Oldest block in town

The five buildings in front of you are the only physical reminders of the city's beginnings^{1According to the National Register of Historic Places}. They look almost the same now as they did when they stood on the shoreline in 1850s.

728 Montgomery was the site of the first Masonic meeting in California. Levi Stowell carried the charter by mule from Washington across the Panama Isthmus to establish California Lodge NO. 13, now California Lodge NO. 1 of the Free and Accepted Masons here in November 1849.

722 Montgomery used to be the Melodeon theater where Lotta Crabtree loved to sing^21856-1864.
A century later it was occupied by the famous lawyer, Melvin Belli, known as Father of Demonstrative Evidence and King of Torts. He won over $600,000,000^{3Belli famously wrote: "The only award permissible in a personal injury or death action is 'dollars,' the 'money judgment.' It should be adequate."} representing clients from Alex Haley to Zsa Zsa Gabor^{4Including Muhammad Ali, Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, Chuck Berry, Maureen Connolly, Tony Curtis, Errol Flynn, Martha Mitchell, Jack Ruby, The Rolling Stones, Lana Turner, and Mae West, as well as the Eli Lilly heir Elena Yee Lutz with whom he had sex but "did not bill her for the hours"}. His glassed-in office "decorated like a high-end Victorian bordello" was on the first floor so that the passerby could view him always in action. Mr. Belli was accused, once, of being an ambulance chaser. " It's a gross defamation. ", answered he, "I've never been an ambulance chaser. I've always gotten there before the ambulance arrived. "

716 Montgomery is built on top of a marooned schooner The Georgian, another reminder that you're standing at what used to be the water's edge. Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera had their studio here in 1930s, while Rivera painted three murals in San Francisco.

712 Montgomery was an immigration station in 1850s and 1860s, when tens of thousands of immigrants would march here off the ships.

708 Montgomery is the only building on the block to be significantly damaged in the 1906 earthquake. It made its mark in history as the site of the notorious Black Cat Bar, the center of the city's Beat and bohemian scene that turned, in the 1950s, into the best gay bar in America^{5According to Alan Ginzburg, who also said “It was totally open, bohemian, San Francisco...all the poets went there.”}. You can read about it in Kerouak's On The Road.
Saroyan and Steinbeck frequented here in the 1940s. Jose Sarria, the first openly gay candidate in the United States to run for public office^{61961, San Francisco Board of Supervisors. He almost won, with 6,000 votes, and established the gay voting block as a political power in San Francisco}, performed his Carmen arias here and rose the crowd to sing "God Save Us Nelly Queens!" at closing time.

If you want true, genuine San Francisco - this block is as San Francisco as it gets.

^{1According to the National Register of Historic Places}According to the National Register of Historic Places
^21856-18641856-1864
^{3Belli famously wrote: "The only award permissible in a personal injury or death action is 'dollars,' the 'money judgment.' It should be adequate."}Belli famously wrote: "The only award permissible in a personal injury or death action is 'dollars,' the 'money judgment.' It should be adequate."
^{4Including Muhammad Ali, Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, Chuck Berry, Maureen Connolly, Tony Curtis, Errol Flynn, Martha Mitchell, Jack Ruby, The Rolling Stones, Lana Turner, and Mae West, as well as the Eli Lilly heir Elena Yee Lutz with whom he had sex but "did not bill her for the hours"}Including Muhammad Ali, Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, Chuck Berry, Maureen Connolly, Tony Curtis, Errol Flynn, Martha Mitchell, Jack Ruby, The Rolling Stones, Lana Turner, and Mae West, as well as the Eli Lilly heir Elena Yee Lutz with whom he had sex but "did not bill her for the hours"
^{5According to Alan Ginzburg, who also said “It was totally open, bohemian, San Francisco...all the poets went there.”}According to Alan Ginzburg, who also said “It was totally open, bohemian, San Francisco...all the poets went there.”
^{61961, San Francisco Board of Supervisors. He almost won, with 6,000 votes, and established the gay voting block as a political power in San Francisco}1961, San Francisco Board of Supervisors. He almost won, with 6,000 votes, and established the gay voting block as a political power in San Francisco