Artist unknown, Panorama of San Francisco, c. 1870
Tempera and casein on canvas, 15 x 9 ft.
Reproduced from the original by Anchor Brewing Company, San Francisco.

Large painted-canvas panoramas, often mounted in series on wooden rollers, were popular entertainment between 1849 and 1895. This exquisite example captured the industrialized vibrancy of silver-era San Francisco as well as the bucolic serenity of its Mission district. Today’s Mission Dolores Park was home to two Jewish cemeteries in 1870. Near them was Lake Dolores. Downtown landmarks included Mayor Thomas H. Selby’s shot tower at First and Howard and Congregation Emanu-El’s circular-towered Sutter Street synagogue. Also prominent—sixty-six years before the Bay Bridge—was Yerba Buena (Goat) Island.

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