TO HONOR THE LIFE + ADVANCE THE LEGACY OF JOSHUA ABRAHAM NORTON
RESEARCH • EDUCATION • ADVOCACY
On 24 January 1880, a newspaper in Maine published evidence of an edict that Emperor Norton issued two weeks before his death on January 8th — but that was published the day of his funeral on January 10th — by a surprising source.
Read on for the story of our fascinating discovery — a discovery that raises many new questions!
Read MoreIn his 1986 biography of Emperor Norton, William Drury leaned heavily into anecdotal stories forging an association between the Emperor and Martin & Horton’s, a saloon at the southeast corner of Montgomery and Clay Streets, San Francisco, that was known as a hub for editors and reporters — and also for having one of the better free-lunch counters.
But, it turns out that, in addition to Martin & Horton’s, the building on this corner — which was directly across Clay Street from where the Transamerica pyramid now stands — housed a second saloon — a spot that also was known for its good food and drink, and for catering to the journalists and writers who covered the Emperor in their papers.
Which begs the question: Was Emperor Norton a regular at one saloon? — the other? — or both?
Jumping off from a well-known photograph of the Montgomery and Clay building after it suffered a fire in November 1862, the following research documents in some detail the overlapping histories of these two saloons and their proprietors — whose businesses had space in two different buildings on this corner between 1854 and 1887.
It’s a fascinating story.
Read MoreOstensibly, this is a piece about our recent discovery of a Proclamation in which Emperor Norton, in 1867, prohibited unauthorized stage depictions of himself.
But, a theater’s offending play and the Emperor’s response are the bread of the sandwich on offer here. The real meat is a brief history of the varied theatrical/“amusement” enterprises and their producers/impresarios that, over the course of a decade or so in the 1850s and ‘60s, occupied the second floor of the building where the play was staged — a building just around the corner from the Emperor’s imperial digs on Commercial Street in San Francisco.
Read MoreMuch of the relevant background is in the title.
The rare, fine-grained, wonderfully textured photograph, a stereoview, is by J.J. Reilly.
It's beautiful.
What's left is to get your bearings and see the view — which you can do by clicking below!
Join The Emperor’s Bridge Campaign and the Comstock Saloon in our celebration of Empire Day — the anniversary of Joshua Norton’s public declaration of himself as Emperor on 17 September 1859.
Read More
Cabinet card of Emperor Norton, c.1878, by Bradley & Rulofson. Collection of The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.
Join The Emperor's Bridge Campaign as we celebrate the foundation of Norton's Empire on 17 September 1859 and the continuation of that Empire into the present and the future — a borderless Empire of the heart open to all who have eyes to see and ears to hear.
Please gather in Redwood Park, San Francisco — adjacent to the Transamerica Pyramid — on Thursday 17 September at 6 p.m. sharp.
We're calling it Empire Day — and we hope that this will mark the beginning of a new tradition.
Read More