Thomas, IsaiahABAA
Exterior photograph of Woey Sin Low restaurant Chinatown San Francisco
1888réf. 1125San Francisco: Isaiah West Taber ca. late-1880s; negative earlier. Boudoir card 8 1/2 x 5 1/4 inches. Albumen photographic print mounted on card captioned "B 3. Chinese Restaurant S. F. Cal. Taber Photo. San Francisco" in the negative. Minor wear at edges of mount. Near fine A striking view of Woey Sin Low 會仙樓 one of the longest-running and most celebrated restaurants in nineteenth-century San Francisco's Chinatown. Located at 808 Dupont Street now Grant Avenue Woey Sin Low was in operation by at least 1871 and remained at the same address until the destruction of Chinatown in the earthquake and fire of 1906. Its unusually elaborate façade and balconies made the restaurant a recurring subject for photographers of the neighborhood including Taber who later photographed both the building and views from its upper balcony. The photograph itself appears to have a somewhat complicated production history. An example in the Bancroft Library has been attributed to San Francisco photographer Oscar V. Lange and the image is reported also to have been published by the short-lived photographic firm of MacDonald & Dowe before being issued by Isaiah West Taber. The present example is Taber's boudoir-card issue with his credit and the number and title "B 3. Chinese Restaurant S. F. Cal." in the negative. Taber was offering the image by about 1889 when No. 3 "Chinese Restaurant Chinatown" appeared among the 5 x 8-inch "Boudoir Photos" listed in his CATALOGUE ALASKA TO MEXICO. The photograph probably predates substantial alterations to the restaurant's upper façade visible in later photographs although the date of the original negative remains uncertain. Beyond its architectural interest the photograph provides an unusually detailed early record of a specific Chinese business otherwise presented to Taber's largely non-Chinese market simply as a generic "Chinese Restaurant." The large characters "會仙樓"visible on the façade identify Woey Sin Low by name while the image preserves the restaurant and surrounding Dupont Street streetscape well before the destruction and rebuilding of San Francisco's Chinatown in 1906. Isaiah West Taber books
