Original Coppa's Restaurant was a legendary bohemian gathering place in the Montgomery (Monkey) Block where the Transamerica Building now stands. Its crowning glory were the wild murals, created by the artists and writers who made the place their second home sitting for hours at the center table in a long, narrow room with 21 tables. The leader of the San Francisco Bohemians was Porter Garnett, a writer, editor, designer and co-creator, with Gelett Burgess, of the 1895 literary magazine The Lark. The group also included the painters Xavier Martinez, Ernest Peixetto, Maynard Dixon, poets and writers George Sterling, James Hopper, sculptor Robert Aiken, Willis and Dan Polk were also frequently in attendance along with many others. The late evening libations were decidedly misogynistic and never included wives. Women were included on occasion if they were pretty enough, or a current girlfriend for a one time review. Years earlier, Bohemians frequented the The Bohemian Saloon* in Monterey which had walls covered by Bay Area artists, but they were painted over when the bar was sold. Maybe with this in mind, or because Burgess had started to scribble some of his characters in chalk, Papa Coppa agreed to let them create a permanent mural on the wall. They started on a Sunday in 1905, for a free lunch and all the wine they could drink. Giant lobsters, self-portraits, black cats - a nod to the Chat Noir in Paris, and cryptic quotations in many languages adorned the walls. The Oscar Wilde's quote “Something terrible is about to happen.” was prescient in that less than a year later the terrible did happen. On April 18, 1906, the earthquake and fire spared the Monkey Block, but looters broke into the cafe and destroyed everything. The now legendary mural only lasted one year. Coppa opened the ruined restaurant and served a last supper by candlelight for the Bohemians and their families who gathered to share earthquake memories. Here is a memory recorded by Xavier Martinez's wife Elsa Whitaker Martinez*;
Papa Coppa tried to recapture the magic with several reincarnations of his cafe in new locations with new murals, but it never regained the same caché.
* Elsie Martinez is quoted from a longer transcript which includes more Coppa stories. * The Bohemia Saloon was run by Adulpho Sanchez, brother-in-law of Robert Louis Stevenson. Article here! Title: San Francisco Bay Area writers and artists: oral history transcript By: Martinez, Elsie, 1890-1984 Date: 1962-1963 Copyright: The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-6000; http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/
2 Comments
Paul Hershey
10/25/2021 07:02:49 pm
As I've been researching Porter Garnett's life and times over the past 25 years, I found your article interesting. I am not sure women were excluded from Coppa's - yes, the majority were male but there were at least 3 women referenced as attendees at their gatherings there. In addition, one possible source for the idea of decorating Coppa's was that Garnett was a colleague of Florence Lundborg, who illustrated issues, posters of The Lark (1895-1897), but had been famous in Paris, France for decorating a Cafe there during her art student years in 1897-1899. Nice that you posted the picture of Jack London parked in front of Coppa's after the earthquake/ fire. Always liked that photo. There are Coppa family members still living in SF, Bay area by the way... they've emailed me on occasion. And prior to his death, I spoke with Unna about his book on the murals - very interesting person. Wished I could have met him personally. As to Garnett - he's got quite a personal history. His uncle, Major Robert Selden Garnett, Jr. designed the Great Seal of California in 1850, his father (Louis A. Garnett) was famously involved with the US Mint in SF, nationwide. His Great Grandmother was Olympe deGouge, famous in Paris up to her death in 1792 - an early feminist but that's not why she was executed by the French anti-royalist crowd that had taken control of the French government.
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Julene Hunter - Author
10/25/2021 11:39:48 pm
Thank you! Great info and we will connect. Yes, there were women in attendance, but wives were not particularly welcome ;| The post-quake dinner was noted for their inclusion. From what I've read, it was always uncomfortable unless you were the pretty new thing. Annie Laurie remembers Sanguenetti's as a preferred hangout. Daisy hated the place. I'd love to get some info if Florence Lundborg helped with the mural. Other than the identifiable work by Martinez, Porter, et al it's an ephemeral San Francisco memory.
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WR HEARST PLANS SONG: DAISY HOT SPRINGS 1882 A WILLIS POLK GIFT THE RLS CONNECTION 1896 EARTHQUAKE TALES FROM COPPA PANDEMIC OF 1889 THE BOMB THAT SHOOK SF MILAN:CITY OF WATER POLK ON THE MAP FEATHERS, FASHION & FLY FISHING RARE AVIATION FILM - WWI 1914-17 1906 SAN FRANCISCO WTF FILES - TECHNOLOGICAL GET ME OUTTA HERE! NO HORSES, NO TENTS, NO $ DAISY IN FRENCH LITERATURE DAISY ON FILM! THE WHITE DEATH THE SYMBOLISM OF FLOWERS POSTE DE SECOURS WWI TRAVEL 1900: LONDON TO PARIS DAISY: REST IN PEACE KEITH'S, DRANE'S & KENTUCKY MOTHER: MISSOURI COMPROMISE Topics
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