In historian Kenneth Starr’s categorization, “Provincial” (or “High Provincial”) San Francisco preceded the “Baghdad by the Bay” image that evolved after World War II, but was never completely replaced by it. By Provincial, Starr means to invoke San Francisco’s status as the capital of the West. Provincial San Francisco is marked by certain professions: manufacturing, banking, law, insurance, shipping, government, and food processing.
Provincials are also particular about class stratifications—in a way that Bohemians and the later Baghdadders were not. “All elites are obsessed with status,” Starr writes in Golden Dreams, “but in San Francisco—insecure, yet affluent and stylish—social maneuvering had long since become a blood sport.”
The pressure from Baghdadders and the post-World War II changes also turned Provincials attention to the past, as a place to affirm the city’s status and the class stratifications. That did not mean provincials were opposed to change. Indeed, it was the business elite that stood for the destruction of the Montgomery Block and its replacement with the Trans-America building and parking lots. Bohemians were opposed to such changes—as well cross-town freeways and other modernizations.
In conjunction with Provincial values, authors developed a particular literary style, probably best embodied by Frank Norris, who was both fascinated and repelled by the City’s businesses and Bohemia. This literature was characterized by naturalistic detail—Zola was an influence—that was alloyed with bits of the picturesque, whimsy, and the paranormal.
Shipley and de Ford clearly fit into this mold, with their socialism (as opposed to the anarchism of Rexroth and others) and concern with class stratification as well as their focus on the naturalistic (science), leavened with an openness toward the new and unexplained.
Provincials are also particular about class stratifications—in a way that Bohemians and the later Baghdadders were not. “All elites are obsessed with status,” Starr writes in Golden Dreams, “but in San Francisco—insecure, yet affluent and stylish—social maneuvering had long since become a blood sport.”
The pressure from Baghdadders and the post-World War II changes also turned Provincials attention to the past, as a place to affirm the city’s status and the class stratifications. That did not mean provincials were opposed to change. Indeed, it was the business elite that stood for the destruction of the Montgomery Block and its replacement with the Trans-America building and parking lots. Bohemians were opposed to such changes—as well cross-town freeways and other modernizations.
In conjunction with Provincial values, authors developed a particular literary style, probably best embodied by Frank Norris, who was both fascinated and repelled by the City’s businesses and Bohemia. This literature was characterized by naturalistic detail—Zola was an influence—that was alloyed with bits of the picturesque, whimsy, and the paranormal.
Shipley and de Ford clearly fit into this mold, with their socialism (as opposed to the anarchism of Rexroth and others) and concern with class stratification as well as their focus on the naturalistic (science), leavened with an openness toward the new and unexplained.
