Boomtown Research Paper

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Boomtown by the Bay Jake Bush San Francisco State University Before the population explosion occurred to put San Francisco on the map, the Bay Area was made up of seven hundred whites, with half of that number being American, and a handful of Indians, African Americans and Hawaiians; around one hundred and fifty. The city itself had a total of two hundred buildings which included sheds, tents, and boarded outhouses. “There was simply a straggling line of tents, slab shanties and adobe huts stretching along the Beach of Yerba Buena Cove, a horseshoe-shaped indentation in the western shore of the Bay of San Francisco, which has long since been filled in and built upon.” (Asbury 3) After the discovery of gold by Captain John Sutter, the…show more content…
San Francisco saw a cultural boomtown with the creation of the Fillmore district. The Fillmore was created in an attempt to help the city expand and to fight overcrowding. Before the Fillmore became “The Fillmore” it was predominately made up of white European and Jewish families. The area started to grow in a fast manner with the building of restaurants, grocery stores, Jewish synagogues, a Yiddish Culture Center and a Jewish school. It started to become more culturally diverse when Japanese immigrants started to open shops in the area followed by several African American…show more content…
It was an integrated booming area for minorities with nightclubs, pool halls, restaurants, and barbershops. There were over two dozen nightclubs and music venues located in the square mile of the Fillmore District. It was a constant party every night at the local clubs. “In the evening, you would walk down the same streets looking for parties. People would get dressed to kill. You saw great peacocks, Stacey Adams shoes with white strings showing that you had been cleaned up with Clorox. Diamond stick pins. Satin ties and long coats. Great looking jewelry on the women.” (Pepin and Watts

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