Green Street Excursion

Green Street begins at the Presidio; it departs from Lyon at the house of six lions and proceeds straight through the lofty parts of Cow Hollow toward Pacific Heights. This is the area of multimillion-dollar mansions with multimillion-dollar views. Many are conservatively attired in ivy, while others are flamboyant in bougainvillea. You go past the huge Russian Consulate, admiring views of the Bay to the left and of downtown directly ahead. Green Street between Scott and Pierce is one of those places you take tourists to. It’s so steep it looks as if you are driving off the edge of the world.

You come down to earth at Van Ness where the Holy Trinity Cathedral stands, serving the First Orthodox Parish that has been in town for 152 years. This Russian church introduces us to the area beyond Van Nessæ Russian Hill. At the top of it, Green Street gives up. It’s too steep, and we have to take a detour and come up Taylor past the unique, nearly vertical Ina Coolbrith Park to rejoin Green as it descends to North Beach.

At Powell, Green surrenders its name for one block and becomes Beach Blanket Babylon Way in honor of the world’s longest running musical revue, which is performed at Club Fugazi. The block between Columbus and Grant looks as if it had been imported directly from GenoaæItalian cafés, Italian restaurants, and Italian groceries and fish markets.

Once again, Green Street labors up a steep hill, Telegraph this time, as far as Montgomery and then quits. Another detour on Vallejo to Sansome to find Green again coasting down to the Embarcadero in an area of former warehouses and waterfront dives that have found a new life as corporate headquarters and designers’ showplaces. Green Street ends at Pier 15, halfway between the World Trade Center and Teatro ZinZanni. Now what could be more San Francisco than that?

Mysterious Green

So who was this Mr. Green for whom the street was named? He was a pioneer, Talbot H. Green, who arrived in California in 1841, a member of the Bartleson-Bidwell Party, the first settlers to cross the Sierra. Green first settled in Monterey where he worked as a clerk in Thomas Oliver Larkin’s general store. Larkin became increasingly involved in political affairs, serving as President James K. Polk’s confidential agent to promote the idea of California becoming a part of the United States, and Green took on greater responsibilities; eventually Larkin made him a partner in his enterprise.

Moving to San Francisco, Green went into business with another merchant who earned a street name in the city, William Howard, founder of the merchandise emporium of Howard & Mellus. Like many other early arrivals to San Francisco, Green prospered as a businessman and real estate dealer. By the time of the Gold Rush, he was already both wealthy and recognized as a civic leader, having served as a city coucilman and treasurer of the Society of California Pioneers. He married Sarah Armstrong Montgomery, a well-to-do widow. The Greens were among the city’s social elite. In 1851, Green entered the race for mayor of San Francisco with the backing of many local power brokers and was considered a likely winner.

Calamity

Shortly before the election, Green was walking down Montgomery Street when he noticed a group of men coming in the opposite direction. Among them were several whom he knew, and he greeted them. Also among the group was H. P. Hepburn, a Philadelphia lawyer who had recently arrived in the city. Hepburn looked at Green and said, “Why there’s Paul Geddes!”

“No,” his companions told him. “That’s Talbot Green.”

“It’s Paul Geddes,” Hepburn insisted. “I know him as well as I do myself. He was a bank clerk who embezzled gold from his employers and abandoned his wife and four children!”

The scandal spread quickly, and Green’s attempts to deny Hepburn’s charges were in vain. Green lost the election; his wife, six months pregnant, asked him to leave the house. Swearing that he would return with proof that Hepburn’s allegations were false, Green left for the east. Many of the city’s most prominent citizens accompanied him to the steamer, assuring him that he had their support. They were later disheartened when Larkin told them that Green had confessed to him in a letter that he was, in fact, Paul Geddes. In Philadelphia, he repaid the funds he had stolen and reconciled with his first wife. He never returned to San Francisco.

Epilogue

Sarah Green delivered a baby boy after her disgraced husband had departed and, for some reason, named her son Talbot H. Green, Jr. She divorced Green and married Joseph Wallis who adopted the boy and changed his name to Talbot H. Wallis. Years later, Talbot H. Wallis was appointed California State Librarian. He was the only person to hold that august office who had the dubious distinction of being tried by the Library Board of Trustees. The charges were drinking, smoking, swearing, and incompetence on the job.

But that’s another story.

George Rathmell is a freelance writer and frequent contributor to the Nob Hill Gazette. His information is available at www.georgerathmell.com.