+ Small theaters in Sacramento and San Francisco were called “bijoux” Though little more than a rough platform stage inside a large canvas tent with an adjacent saloon, they were the sites of lively and various professional theatrical entertainment. many of these were washed away regular floods oar fires that destroyed dozens of flimsy, shoddily […]
theatre
David Belasco
David Belasco was a true man of the theater: producer, writer, and stage designer. Belasco was the son of Portuguese Jews, the original name perhaps Velasco. The family fled persecution and eventually settled around San Francisco. During the 1860s, the young Belasco was an actor who toured small California and Nevada towns where memories of […]
John Piper
John Piper was a young German immigrant operating a fruit stand in San Francisco when he, his wife, and brothers joined the 1860 rush to the Comstock Lode. Piper bought property on Virginia City’s B Street, a busy commercial corridor, where he established the Old Corner Bar. He became a successful saloonkeeper and ran for […]