February 22, 1885 - Arrive in San Francisco

A week later, the Zealandia docked at San Francisco wharf.

After completing customs (“the whole business was unpleasant”) Emily and Alfred made their way to the Palace Hotel, from where they would come and go over the next couple of months as they explored California.

Emily describes the hotel and its facilities and appointments at length in her book (see pp 8 & 9), including the entrance which is pictured here.

Following are some of the sights and experiences which Alfred and Emily enjoyed while in San Francisco:

• The cable cars. “We were very much impressed with the comfort, convenience, and many advantages of these cars. They are in every way a wonderful improvement upon the dreadful steam strains that a long-suffering public in Sydney has been compelled to put up with so long. There is no deafening noise, no suffocating smoke, no break-neck steps up or down.” (p 10)
• A visit to the “Underwriters’ Fire Patrol establishment”, where they were provided with a detailed explanation of how the fire fighters prepare to respond to an alarm. (P 11)
• Telegraph Hill and Chinatown
• The Golden Gate Park and Cliff House

  

• The Bancroft Library. A private library which was later acquired by the University of California in 1905, when its founder, Hubert Howe Bancroft required that it retain the name Bancroft Library in perpetuity. Emily describes both the collection and the building in which is was housed (p 16)
• The Opera House (it was the Opera Season at the time), the Baldwin Theatre and the Tivoli
• Various places of worship, including: the Synagogue, Calvary Church, the Church of the Advent