… Or at least that’s the last half of the 19th century. This was a different sort of San Francisco. Well, okay, the city by the bay is still wild, but not the way to the detriment of the same. This was not the San Francisco pot-smoking, rubbing orgy attended by hippies in Haight glass. There was no getting playful bears in bars in Castro, clubbers party until dawn at Soma. San Francisco 150 years ago was full of thieves and prostitutes, sailors and pilgrims, Chinese opium smokers and cheats, but it was a city of ill repute. And the epicenter of all this was a district of the Barbary Coast.

Appointed by the infamy of the neighborhood reminded observers of the dangerous pirate waters invaded North Africa and the Berber camel feared he was just off the southern Mediterranean, the Barbary Coast occupied what is now part of Chinatown, Jackson Square, North Beach and Financial District. These days, the area is much more civilized. But there was a time when San Francisco city was the wildest city in the United States, thanks to everyone’s throat cut salacious and Barbary Coast.

Unfortunately for fans of debauchery and lawlessness (? And ultimately, it is not), the infamous 19th century the district of San Francisco in time disappeared from the map, buried by the earthquake of 1906 and then in the dark heart pierced by the dagger of silver and political reforms “vice squads” that wiped the dirt from the area forever in the second decade of the 20th century.

I will spend most of August in San Francisco trying to dig a backup. The remaining physical traces and persistent cultural relics born outside the area.

Luckily, I have a few people who can help with the excavation in this series a month-long Gadling.
A few years ago, the city created a 4 mile from Barbary Coast Trail, where 20 bronze medallions embedded in the sidewalk wend through Chinatown and Little Italy and other parts of downtown to carry visitors to the pubs Historically, the first temple in North America, Asia, the recently restored old U.S. Mint, and the ancient Cathedral of Santa Maria, built in 1854, the entry still shows a recorded message to young people about brothels surrounding the area. The historian Daniel Bacon, leads regular tours of the track.

But that’s not all. New restaurant of celebrity chef Tyler Florence, tavern Wayfare intentionally goes back to the days of the Barbary Coast. The same applies to the Comstock Hall, a restaurant with an emphasis on cocktails, ranging from the mid 19th century the history of San Francisco (the name of a famous Golden Corridor). Both restaurants are right on track Barbary Coast. On top of that, some locals have been working to officially re-name this part of the city’s Barbary Coast again. Five years ago he founded the Association of Residents of the Barbary Coast, and recently, the San Francisco tour Board of Realtors is recognized as an official neighborhood.

During the month he will visit these places that are leading to a resurgence of interest in all things Barbary Coast. Meanwhile, there are some positions of primer on what made the infamous Barbary Coast and the cultural legacy that he knew the district had contributed to popular culture and the American lexicon.