Bohemian San Francisco | Page 3

they do not know that we steal the hours
from the night to lengthen our days because the gray, whispering
wraiths of fog hold for us the very breath of life; they do not know that
the call of the wind, and of the sea, and of the air, is the inspiration that
makes San Francisco the pleasure-ground of the world.
It is this that makes San Francisco the home of Bohemia, and whether it
be in the early morning hours as one rises to greet the first gray streaks
of dawn, or as the sun drops through the Golden Gate to its ocean bed,
so slowly that it seems loth to leave; whether it be in the broad glare of
noon-day sun, or under the dazzling blaze of midnight lights, San
Francisco ever holds out her arms, wide in welcome, to those who see
more in life than the dull routine of working each day in order that they
may gain sufficient to enable them to work again on the morrow.

The Land of Bohemia
Bohemia! What vulgarities are perpetrated in thy name! How abused is
the word! Because of a misconception of an idea it has suffered more
than any other in the English language. It has done duty in describing
almost every form of license and licentiousness. It has been the cloak of
debauchery and the excuse for sex degradation. It has been so misused
as to bring the very word into disrepute.
To us Bohemianism means the naturalism of refined people.

That it may be protected from vulgarians Society prescribes
conventional rules and regulations, which, like morals, change with
environment.
Bohemianism is the protest of naturalism against the too rigid, and,
oft-times, absurd restrictions established by Society.
The Bohemian requires no prescribed rules, for his or her innate
gentility prevents those things Society guards against. In Bohemia men
and women mingle in good fellowship and camaraderie without finding
the sex question a necessary topic of conversation. They do not find it
necessary to push exhilaration to intoxication; to increase their
animation to boisterousness. Their lack of conventionality does not
tend to boorishness.
Some of the most enjoyable Bohemian affairs we know of have been
full dress gatherings, carefully planned and delightfully carried out;
others have been impromptu, neither the hour, the place, nor the dress
being taken into consideration.
The unrefined get everywhere, even into the drawing rooms of royalty,
consequently we must expect to meet them in Bohemia. But the true
Bohemian has a way of forgetting to meet obnoxious personages and,
as a rule, is more choice in the selection of associates than the vaunted
"400." With the Bohemian but one thing counts: Fitness. Money,
position, personal appearance and even brains are of no avail if there be
the bar sinister--unfit.
In a restaurant, one evening, a number of men and women were seated
conspicuously at a table in the center of the room. Flowing neckties
such as are affected by Parisian art students were worn by the men; all
were coarse, loud and much in evidence. They not only attracted
attention by their loudness and outre actions, but they called notice by
pelting other diners with missiles of bread. To us they were the last
word in vulgarity, but to a young woman who had come to the place
because she had heard it was "so Bohemian" they were ideal, and she
remarked to her companion:

"I do so love to associate with real Bohemians like these. Can't we get
acquainted with them?"
"Sure," was the response. "All we have to do is to buy them a drink."
In San Francisco there are Bohemians and Near-Bohemians, and if you
are like the young woman mentioned you are apt to miss the real and
take the imitation for the genuine article.
We mean no derogation of San Francisco's restaurants when we say
that San Francisco's highest form of Bohemianism is rarely in evidence
in restaurants. We have enjoyed wonderful Bohemian dinners in
restaurants, but the other diners were not aware of it. Some far more
interesting gatherings have been in the rooms of Bohemian friends. Not
always is it the artistic combination of famous chef that brings greatest
delight, for we have as frequently had pleasure over a supper of some
simple dish in the attic room of a good friend.
This brings us to the crux of Bohemianism. It depends so little on
environment that it means nothing, and so much on companionship that
it means all.
To achieve a comprehensive idea of San Francisco's Bohemianism let
us divide its history into five eras. First we have the old Spanish days--
the days "before the Gringo came." Then reigned conviviality held
within most discreet bounds of convention, and it would be a misnomer,
indeed,