In
collecting old pictures of S. Mariani & Sons Hardware at 23rd
and Florida Streets in San Francisco, I noticed an old fountain that was once
out front. In many of these pictures, the
S of S. Mariani & Sons himself, Stephen, was standing next to it
proudly.
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| Photo used with permission of Carl Pisaturo, http://carlpisaturo.com |
I’ve
many times visited the home of the Mariani family at this location. Stephen Mariani opened two hardware stores in
1875. When the stores closed in the
1950s, they literally just closed. The
store was left downstairs of the home and just all closed up. We used to go into the hardware store and
play with the old cash register and tools.
My dad even had some items I inherited when he died—business cards, a
brush, and a pencil.
Throughout
my lifetime of visits, there was no fountain out front on the sidewalk. So what happened to it? When I was combing through items at the
California Historical Society in San Francisco in March I found this newspaper
clipping (newspaper not named or dated):
New Park Gets an
Old Fountain
An unusual antique fountain
of broad multi-purpose design—it was made to serve horses, humans and dogs
alike-- has been presented to the State for inclusion in the new Victorian Park
at the foot of Hyde street.
The fluted
cast-iron fountain has stood since 1881 in front of the old Mariani hardware
store at 23rd and Florida streets.
It was donated for
the State Park by the sons and daughters of Stephen and Victoria Mariani, who
came to San Francisco in 1862 and established their store in 1875.
One of the
daughters, Mrs. Stella Bryant, who still lives at 23rd and Florida, said the
fountain was cast in Oakland in 1872 and acquired by her father nine years
later.
Charles DeTurk,
State Director of Parks and Recreation, said the fountain “reflects all the ornate
grandeur of its period.”
I decided to look into this fountain and, using my best
friend, Google, I found this website:http://aboutinthecity.blogspot.com/2010/04/forgotten-fountain.html. Armed with the newspaper article, directions,
and the picture from the About in the City blog, I took a trip to San Francisco
on BART last weekend, determined to see if the fountain was indeed still there.
I got off BART at the Embarcadero stop and walked up
Embarcadero towards Ghiradelli Square, stopping for a bit at Pier 35, where I
walked across the street to the corner of Kearny and Bay. Why did I stop there?
That is the spot that the California pioneer Giuseppe
(Joseph) Mariani, father to Stephen Mariani, was fatally injured in a blasting
accident in 1871.
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May 11, 1871, Daily Evening
Bulletin, San Francisco, CA
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I walked across to the pier and sat there looking at the
boats in the water. Is that what
Giuseppe was doing there? Watching the
boats? He was a house painter, so I
don’t think he was working. I think he
was thinking just like I was. As I sat
there on fancy redwood benches staring into the Bay, I was interrupted by a
“vet looking for some lunch money.”
Giuseppe was there just after the Civil War. Were there Civil War vets asking for spare
change while that dynamite was being set?
Were there children chasing seagulls, couples holding hands? What was he thinking about those moments
before his life was interrupted permanently?
I got a bit sad, so I continued on. I passed the street performers and foreign
families sightseeing at Pier 39. I
passed the smell of crab and sourdough at Fisherman’s Wharf. I passed the other smells of stagnant water
and homelessness of Aquatic Park and there it was.
The Fountain.
I placed my hand on it in reverence. This fountain was in Oakland and shipped to
San Francisco. This fountain was touched
by S. Mariani. This fountain was touched
by Vera and her siblings. This fountain
was touched by shoppers in the hardware store and passersby. Possibly even my dad. As I thought of each of them, I imagined
seeing them there with me. Only they all
were in black and white like the photos of the fountain in front of 23rd
and Florida. I was in color and so was
the fountain. And so was the sleeping
lady on the nearby bench, lying there around MY fountain, as if MY fountain were a
stove giving off the heat of 140 years.
I sat on one of the surrounding benches and just looked at
it. I admired the different drinking
spots for horses and dogs. I wondered
how it was filled. I think through the
top, but clearly no water other than that from the skies had been in it for
years. Now it was leaves, gum and cigarette butts. I cleaned out the largest drinking spot of
the debris and then wrote down the words from the small plaque at the bottom,
silently promising my fountain that I’d be back to clean her again someday
soon.
“A gift to the State
of California by the pioneer Mariani family.
The grandfather, James Mariani, arrived on these shores in 1852. Presented in the memory of the father, Stephen
Mariani, who purchased the fountain in 1881 to place in front of his
establishment at 23rd and Florida.
November 1961.” The
grandfather was Joseph or Giuseppe, not James. But the
rest is, as they say, history.
