The corner of 5th and Market has changed surprisingly little in the last 100 years. A photo from OpenSF History shows some of the same buildings, trams still running on the sidewalks, and people walking on the sidewalks (albeit less than a century ago).
Of course, some things have changed. Retail brands and tenants have cycled through the Market Street Flood Building (left), and what was once the Lincoln Building (right) became the current Westfield San Francisco Center.
But what about that little corner store on the right side of the picture?
It was Juan de Fuca Cigars. Not much is known about this specific brand, but it got its name from the Greek explorer Juan de Fuca (1536-1602) who traveled across the Pacific Northwest on Spanish crown currency.
The cigar was a popular luxury in the United States during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, especially before the explosion of the cigarette industry in the 1920s. By the 1880s, cigars were the most popular tobacco product in the country, and connoisseurs considered Cuban cigars to be the cream of the industry – a reputation they still hold today.
What is not widely known is that the cigar industry in San Francisco was largely dominated by Chinese manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers in the mid to late nineteenth century. Some historians estimate that by 1870, more than 90% of the cigar industry’s workforce was Chinese-American. And by the turn of the century, contemporary newspapers in SF reported over 150 Chinese-owned cigar factories, many employing over 100 Chinese workers each.
But as Chinese-owned companies began to dominate the cigar industry, racial tensions rose in San Francisco as white-owned factories capitalized on widespread anti-Asian sentiment to drive Chinese cigar makers and workers out of business.
Particularly in the 1880s, white cigar makers formed associations such as the Pacific Coast White Co-Operative Manufacturing Co., which promised to fight what they saw as the “deterioration” of cigar quality. cigars because of the origin in Chinese work. The group aimed to promote white racial purity by framing “quality control” of cigar production as a necessity of the industry.
This resulted in many targeted questions about the quality, safety and purity of Chinese cigar production in California. SF newspapers reported health and safety inspections at Chinese-owned cigar companies, often depicting images of abuse or filth in their factories. Some cigar companies began including “White Labor” labels on their boxes to boost sales, even if their labor came from Chinese workers, and others signed “Protect Home Industry” pledges not to buy and sell manufactured cigars. by Chinese individuals.
The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 ultimately slowed the growth of Chinese cigar companies and wholesalers in San Francisco and drove many Chinese workers out of the industry. While some remained, the anti-Chinese campaign in the 1880s all but eliminated the Chinese American presence in the cigar industry.
Even if Juan de Fuca Cigars did (or didn’t) have a hand in California’s cigar-filled past, its presence in this 1920s photograph is testament to decades of industry secrets and untold stories—one that emphasized relationships interwoven between workers and races. ideology and luxury goods. It’s also an unfortunate reminder that today’s anti-Asian sentiment has long and ugly roots in the city.
For more Then/Now photo comparisons, see Standard Instagram.
