Friday and Saturday nights at 10pm (make
reservations). Thursday is Tubesteak Connection, when bathhouse anthems and '80s disco
draws throngs of art-school gays. Other nights bring minor mayhem, seedy glamour guar-
anteed.
(
415-441-2922;
www.auntcharlieslounge.com
; 133 Turk St; admission $5;
Powell,
Powell)
Understand
Earthquakes & Opera
At the turn of the 20th century, San Francisco had a reputation for scandal, sleaze and great singers. The city com-
missioned a beaux-arts Civic Center to rival Parisian plazas, including a grand opera. The plan had just been fi-
nalized by April 18, 1906, when disaster struck - twice.
A quake estimated at a teeth-rattling 7.8 to 8.3 on today's Richter scale struck the city. In 47 seconds, San Fran-
ciscans discovered just how many corners had been cut on government contracts. Unreinforced civic structures -
even City Hall - collapsed in ruins. Brick buildings crumbled and toppled chimneys set fires. Since city mainten-
ance funds had been pocketed by unscrupulous officials, fire hydrants didn't work, and there was no way to con-
tain fires downtown. The sole functioning water source was a fountain donated to the city by hometown opera
prodigy Lotta Crabtree.
Fire-fighters couldn't haul equipment through the rubble-choked streets, so in a city surrounded by water on
three sides, fires raged. Firebreaks were created by dynamiting a trough along Van Ness Ave - setting off new
fires. Citizens fled to Potrero Hill and Buena Vista Park, and for three days watched their city and its dreams of
grandeur go up in smoke. The death toll topped 3000, and 100,000-plus city residents were left homeless.
With politicians suddenly scarce, San Francisco's entertainers staged the city's comeback. All but one of the
city's 20 historic theaters had been destroyed by the earthquake and fire, but theater tents were set up amid still-
smoking rubble.
Opera divas sang their hearts out to San Francisco gratis - though the world's most famous tenor, Enrico
Caruso, vowed never to return to the city after the quake jolted him out of bed. Soprano Luisa Tetrazzini ditched
New York's Metropolitan Opera to return to San Francisco, and sang on Market St to an audience of 250,000 -
virtually every surviving San Franciscan.
While singers gave marathon performances, San Francisco hummed along. The city was rebuilt at the astound-
ing rate of 15 buildings a day. In a show of popular priorities, San Francisco's theaters were rebuilt long before
City Hall. Free summer opera concerts are still held at Stern Grove Festival (
www.sterngrove.org
)
.
