The “Eccentrics” are on Hiatus,
to fulfill private booking commitments,
update our show and renovate our Parlor!
Please check back later for our
Grand Re-opening dates. thank you!
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Seating is Limited in Our Intimate Theatre
RESERVATIONS ARE RECOMMENDED

$30 Entertainment Charge
Refreshments Available One-Half Hour Before the Show

-suggested for fourteen-years to adults -

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Our Who’s-Who of Favorite Barbary Coast Eccentrics…

Who Was Emperor Joshua Norton?

Joshua Norton was a successful nineteenth-century businessman who lost his fortune and turned up wandering San Francisco's streets destitute... and arguably insane. Norton marched into a newspaper office with an "official" proclamation declaring himself the First Emperor of the United States, the paper printed it and the rest is history. 

Who Was “Big” Alma Spreckels?

Alma de Bretteville Spreckels, can be seen today standing proudly atop the monument in Union Square.  She reigned supreme in San Francisco Society almost from her birth in 1881 until her death in 1968.   Known both as “Big Alma” -she was six-feet tall- and “The Great Grandmother of San Francisco” she was an wealthy socialite and influential philanthropist, who among her many accomplishments, donated the California Palace of the Legion of Honor to the City.

Who Was Mary Ellen Pleasant?

Courage, Immense wealth, philanthropy, and heroic civil rights deeds are among the legacies inextricably woven into the Mary Ellen Pleasant saga— oddly coupled with voodoo, intrigue, blackmail, betrayal, and death. Lauded from the Civil War throughout the Victorian era as a staunch abolitionist but also as San Francisco’s Voodoo Queen.   “Mammy” Pleasant conducted her thriving businesses –and Voodoo– from her massive mansion on Eucalyptus-lined Octavia Street.  It is said she haunts the street still…

Who Was Mark Twain?

 “Mark Twain” was the pen-name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, who grew up in Hannibal, Missouri.  Although he had a number of odd jobs early in his life, Clemens lived in San Francisco and was a reporter for our local newspapers, chronicling the City’s earthquakes and foibles. Twain traveled around the world and dazzled audiences far and wide with his insightful and stinging lectures, filled with the same humor and spirit found in his writings.

Who Was Lotta Crabtree?

The “Madonna” of her day, remembered for her enormous talents, sparkling personality, and marketing savvy, Lotta Crabtree, was a protégé of the infamous Lola Montez, began her career as a copper-haired girl who wowed the miners at San Francisco's Bella Union and elsewhere in the Mother Lode.  She grew up to be a famous actress in her own right, toasted on Broadway, winning awards. Her unique gift to the city -the cast-iron monstrosity known as Lotta's Fountain located at Montgomery and Market- earned her a permanent place in our City’s heart.

Who Was Lola Montez?

One of the more colorful characters of the 19th century was Lola Montez, who claimed to be a Spanish dancer, although she was actually Irish. She was best known for her "Spider Dance", a sort of tarantella which involved shaking rubber tarantulas out of her clothing in such a way as to provide generous views of her person.

Who Was Oofty-Goofy?

This character started out as “The Wild Man of Borneo” in a Barbary Coast sideshow. When people came up to his bars, he would growl and mutter "Oofty goofty!"  hence his name.  He became a curious one-man industry when he discovered that he felt no pain. People could sock him, kick him, etc. and it would not bother him. He let saloon denizens abuse him for four bits a whack.

Who Was Gertrude Atherton?

Gertrude Atherton was a woman with several fatal flaws:  She was a great beauty who wanted to display as much of that beauty as possible in uptight Victorian times.  She was a social climber who loved to spend and party.  She incurred the wrath of her purist mother-in-law Dominga who held the purse strings.  She hated her wimpy husband and raucous children.  And  she became an authoress… one who wrote scandalously racy romantic novels which embarrassed the family.

Who Was Anton LaVey?

A carnival sideshow operator turned High Priest of evil opened his “Church of Satan” in a respectable part of town and attracted actress Jayne Mansfield and others who sought to sell their souls. LaVey's “Satanic Bible” is little more than an inversion of the Beatitudes and any other part of the Bible which calls for loving thy neighbor as well as thyself. He claimed the power to curse those who offend him, even after his death.

Who Was Tessie Wall?

Tessie Wall was one of San Francisco's most beloved and infamous madams, and the belle of the annual San Francisco Policeman's ball… even after she hunted down her husband and shot him.
Tessie was given to most of the popular excesses of the day.  She had a great fondness for champagne, and her brothel was celebrated for the beauty of its inmates, all but one of whom were young, blonde, and plump.

Who Was Shanghai Kelly?

The term “Shanghaied” refers to the practice of kidnapping men by trickery or violence, and conscripting them as sailors on long voyages.  These kidnappers were known as “Crimps” and were well paid for drugging young men and dragging them onto departing ships. The most infamous Crimp on the Barbary Coast was the crafty Shanghai Kelly, stories of his ruthlessness are plentiful and some have survived due to their ironic humor.

Who Was Jim Jones?

The City's liberal political establishment depended on the charismatic Rev. Jim Jones, because no one else could turn out precinct workers like he could. However the wildly popular “People's Temple” church on Geary ensured the loyalty of its members through torture and intimidation. The dark side of Jones only became known shortly before he fled to a South American settlement in Guiana. “Jonestown” was the Reverend's personal dictatorship. 

Who Was President Harding?

Warren G. Harding, the twenty-ninth President of the United States, served until his untimely death in San Francisco’s Palace Hotel in 1923.  Harding is consistently ranked as one of our nation’s worst Presidents. There are many rumors and reports surrounding his demise.  Some say he was assassinated by his political cronies due to his denouncing them in the Teapot Dome scandal, some say his disgruntled wife sick of his philandering was in on the plot.  The actual deed was reportedly carried out by a viscous Vampire, a highly paid killer who stowed away upon the ship bearing Harding to San Francisco.

 

Further Information:  SFMagicParlor@SBCGlobal.Net

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