Daily Diary, May 12, 2022, Day 620
Here is a snippet from current work in progress, a novella entitled Mrs. Stein Solves a Crime, that sent me off doing some research yesterday into San Francisco livery stables. The speaker is Hetty, Mrs. Stein’s youngest daughter, and she is complaining to her mother about her husband George and his economizing.
“But mother, that’s not all he’s done. He came home last week and announced that he’d sold the carriage and horses. He said that he planned to take the Sutter Street line into town for work, and that renting space at the livery stables and paying to have a driver sit around all day, doing nothing, was wasteful. When I objected, he told me that if I’m forced to take the public cars, then I won’t go to the stores so often and spend all his money on shopping!”—rs. Stein Solves a Crime
Livery stables were establishments where you could rent carriages and horses, or board your own carriages and horses, for a fee. These businesses were particularly important in a city such as San Francisco where the city lots north of Market were often too limited in size to contain carriages houses on the premises, and where a significant number of the wealthier people lived in boardinghouses like the O’Farrell Street boardinghouse, where Mrs. Stein lives, or in fancy hotels such as the Baldwin and Palace hotels.
Those of you who have read my Victorian San Francisco mysteries may have noticed the frequency that I mentioned local livery stables. For example, in Maids of Misfortune, Nate Dawson rents a carriage to take Annie on an excursion to the famous Cliff house, really their first time alone together. At the end of Uneasy Spirits, it is in another rented carriage, on their way to Golden Gate Park, that Annie and Nate have an important conversation clarifying the nature of their relationship. Later in the series, in Lethal Remedies, everyone is impressed when they discover that Caro Sutton, a friend of Nate’s sister, has her own carriage and horses, which are lodged in a livery stable near her house. This convenience is seen as a sign of her wealth and good fortune.
For these livery stables to be convenient, they needed to be scattered throughout the city. That way it would be easy for anyone to just walk a few blocks to rent a carriage, or if you boarded your own carriage and horses, you could send a servant or one of the ubiquitous young boys who worked as messengers throughout the city to go round up the driver who would bring the carriage to your doorstep. A few of the larger stables had telegraph capability, and in the first telephone directory in the city in 1878, seven of the 179 listings were for stables.
The photo below is an advertisement for a large stable located just one block south of the spectacular Palace Hotel. And if you want more information on the role of livery stables in San Francisco, I would suggest checking out this piece.
I can't wait to read new book. I love Mrs Stein, plus all of the boarders and servants. Love Dandy, also.
Thanks for the snippet. It would seem that Hetty has too much time on her hands. I’m curious to read what Mrs. Stein has to say about Hetty’s situation. Love all the folks at Annie’s boardinghouse.