Emperor Norton’s “Rooming House” Was One of A Variety of Businesses in a Small Building

Building Dated to 1857; Earlier “Eureka” on the Site

WHEN READING that Emperor Norton lived in “the Eureka Lodgings” at “624 Commercial Street,” it’s easy to imagine that 624 was a single-use building with a single address — and that the Eureka was the only “use.”

But, in my recent article on the location and identity of this building, I included a photograph that shows the building with three addresses: 624, 626 and 628.

By the time this photo was taken in early 1906, the Eureka Lodgings long since had ceased to operate.

But, as we’ll see shortly, there were three addresses here from the time the building was completed in 1857.

The numbers 624, 626 and 628 didn’t “arrive” until 1861 — when the address numbering system in San Francisco was “recalibrated.” (Emperor Norton arrived in 1864/65.)

Before that, the corresponding address numbers for the building were 154, 156 and 158 Commercial Street.

These same numbers — 154, 156 and 158 — also were attached to a previous building — possibly the original building — on this site.

:: :: ::

TO GET A MORE complete picture of the various businesses that used this site and its buildings in the 30 or so years before and during Emperor Norton’s residency, it helps to begin at the beginning — or at least as close to the beginning as we can get with the contemporaneous directories, newspapers and such that are available to us.

On 19 January 1851, the Daily Alta newspaper carried a notice that the printing office of another San Francisco paper, the Public Balance, had “removed from Mr. Buckelew’s buildings, on Gold Street, to the Arcade in Clay st. [sic].”

**“Card” on relocation of *Public Balance* newspaper printing office to “the Arcade on Clay Street,”** *Daily Alta California*, 19 January 1851, p. 3. Source: California Digital Newspaper Collection

It’s not clear whether “the Arcade” referenced here is the building — or a business within the building. For, three months later, the Alta ran an ad with the news that the saloon in the building had new owners, who apparently were giving the saloon a new name.

**Notice of new owners of the Arcade Saloon, on Clay Street**, *Daily Alta California*, 30 April 1851, p. 2. Source: California Digital Newspaper Collection

Over the course of its brief life of four years or so, the Arcade Saloon did attract its share of disorderly conduct and even violence that was reported in the local papers.

But, the Arcade’s proprietors seemed intent on cultivating an image of respectability that was consistent with the tone of its opening announcement.

For example: In May 1852, the Arcade hosted a series of Sunday evening “Promenade Concerts a la Jullien” — this being a reference to Louis–Antoine Jullien (1812–1860), a French composer and conductor of light popular and classical music who was prominent at the time. In ads for the concerts, the Arcade pointed out that “the saloon will be especially arranged for the comfort and satisfaction of Ladies and Families.”

It appears that efforts like this were rewarded. Nearby businesses routinely listed and advertised themselves as being located “next to,” “across from” or “opposite” the Arcade. And, the building for the next several years — even after the Arcade Saloon ceased to operate there — was known as the “Arcade Saloon building.”

The earliest newspaper references to the Arcade, in 1851, have it “in,” or “on,” Clay Street. But, in 1852, the earliest San Francisco directory listing for the Arcade’s proprietor, A.C. Gamble, has the saloon at 158 Commercial Street.

In fact, the Arcade’s block-deep building gave it entrances at both 175 Clay and 158 Commercial — something that city directory listings first showed in 1854 but that was reflected more generally, i.e., without specific addresses, in ads and notices (like the following) for the promenade concerts of 1852:

**Item announcing a “Promenade Concert…a la Julien [sic]” at the Arcade Saloon**, *Daily Alta California*, 9 May 1852, p. 2. Source: California Digital Newspaper Collection

During the last week of December 1853, the Alta carried the notice that the Arcade was for sale, the proprietor “being in ill health, and wishing to return to the States” — by which was meant the East Coast.

Over the next few years, the Alta ran the ads of a number of ventures that tried to make a go in this space — in June 1855, a “lager beer saloon”; in September 1855, an “eating house” run by an S. Manovill.

On 10 March 1856, Adams & Co. hatters appeared in the San Francisco Daily Evening Bulletin to say that they had “removed” to 175 Clay Street — which the firm described in their ad both as the “late Arcade Gambling Saloon” and as the “old Arcade saloon.”

**Notice of relocation of Adams & Co. hatters to the former home of the Arcade Saloon**, San Francisco *Daily Evening Bulletin*, 10 March 1856, p. 4. Source: Genealogy Bank

:: :: ::

ON 17 SEPTEMBER 1857, the Evening Bulletin ran a notice showing that Joshua Norton — who had been declared bankrupt barely more than a year earlier — had been appointed to the jury in the case of I. Ferris Waldron, accused of stealing a bar of gold from Wells Fargo.

Four days later, the Daily Alta of 21 September 1857 carried an item about an accidental fall and injury that took place on the site of “the new brick building which is in process of erection on the site of the old Arcade Saloon.”

**“Severe Accident,” item mentioning new building being constructed “on the site of the old Arcade Saloon,”** *Daily Alta California*, 21 September 1857, p. 2. Source: California Digital Newspaper Collection

This new 3-story building would house the hotel that became the rooming house, later renamed the the Eureka Lodgings, where Emperor Norton took up residence sometime between late summer 1864 and late summer 1865.

But, we’re not there just yet.

In early December 1857, Richelieu’s Hotel and Restaurant opened in the new building under the proprietorship of Pierre Trapet, who a few years earlier had run the Hotel de la Cote d’Or on Pacific Street. Ads announcing the opening of the new residential hotel — later styled the Hotel Richelieu — provide a sense of the hotel’s ambition:

**Ad announcing the opening of the Hotel Richelieu**, *Daily Alta California*, 2 December 1857, p. 1. Source: California Digital Newspaper Collection

A January 1858 Alta item announcing a planning meeting for a celebration of Thomas Paine’s birthday confirms the address of the Richelieu as 158 Commercial Street:

**Notice for a meeting at the Hotel Richelieu to plan a celebration for Thomas Paine’s birthday**, *Daily Alta California*, 17 January 1858, p. 2. Source: California Digital Newspaper Collection

The Daily Alta might have been as unsurprised and unfazed as anyone by the various “French connections” here — the Alta having run a piece six years earlier saying that Commercial Street was “so thoroughly French” that it ought to be called “Rue Commercial”:

Emperor Norton himself might have been pleased by the association, given his frequent claims that he was the lost son of Bourbon royalty. Did the Emperor know of his lodgings’ previous incarnation as a French–titled and French–run hotel?

Alas, the Hotel Richelieu lasted barely six months. The builder and owner of the building, John C. Cabaniss, committed suicide in his room at the Richelieu in April 1858. Cabaniss, who was born in Virginia, had prospered since arriving in San Francisco from Macon, Georgia, in 1850. But, his recent speculation in coal had not been going well — and, it was reported that his suicide likely was a depressive response to “pecuniary embarrassments.”

As it happens, the San Francisco directories of 1852–54 listed John Cabaniss at the Arcade Saloon — so, it’s reasonable to guess that he owned that 158 Commercial Street, too.

The new 158 Commercial was auctioned in summer 1858 to settle Cabaniss’ estate.

:: :: ::

THE SAN FRANCISCO Directory of 1859 shows a one-off listing of a cigar manufacturer named Thomas Moran boarding at 154 Commercial Street — another address in this building. But, it appears that a proper room-and-board establishment did not return here until spring 1860, and that the building mostly was vacant until then.

In May 1858, as the building and furnishings of the former Hotel Richelieu were being prepared for auction, Felix J. Hanlon — a former bookkeeper at the What Cheer House — was the proprietor of the Benton House, at the corner of Sansome and Pine Streets:

Seven months later, in January 1859, Hanlon announced that he had moved the Benton House to a new location “adjoining the U.S. Mint.” That Mint-adjacent building — then 148 Commercial; renumbered to 612 in 1861 — was where Bret Harte and then Samuel Clemens had desks a few years later.

**Ad for Benton House at new Commercial Street location “Adjoining the U.S. Mint,”** San Francisco *Daily Evening Bulletin*, 15 January 1859, p. 4. Source: Genealogy Bank

On 5 March 1859, Felix Hanlon tried out a couple of new ads in the San Francisco Daily Herald — this one, on page 3…

And this one on page 4:

Five months later, in August 1859, Hanlon opened the Benton House Laundry in the 158 Commercial Street building — or, as the following ad put it, “a few doors above the U.S. Branch Mint”:

**Ad for Benton House Laundry, on “Commercial Street, a few doors above the U.S. Branch Mint,”** *Daily Alta California*, 2 August 1859, p. 2. Source: California Digital Newspaper Collection

By April 1860, Hanlon had moved the whole kit and kaboodle to “156 and 158 Commercial Street, A few doors West of the U.S. Mint”:

:: :: ::

OUR BUILDING was at 154/156/158 Commercial Street until 1861, when the numbers were changed to the corresponding 624/626/628.

The Hotel Richelieu had used “158,” and the Benton House had used “156 and 158.”

The San Francisco directory of 1861 tells us that, post-renumbering, the Benton House used 624 and 626 — not 626 and 628, as one might have expected. In effect, the Benton House “shifted” from the “mid and hi” numbers to the “lo and mid” ones.

The Benton House under Felix Hanlon remained at this location until spring 1865. Newspaper advertisements indicate that Hanlon had moved the Benton House to a new location, at First and Mission Streets, by July 1865.

But, the 1864 San Francisco directory has the first listing for the “Eureka Lodgings” — and, it’s at this address. In fact, the 1864 directory has a listing for both the Benton House at 624 / 626 and the Eureka Lodgings at 624 — which suggests the possibility of some kind of business arrangement in which the new proprietor of the Eureka, Aaron Babcock, got a toe in by taking part of Hanlon’s space but not all of it.

Or, perhaps — since Hanlon would be be taking the “Benton House” name with him — this just was a way to socialize the new name, Eureka, while Babcock got up to speed as a kind of “under-proprietor.”

At any rate: By the time of the 1865 directory, Aaron Babcock was the sole proprietor of the Eureka Lodgings at 624 Commercial Street.

It was Aaron Babcock who welcomed Emperor Norton to the Eureka sometime between late summer 1864 and late summer 1865. (For more on this dating, see our January 2022 article here.)

:: :: ::

FROM THE TIME the building where Emperor Norton lived opened in late 1857 until the Emperor’s death in 1880, the primary residential/hotel establishments were:

Hotel Richelieu — 158 Commercial — late 1857 to mid 1858
Benton House — 156/158 (later, 624/626) Commercial — spring 1860 to spring 1865
Eureka Lodgings — 624 Commercial — 1864 to 1880 (its last directory listing)

But, the building had three addresses on Commercial Street. What businesses and trades were being carried out and practiced at the other numbers?

Here’s what a search of directories and newspapers from the period reveals:

154 Commercial

1860 — Sung Lee, washing

156

1860 — Pliny Bartlett, Benton Laundry

624

1864–67 — Contra Costa Laundry, branch (Hallett, (Pliny) Bartlett & Dalton)
1868–71 — Morris Goldstein, tailor
1878 — Hin Yuet, laundry

626

1864 — Daniel Ryan, shoe maker
1865–69 — John W. Cherry, sign painter
1865–69 — Henry M. Rosekrans, painter
1867 — James Lyden, sign painter
1880 — Eugene Boisse, barber
1880 — City Advertising & Bill Posting Co. (Alexander Badlam)

626/628

1870 — Kohler, Chase & Co., pianos, organs, musical instruments, fancy goods, toys (Main entrance at 633/635 Clay; in this building until 1878 but claimed a Commercial Street address only in 1870)

628

1863–69 — John C. Meusdorffer, importer and jobber, hats and hatters’ material
1865 — Hopps (Frank W.) & Chapman (Henry), painters
1867 — Edwin Deaves, wood engraver
1867 — Philip Morgan, grainer
1868 — Joseph G. Armor, painter
1868–69 — C.A. Bernard, painter
1869 — Henry Burner, sign writer
1879–80 — Wing Sun & Co., shoe factory
1880 — Henry Marks, tailor

The nature of these businesses suggests that some, possibly all, of them operated at the street level. It appears that not much was happening on the ground floor of the building in the 1870s. But, it was buzzing in the 1860s.

Moreover: The fact that all three addresses, even 624, were occupied for much of the 1860s suggests that the hotel/lodging establishments here throughout the 1857–1880 period were upstairs enterprises, with proprietors taking leases only on some portion of the second and third floors. The 1870 census for San Francisco shows 16 residents at the Eureka Lodgings, including the married landlord and landlady, David and Eva Hutchinson. Given the contemporaneously reported dimensions of Emperor Norton’s room — 10 feet by 6 feet — it’s easy to imagine that the Eureka had 16 or more rooms, including one for an office, on the top two floors.

Of those in the “ground-floor group” who produced newspaper or directory advertisements, the most clever ads were from John W. Cherry’s sign shop. Here’s one of Cherry’s ads that appeared in the 31 July 1866 issue of the San Francisco Daily Dramatic Chronicle:

And another that appeared in the 29 August 1866 issue of the same paper:

The most elegant advertisements were produced by Meussdorffer’s hatters, with dedicated full-page directory ads for the wholesale hat and hat supplies shop at 628 Commercial…

…and the manufactory and retail location across the street at 635/637:

As far as we know, there is no confirmation of how, or where, Emperor Norton acquired the white beaver hat that he is shown wearing in numerous photographs of him from the 1870s.

Might Muessdorffer’s have left behind a remaindered wholesale hat for the Emperor? Did the Emperor drop in to one of the two Meussdorffer shops on his way out one morning to have some gratis repair work done?

Did the tailor Morris Goldstein ever do the the favor of fastening a button or two on the Emp’s jacket or mending a snag on his trousers?

Worth noting…

In spring 1865, Muessdorffer’s started advertising a 637 Clay Street entrance for its wholesale shop at 628 Commercial. The space had become available because the previous tenant had vacated it — and, it wasn’t just any tenant.

When the building opened in 1857, the storefront at 637 Clay — numbered “177” until 1861 — was occupied by the optical instruments shop of George Lawrence and Thomas Houseworth. Lawrence & Houseworth were in the Clay Street space until October 1864, when they moved to new, expanded digs on Montgomery Street and began to focus more on their own photography.

After Lawrence retired in 1869, Houseworth kept the studio under his own name. And, in the mid 1870s, the studio of Thomas Houseworth & Co. took a number of well-known portraits of Emperor Norton, which you can view here.

Given the likelihood that Emperor Norton arrived on Commercial Street sometime between late summer 1864 and late summer 1865, it’s altogether possible that Houseworth and the Emperor first met in August or September 1864 — just as Houseworth was in the process of leaving the building where the Emperor was taking up residence.

:: :: ::

FINALLY, from the Department of Too Good Not to Mention…

In December 1856 — not long before the Arcade Saloon building that was the predecessor to he Eureka Lodgings building was taken down in mid 1857 to clear the site for the older building’s replacement…

A “Flying Horses” attraction — apparently an amusement ride of some sort — was brought to 154 Commercial Street. Here’s the ad announcing this:

**Item on relocation of “Flying Horses” attraction to 154 Commercial Street**, San Francisco *Daily Evening Bulletin*, 13 January 1857, p. 4. Source: Genealogy Bank

Recall that, in the years after the Arcade Saloon vacated in early 1854, business tenants of the building were numerous but sporadic. At the same time, it appears that, throughout this period, upstairs rooms continued to be rented out for various reasons — hotel, residential, “business” — as they had been when the Arcade was in operation.

Apparently, though, when the Flying Horses arrived, the gas main for the building had been turned off for nearly a year. The promoters of the attraction had the gas turned back on, so that they could light up the ground-floor space, at 154, where the attraction was set up.

What no one realized was that, in an upstairs room where Miles O’Conner was sleeping, the gas valve had been left on. O’Conner suffocated and died in his sleep.

Notice how the building is identified on the following account published in the San Francisco Daily Herald on 15 December 1856:

“A building on Commercial street, known as the Eureka.”

In fact, this name for the building comes up two years earlier, in the Daily Alta’s 1 October 1854 report of a murder in the building the evening before. The Alta notes that the murder took place “in a private room, upstairs, in the building known as the Eureka, on Commercial street, next door to the Arcade.”

The next-day and subsequent coverage referred to the murder site more specifically as the “Eureka Saloon.”

And, in May 1857, Charles Wagner published the following notice changing the name of “(our) establishment” from “EUREKA SALOON” to “CHAS. WAGNER & CO.” — but to be “continued…at the same place as before, on Commercial street, between Montgomery and Kearny.”

**Notice of change of ownership and name of establishment previously known as the Eureka Saloon, “on Commercial street, between Montgomery and Kearny,”** *Daily Alta California*, 21 May 1857, p. 2. Source: California Digital Ne w spaper Collection

All of which suggests that the name “Eureka” could have been associated with the building on this site throughout the period 1854–57 — even if the association wasn’t formalized by directory listings, newspaper ads and the like.

Of course. “Eureka” was a commonly used name during this time — for all sorts of things.

But, one has to wonder…

Were Felix Hanlon and Aaron Babcock aware of the history of the name “Eureka” on this site — and, is this why “Eureka Lodgings” shows up in the 1864 San Francisco directory as the name of the residence where Emperor Norton would arrive in 1864 or 1865?

:: :: ::

For an archive of all of the Trust’s blog posts and a complete listing of search tags, please click here.

Search our blog...

The Emperor Norton Trust

The Mixed Economy of the Eureka Lodgings Building of Commercial Street

Emperor Norton’s “Rooming House” Was One of A Variety of Businesses in a Small Building

Building Dated to 1857; Earlier “Eureka” on the Site

154 Commercial

156

624

626

626/628

628