No, I’m not exaggerating. Heaven forfend I do that on a blog, anyway. It would be, like, the first time that ever happened, and I’d spoil the Intertunnel for everyone.
This building is so wondrous, I’ll accept four different answers for who lived and/or worked here. If you don’t know who at least three of them were, your license to cruise the Intarnets is hereby revoked. You will receive a library card and a block of government cheese in its stead.
[Click on the pic to embiggen it]If Google Street View is to be believed, it’s a fargin’ Starbucks now. I’m going to go hang myself from the shower curtain rod now.
15 Responses
John Hughes?
Sonny Rollins?
Saw the "Cal" in the photo. If that stands for California, could be Ornette Coleman.
I think it's San Francisco, so that rules out Ornette. Must be one of those beatniks. Jerry Brown?
Maybe that's a sawn-off surveying stick in the foreground. Mason and/or DIxon?
John Hughes musta died from a bad case of Molly Ringworm. But he did it elsewhere.
Mr. Arthur: The population of saxophone players at this location is unknown.
HappyAcres here…
Montgomery Block, San Francisco?
Twain, RL Stevenson, Ambrose Bierce, Jack London
Do I win a free footstool?
One Mr. Sippican J. Cottage, perhaps? Why else trumpet its value so proudly? You were out that side of the world for a time, if'n my readerings of this site be correct.
David has it. The Montgomery Block was the only major downtown building to survive the San Fran earthquake and fire. Among many others, Bret Harte, Clemens, Jack London and Frank Norris all lived or kept offices there. An amazing place.
Alas, there is no swag for the answer; only the thanks of a grateful and no longer curious nation.
Chu Berry?
The transamerica pyramid sits on the monkey blocks old location… Though there are no shortages of starbucks around there.
The Mint is downtown, it made it through the earthquake and fire, right?
NKVD- Yes, I shouldn't have written "only". One of the few would have been correct.
Sorry, didn't mean to sound harsh. I took of tour of the Mint back in the 70s and I remember that fact as told by the tour guide.
I also remember the ton of gold they had piled up. Boy, do I remember that gold – nuggets from the Gold Rush, and ingots piled high. That really struck a chord with this Unca Scrooge lovin' guy. Never managed to save a million, much less acquire a ton of gold thanks to accursedly high income taxes. So it goes…
Sippy, I'm ASHAMED of you for that Molly Ringworm crack. People have been hung for less than that where I come from, though not where I am now (fortunately for me).
And there was a long story in SMITHSONIAN last year on the SF quake, fire, and Mint.