Emperor Norton at Sorbier's
Two Posthumous Accounts — One Just After the Emperor’s Death, Another 30 Years Later But Still in Living Memory — Recall His Patronage of a Restaurant Near His Residence
IT ALWAYS IS EXCITING and rewarding to find reliable eyewitness documentation or a contemporaneous artifact of something Emperor Norton said or did. For a Norton researcher like me, there is a certain “buzz” that comes from discovering something about the Emperor in which the report or the artifact itself is from the period between the Emperor’s self-declaration in September 1859 and his death in January 1880.
What follows is an example of the next best thing: A corroborated posthumous account in which two or more independent, unrelated sources who were “there” in Emperor Norton’s San Francisco say the same credible thing about him. The kind of anecdotal evidence that is not a photograph and not a next-day newspaper item — but that rises to level of enabling one to say: Probably true.
:: :: ::
THE JAPAN DAILY MAIL was a newspaper published in Yokohama from 1870 to 1917.
A weekly edition of the paper, the Japan Weekly Mail, was used to broadcast news to the United States and Europe via ships to San Francisco. In this, the paper served a similar function to the Weekly Alta California and the Steamer Bulletin — the weekly “steamship” editions of the Daily Alta California and the San Francisco Daily Evening Bulletin, respectively.
Banner of the The Japan Weekly Mail of 14 February 1880. Source: Internet Archive
The Japan Weekly Mail of 14 February 1880 ran something in the way of an obituary of Emperor Norton, who died the previous month, on 8 January 1880. The article included the observation that the Emperor
had the entrée to all the theatres, and used to patronize the best restaurants, where his appetite was a well recognized fact. We have seen him enter Sorbier's for a ten o'clock breakfast and, after polishing off enough for two ordinary men, quietly pocket the morning paper and walk out, sometimes perhaps giving the waiter “two bits,” but never paying for his meal.
Excerpt from obituary of Emperor Norton, The Japan Weekly Mail, 14 February 1880, “Notes of the Week” section, p. 12. Source: Internet Archive
The phrase “We have seen” suggests that the paper had a San Francisco correspondent — or at least that the paper had editors or reporters who were in the city regularly.
:: :: ::
THIRTY YEARS LATER, in May 1910, the San Francisco-based Mining and Scientific Press magazine published a two-page article of “Rambling Recollections of an Old Sixty-Niner.” The writer was A.D. Hodges, Jr.
Banner of the Mining and Scientific Press of 21 May 1910. Collection of the California State Library. Source: Internet Archive
Hodges remembered:
Every morning, dressed in his plumed hat. brass-buttoned blue coat, and gray trousers, bearing a bottle of beer which some still loyal subject had given him, he entered Sorbier's restaurant, laid a "short bit" on the counter, and was served with a full meal — the regular price here being a bit a dish.
Excerpt on Emperor Norton from A.D. Hodges, Jr., “Rambling Recollections of an Old Sixty-Niner,” Mining and Scientific Press, 21 May 1910, p13. Collection of the California State Library. Source: Internet Archive
:: :: ::
THE FIRST San Francisco directory listing for Jules Edmond Sorbier is in 1862.
Sorbier is listed that year as the lead partner — with Eugene Auné — in Sorbier & Co., proprietors of the International Restaurant, at 530 Merchant Street (north side between Sansome and Montgomery).
The following year, Sorbier took on a new partner, George Wittman — apparently replacing Auné. From 1863 to 1867, Sorbier and Wittman were proprietors of the Occidental Restaurant, at 534 Washington Street (north side between Sansome and Montgomery).
In October 1867, Jules Sorbier opened the first of two restaurants under his own name, and as sole proprietor. Sorbier’s Restaurant “number one” was located at 607 Sacramento Street (south side, just west of Montgomery).
Interesting to note Sorbier’s use of “John” instead of “Jules” in the following ad. Did he actually go by “John”? Or, if not, did he suppose this would keep people from guessing that a person with the surname “Sorbier” might be French?
Ad announcing opening of Sorbier's Restaurant at 607 Sacramento Street, San Francisco, Daily Alta California, 8 October 1867, p. 2. Source: California Digital Newspaper Collection
Sorbier was at the Sacramento Street location for about 16 months. The following one-week ad that he placed on Christmas Eve 1868 — running several more times in January 1869 — provides an idea of the fare, the prices, and the services provided:
Ad for Sorbier's Restaurant on Sacramento Street, San Francisco Chronicle, 24 December 1868, p. 2. Source: Newspapers.com
:: :: ::
IN MARCH 1869, Jules Sorbier opened his second Sorbier’s Restaurant, at 540 Commercial Street (north side, just east of Montgomery).
Ad announcing relocation of Sorbier’s Restaurant to Commercial Street, San Francisco Chronicle, 31 March 1869, p. 2. Source: Newspapers.com (Starting with this 1869 listing, San Francisco directories specified the address of this location as 540 Commercial.)
Both Sorbier’s locations were extremely convenient to Emperor Norton’s residence at 624 Commercial Street between Montgomery and Kearny — about one block on foot, give or take. So, it’s possible that the Emperor patronized both.
The Japan Weekly Mail obituary of February 1880 does not specify a Sorbier’s location. A.D. Hodges, the author of the “Recollections” that were published in the Mining and Scientific Press in May 1910, describes himself as “an Old Sixty-Niner.” If that means Hodges arrived in San Francisco in 1869, then most likely he was referring to the Commercial Street location.
In announcing his new spot, Sorbier described it as “on Commercial Street, next to Sather & Co.’s Bank.” In another ad from early 1869, he put his restaurant on “Commercial Street, one door below Montgomery.”
Ad for Sorbier’s Restaurant on Commercial Street, Daily Alta California, 28 April 1869, p. 2. Source: California Digital Newspaper Collection
Below is a photograph dated “circa 1868.” It shows Sather’s bank building on the northeast corner of Montgomery and Commercial Streets. At the right of the photo, one sees a glimpse of what is next door on Commercial to the east of the bank: a two-story building with a front awning.
Based on Jules Sorbier’s description, his Commercial Street restaurant was in this little building.
If this photograph was taken in 1868, Sorbier had not yet arrived. But, the “circa” of the date provides wiggle room for the possibility that the photo was taken in March 1869 or later — and that we are looking one of the Sorbier’s Restaurants where the Emperor is reported to have been a fixture.
Northeast corner of Montgomery and Commercial Streets, c.1868. Photographer unknown. The Sather & Co. Bank building is on the corner. The two-story building next door to the east (“right”) of Sather & Co. was the location of Sorbier’s Restaurant starting in March 1869. Source: San Francisco Public Library
A closer view…
:: :: ::
TWO MORE pieces of evidence support the underlying idea that Sorbier’s was the kind of place where Emperor Norton could have taken breakfast.
The menu in the ad (above) from the end of Sorbier’s run on Sacramento Street has “French breakfast” for 75 cents. That might have been a little dear for the Emperor. But, “Eggs, Ham and Eggs and [or?] Omelet” were available for 25 cents. And: “Coffee and Rolls ready at 6 a.m.” — probably for the one-bit price of 12 cents.
This item from December 1871 shows that Sorbier’s was known as a breakfast spot.
Item on breakfast at Sorbier’s Restaurant on Commercial Street, San Francisco Chronicle, 16 December 1871, p. 3. Source: Newspapers.com
Several months later, San Francisco Daily Evening Bulletin editor Samuel Williams was traveling in New York and filed a correspondence that the Bulletin published in August 1872 under the title “The East Through California Eyes.”
Among the things Williams touches on is the price and value of New York restaurants compared with those in San Francisco. San Francisco during this period was well-known for having an abundance of restaurants serving very good food at low prices.
Williams writes:
I went to McArdle’s restaurant, Albany, where I was well acquainted, the other day, and ordered a mutton chop, fried potatoes and a cup of tea. The chop was tough, the potatoes underdone, the tea villainous; yet I was charged the modest sum of 85 cents. The same order but of better quality, better cooked, better served, would could at Sorbier’s or George’s 25 cents, at Martin’s 37½ or possibly 50 cents.
Excerpt from “The East Through California Eyes,” traveling correspondence of San Francisco Daily Evening Bulletin editor Samuel Williams, Evening Bulletin, 15 August 1872, p. 1. Source: Genealogy Bank
The San Francisco Examiner's 9 January 1880 obituary of Emperor Norton noted that "[h]is living was very inexpensive. He occupied a cheap room and boarded at cheap restaurants."
Excerpt from obituary of Emperor Norton, San Francisco Examiner, 9 January 1880, p. 3. Source: Newspapers.com
Indeed, after Emperor Norton started regularly selling his promissory notes in late 1870, the Emperor better — i.e., better than in the first decade of his reign — could afford to add to his daily routine breakfast at an inexpensive spot like Sorbier’s.
An illustration of the difference the new income from the bonds made to the Emperor’s eating options lies in a comparison of two consecutive photographs of him — one from March 1869, the same month Jules Sorbier opened his second namesake restaurant at 540 Commercial Street; the next from sometime between spring 1871 and spring 1872.
In the first, the Emperor is gaunt and hollow-jawed — as other photos from the 1860s show him. The second — from just two or three years later — suggests that, with even a little bit of extra income, he was able to eat more often.
Details from photographs of Emperor Norton in March 1869 (l) and sometime between spring 1871 and spring 1872. See our Photographs page for complete info.
Emperor Norton’s fleshier, healthier appearance in the 1871/72 photograph versus his undernourished visage in the photo from 1869 suggests that he would have been associated with the Sorbier’s Restaurant on Commercial Street — not the one that was on Sacramento Street from 1867 to 1869.
:: :: ::
THE LAST San Francisco directory showing Jules Sorbier as the proprietor of Sorbier’s Restaurant is 1874.
The 1875 directory shows the new proprietors as Henry Bocken and Louis Baccala — the latter having been listed as a cook for the restaurant starting in 1869.
Bocken and Baccala ran the restaurant as “Sorbier’s” until 1882 and kept it going for one more year before closing in 1883.
Jules Sorbier’s wife Louise Bacon Sorbier (1847–1929) divorced him in 1877 and went on to become a noted philanthropist, civic activist, and advocate for women’s suffrage and empowerment. The final banner she waved was for the preservation of the San Francisco cemeteries that were slated for eviction.
Jules Sorbier’s trail goes cold after he sells his restaurant. But, in announcing Louise Sorbier’s death in November 1929, the San Francisco Chronicle — apparently unaware of the divorce — notes that “[h]er husband, J.E. Sorbier, passed away nearly twenty-five years ago.” That would put Jules Sorbier’s death at 1905 or perhaps a year or two later.
An Oakland Tribune item about Louise’s death describes Jules as having been a “Pacific Coast mining man.” It’s true that, during the years when Sorbier was running his restaurants, the local papers were full of notices listing him among the investors in a variety of mines. Seems this is where he pivoted after some 12 years as a San Francisco restaurateur.
It’s easy to imagine that Sorbier’s conversations with the Emperor Norton ran more to mining and other substantive matters than to small talk about breakfast.
:: :: ::
For an archive of all of the Trust’s blog posts and a complete listing of search tags, please click here.
Search our blog...