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

"The history of the Barbary Coast properly begins with the gold rush to California in 1849. If the precious yellow metal hadn’t been discovered ... the development of San Francisco’s underworld in all likelihood would have been indistinguishable from that of any other large American city. Instead, owing almost entirely to the influx of gold-seekers and the horde of gamblers, thieves, harlots, politicians, and other felonious parasites who battened upon them, there arose a unique criminal district that for almost seventy years was the scene of more viciousness and depravity, but which at the same time possessed more glamour, than any other area of vice and iniquity on the American continent." The Barbary Coast is Herbert Asbury’s classic chronicle of the birth of San Francisco—a violent explosion from which the infant city emerged full-grown and raging wild. From all over the world practitioners of every vice stampeded for the blood and money of the gold fields. Gambling dens ran all day including Sundays. From noon to noon houses of prostitution offered girls of every age and race. (In the 1850s, San Francisco was home to only one woman for every thirty men. It was not until 1910 that the sexes achieved anything close to parity in their populations.) This is the story of the banditry, opium bouts, tong wars, and corruption, from the eureka at Sutter’s Mill until the last bagnio closed its doors seventy years later.

When I first started reading this, I didn't realize that it had been written in 1933 and that the author also wrote Gangs of New York and other books detailing crime in cities such as Chicago and New Orleans. But as I started to read this, it became rather obvious that the book was written in a less politically correct era when Chinese were referred to as Celestials or Chinamen and some of the words used such as bagnio (bordello or brothel) are little used today.

But overall, this is a very extensive history of San Francisco and its vices from the time of the gold rush in the 1840s up until about 1917 when the city closed most of the "bagnios" that thrived in the section of the city known as the notorious Barbary Coast. I lived in the Bay Area for about 13 years during the 80s and 90s but I was really unaware of most of its wild past. A lot of this was fascinating and perverse. Included in the history were immigrants from Australia who started some of the earliest gangs in the city and targeted much of the Latino population. The gangs were called the "Hounds" and the "Sydney Ducks" and they were instrumental in the forming of the Committee of Vigilance in 1851 to rid the city of their presence. A lot of the book focuses on the brothels and prostitutes of the era including young Chinese girls who were smuggled from China and forced to work in small "cribs" in the city. It also tells of the Chinese gangs called tongs and their wars with each other. And then there was the plight of the sailors who embarked in the city and were taken for anything they had.

There was a lot of detail about various personages who played a part in the story including brothel owners, gamblers, dance-hall girls and performers, etc. Some of this in the later chapters became a little tedious and I ended up skimming some of it. Overall, I would only mildly recommend this if you are interested in the history of San Francisco when it was its wickedest...

Adding to the Biographies of Things Bookbox.

I received this book as part of the Mary Zee's Biography of Things bookbox. While I did flip through it, I am not going to hang on to it and will send it back on its way to the next recipient in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Okay, so I got the book box back pre-pandemic. Pandemic sucked out much of my enthusiasm for anything and I have never logged any of the books.

I am finally feeling ready to start another round of the book box. PM me if you are interested. This book has only been seen by a few people, so it will be included.

This book is in the Biography of Things book box and on its way to new adventures.

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Received in the Biographies of Things BookBox.

Released in the Biographies of Things BookBox.

Please enjoy!

Will look through and release. Received in the Biographies of Things Bookbox.