The Barbary Coast: An Informal History of the San Francisco Underworld

Early San Francisco was a profoundly strange city. The Gold Rush exploded a sleepy port into an expensive haven of vice and villainy, designed to separate miners and sailors from their cash with booze, prostitution, and blunt objects. The dense area of houses of ill-repute, named the Barbary Coast, was a real-life version of that Simpsons song about New Orleans. Asbury's book is from 1933, and takes pretty much every lurid newspaper article from the time at face value. There are some interesting anecdotes about such characters as Dirty Tom McAlear, who would eat or drink anything for a few cents and hadn't had a bath in fifteen years, to wars between proprietors of vice and the vigilant Vigilance Committee, or the various ruses used to show more shanghai sailors onto new ships, but overall this book is just long, early 20th century scandalizing about admittedly very bad vice, without much of an organizing framework. show less

Asbury, in episodic fashion, makes the case that from the time of the Gold Rush (1849) to 1917, San Francisco was the wickedest city on earth. And he backs it up with tales of crime, gambling, gangs, and prostitution that will make you wonder how honest citizens could be brave enough to leave their homes! Sometimes when they did leave their homes, it was to join large groups of vigilantes who, for a short time at least, were able to take the law into their own hands and mete out their harsh form of justice, although from Asbury's account, it probably was justice in most cases. In any case, Asbury has covered wickedness up one side and down the other--which would have cost you about 50 cents in one of San Francisco's numerous bagnios.

I'm not sure how accurate this history of early San Francisco is but it was an interesting read. As much a product of it's own time (written in the 1930s) as a history, there is plenty of language that not what we would say today and some attitudes that are jarring but you do get a sense of what the Barbary Coast must have been like and perhaps a bit of why San Francisco is the city it is today. I particularly like the preacher who said that roller-rinks were the "road to perdition." If only my skating today was that interesting,

Originally written in the 1930s, this book is interesting for someone who wants to know about the origins of San Francisco and the seedier side of the city. There is a lot of language and description that would be considered outmoded now and overall Asbury presents a relatively judgement-free account of some pretty bad behavior. You can read between the lines and what he describes in a fairly light tone will come across as more horrifying. the discovery of gold launched the city and created a world of crime and corruption. It was interesting to me to learn that San Francisco has always been what it is now- a city of fortune-seekers and those who would take advantage of the less fortunate.

This book, which originally came out in 1933, is a companion to Asbury's famous books on New York City, as well as his surveys of the underworlds of New Orleans and Chicago. This one, as the title indicates, is on San Francisco's legendary den of vice and ill-repute, the Barbary Coast (the origin of the name being one of the things discussed in the book). As with Asbury's other books, while the sourcing can be a bit thin (other than the cited newspapers), the writing is top-notch, and is the fun of the book. It would be better with some good maps, though.

This is a history of the worst elements in the beginnings of the city of San Francisco. The author had access to people who had lived through these events, as well as many articles and other resources. He covers the political underpinnings of the vice, along with the culture and moment in time which enabled the Barbary Coast to have its beginning, triumph and fall.

The author writes in a very readable manner, using a bit of humor to lighten the load of history. Published in 1933, he seemed to think that the worst of the crime and vice were over for San Francisco. I wonder what he would think now?

(First Edition, Knopf) San Francisco began life as a quiet little mission in northern California. As soon as gold was discovered, a roaring, rough and tumble shanty town developed and from that a dangerous, violent city was born. First came the miners and then followed the criminal element set on fleecing them. Gangs, riots, vigilantes, conmen, prostitutes, corruption and all else flourished in San Francisco until the earthquake and fire destroyed much of the underworld. Amazing!