#Wilhelm Hester

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Woman seated on donkey, Nome, Alaska, between 1898 and 1900

Hester (Wilhelm) Photographs

University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections

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“Chinatown, San Francisco California, 1895.”  Photograph by Wilhelm Hester (from the University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections).  This photo shows a view north up Washington Place, a.k.a. Washington Alley (“Fish Alley” to English speakers) or “Tuck Wo Gaai” (德和街) to old Chinatown’s residents.  

Washington Place:  Chinatown’s “Fish Alley” 德和街

The street on which one of my grandmothers was born in 1898 had already begun to acquire a rich photographic legacy as an iconic alleyway whose south-north axis connected Washington to Jackson Streets in San Francisco’s old Chinatown.   Prior to the Great Earthquake and Fire of 1906, the city had designated the short street as “Washington Place.”  

The photographers of old Chinatown often called the street (which would later be re-named Wentworth Place after the quake), as Washington Alley and “Fish Alley.” Chinatown residents referred to the alleyway as “Tuck Wo Gaai” (德和街; lit.: “Virtuous Harmony St.; canto: “Duck Wo gaai”), the name of a well-known business which was located at least as early as 1875 on the southwest corner of the “T” intersection of Washington Place with Jackson Street.

Fish Alley must be considered one of old Chinatown’s most famous streets, the images of which were captured by various photographers and artists during the 19th century.  While far from complete, this article attempts to identify the businesses at each identifiable address from photos that are available online. The businesses operating on Washington Place during the latter decades of the 19th century established the small street as one of the iconic alleyways of the pre-1906 community.  The photos are grouped roughly in the order they would have appeared to a pedestrian walking north on Fish Alley from Washington to Jackson streets.

“In the Heart of Chinatown, San Francisco, California” c. 1892. Photographer unknown, stereograph published by J.F. Jarvis (from the Robert N. Dennis collection, New York Public Library).

“In the Heart of Chinatown, San Francisco, U.S.A.” c. 1892. This enlarged photo from the original stereograph looks north up Washington Place or Alley, a.k.a. “Fish Alley,” from Washington to Jackson Street.

At least one motion picture of life on the street has survived to this day, a “Mutoscope” from April 1903.  (See, e.g., https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53DTuc6-1hI&ab_channel=LibraryofCongress)  

A portion of the hand-drawn map by immigration officer John Lynch from 1894. Washington Street at the southern end of Washington Place appears at the top of the image.

The attempts by local historians to identify various places on Fish Alley has also been helped by the preservation of a hand-drawn immigration officer map from 1894 (the “1894 Map”), as well as numerous business directories showing the names and addresses of the businesses operating on this street prior to the destruction of the neighborhood in 1906.

“Chinatown, San Francisco, Cal.” C. 1890.  Photographer unknown (from the Marilyn Blaisdell Collection). This photo was taken from Washington Street looking north up Washington Place (a.k.a. Fish Alley) toward Jackson Street.

“Street in Chinese Quarter – San Francisco” c. 1870s.  Photograph possibly taken by the studio of Thomas Houseworth & Co. Image courtesy of Wolfgang Sell of the National Stereoscopic Association.  This stereocard shows Emperor Norton (at right) on Chinatown’s “Fish Alley” a.k.a. Washington Place (looking north toward Jackson Street).

By the 1870’s, Fish Alley or Washington Place had already acquired its status as a destination to view in old Chinatown.  No less than a local celebrity such as Emperor Norton would pose for a photo on an ever-busy fish and poultry venue.

Untitled photo of Washington Place (a.k.a. Fish Alley), no date. Photo produced by the studio of Isaiah West Taber (from the collection of the California Historical Society). The Tuck Hing meat market appears at the left on the northwest corner of the T-intersection of Fish Alley and Washington Street.  The identity of the photographer holding his camera and tripod at the left-center of the image is unknown.

“B 2689 Provision Market in Alley in Chinatown, San Francisco” c. 1891.  Photograph probably by Carleton Watkins but printed as a [I.W.] Taber Photo (from the Marilyn Blaisdell collection).  This photo shows a view north up Washington Place (a.k.a. Washington Alley or “Fish Alley” to English speakers) or “Tuck Wo Gaai” (德和街) taken sometime between 1880-1891.  In a travel book in which the photo “The Provision Market [etc.]” appeared, the writer observed that the market “supplies a better class of food to customers than the markets in China itself.  In China the shops sell, rats, mice, dogs, cats and snails; poultry is sold by the piece – so much for a leg, so much for a wing.  In San Francisco food is more easily obtainable and money is not so scarce, so that the Chinaman lives better than in his own country… .”

“Chinatown at Night” published by Britton & Rey (from the collection of Wong Yuen-Ming).  The postcard image was derived from the Taber Photo “B 2689 Provision Market in Alley in Chinatown, San Francisco” c. 1891.

The above photo and derivative postcard in this series was sold by Isaiah West Taber under the title “Provisions Market in Alley in Chinatown, San Francisco,” but the image was probably captured by Carleton Watkins and acquired by Taber in the aftermath of Watkins’ bankruptcy. The identity of the store shown at the left in the photo is well-known as the Tuck Hing meat market.  The market appeared frequently in Chinatown directories from that era and the living memories of Chinatown’s oldest residents.

Listing for the Tuck Hing meat market at 746 Washington St. from the Horn Hong & Co. Chinatown Business Directory and lunar Calendar for 1892.

According to the directories and 1894 Map, the corner market was operated under the name “Tuck Hing Butchers” in a brick building at 746 Washington Street and its alley address at no. 2 Washington Place (in the Langley directory of 1895).  The Tuck Hing meat market operated for about a century from 1888 to 1988 at the same northwest corner of the intersection of Washington Street with Washington Place (later named Wentworth).

Across the street from Tuck Hing, on the northeast corner of the intersection of Washington Place and Washington Street, a visitor to Fish Alley around the turn of the century would see another corner store, the Sun Lun Sang Co. at 1 Washington Place.

Fish Alley, no date.  Photograph by Turrill & Miller from the Marilyn Blaisdell collection).  The Sung Lun (or Lung) Sang, a.k.a. Sun Lung Sing (新聯生; canto: “Sun Luen Saang”) general merchandise store appears at right.

Listing for the Sun Lung Sang market at no. 1 Washington St. from the Horn Hong & Co. Chinatown Business Directory and Lunar Calendar for 1892.

“One Washington Place,” c. 1892-1896.  Photograph by Arnold Genthe (from the collection of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division).  The store signage for Sun Lun Sang company (新聯生; canto: “sun luen saang”) appears along the left of the frame.  The trees of Portsmouth Square and the tower portion of the Hall of Justice are visible through the open, south-facing window along Washington Street frontage.

Historian Jack Tchen identified the store at the northeast corner of Fish Alley and Washington Street as the Sun Lun Sang Co. (新聯生; canto: “Sun Luen Saang” )  “Caged chickens are clearly visible on the right,” Tchen writes.  “The photograph was probably taken during New Year’s, because the children are dressed in fancy clothing.  The simply dressed woman looking on is probably a house servant to a wealthy merchant family.”

“One Washington Place” c. 1897.    Photograph by Arnold Genthe (from the collection of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division).   “In this view, taken sometime after 1897,” Jack Tchen writes, “the store sign reads ‘Yow Sing & Co., No. 2.’The man in the basement stairwell is holding a Chinese scale (cheng).  The wooden panels on the left are used to board up the storefront after business hours.”

“Chinatown – fish market, circa 1900.”  Photograph by D. H. Wulzen (from the D.H. Wulzen Glass Plate Negative Collection (Sfp 40), San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library).  A fishmonger talks to a young shopper while cleaning a fish at his sidewalk cutting board probably at no. 5 or 6/12 Washington Place, a.k.a. Fish Alley.  

“Fish Market, two men,” c. 1900.  Photograph by D. H. Wulzen (from the D.H. Wulzen Glass Plate Negative Collection (Sfp 40), San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library).  The same fishmonger talks to a male shopper in front of the store at 5 Washington Place.  The window of the barbershop has been scratched out at the right of the frame.

D.H. Wulzen’s photos of a fish store serving a child customer and a lone man fortunately captured a faint images of its business signage, i.e., 昌聚魚鋪 = (lit. “Prosperous Gathering”; canto: “Cheung Jeuih yu poh”; pinyin: “Chāng jù yú pù”).  The small store had apparently established itself after the preparation of the 1894 immigration map and by the turn of the century, its address at no. 5 or 6-1/2 Washington Place can be determined by its neighbor, whose business name on its window can be read as 同德 (canto: “Tuhng Duck”), a barbershop located at no. 3 Washington Place.

Listing for the “Tong Tuck” barbershop at 3 Washington Place from the Horn Hong & Co. Chinatown Business Directory and lunar Calendar for 1892.

Several photos of Arnold Genthe provide the basis for a reasonable guess about the Chung Hing & Co. poultry store’s probable occupancy of the space at no. 4 Washington Place.

“Fish Alley, Chinatown, San Francisco” a.k.a. “Booth, Fish Alley, Chinatown, San Francisco” undated [c. 1895- 1905].  Photograph by Arnold Genthe (from the collection of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division).  “Freshly killed chickens are hanging from the rack,” writes historian Jack Tchen, “with wooden chicken crates visible in the background. Fish as redisplayed on the table to the right.  An American-made scale is hanging in the upper left-hand corner of the photograph.”

In addition to his Fish Alley photo which appeared in two editions of his photos of old Chinatown, Arnold Genthe took at least two other wider-angle images of the Chung Hing & Co. store.

“Two women and a child walking down a sidewalk between crates, Chinatown, San Francisco” c. 1896- 1906.  Photograph by Arnold Genthe (from the collection of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division).  

This clumsily-named photo of a man and probably two daughters walking past a poultry store appears to be the same shop depicted in Genthe’s “Fish Alley” photo, at no. 4 Washington Place.  Although two large lanterns adorn the entryway, the work table (at left), the scale and the basket of eggs suspended to the left of its entrance are identical.

“Vendors and a horse and cart on a street, Chinatown, San Francisco,” c. 1896- 1906.  Photograph by Arnold Genthe (from the collection of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division).  This photo represents the third image captured by Genthe of the poultry store probably located at no. 4 Washington Place, a.k.a. Fish Alley. The presence of the pair of lanterns over the entryway to the store indicates that it was taken closer in time to the preceding photo of a man and his daughters walking past this store.  

Genthe’s photos from across the alleyway affords a better view of the building elevations.  The “Vendors” photo probably depicts the west side of Washington Place or Alley on which the poultry stores operated.  From left to right, one sees the Fish Alley store occupying the larger opening of a brick building, followed by a narrower entry opening, presumably leading to a stairway to the upper floors. The horse cart is parked in front of a wooden structure which abuts a two-story brick building with a light façade which, in turn, is adjacent another brick building. This combination of buildings, i.e., “brick-wood-brick-brick” more closely fits the line of structures starting at no. 4 Washington Place and proceeding sequentially as noted on the 1894 Map sketched by immigration officer John Lynch (the “1894 Map”).

“Fish Market, Two Men,” circa 1901.  Photograph by D. H. Wulzen (from the D.H. Wulzen Glass Plate Negative Collection (Sfp 40), San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library). Wulzen’s photo depicts the same poultry store seen in Genthe’s “Fish Alley” and related photos. The store’s poultry cages against the left wall of the interior are more visible in the background.  The stairway to the upper floors appears more clearly in the center, and the Wulzen photo confirms the wooden construction of the adjacent building at right.

Fortunately, Dietrich H. Wulzen, Jr., shared with his photographic peers a fascination with the businesses which operated on old Chinatown’s Fish Alley.  Viewing both images of the same store by Genthe and Wulzen allows the viewer to understand better the context of the built environment of Fish Alley and, in particular, the location of the poultry store at no. 4 Washington Place.

“Clerk at poultry market, chicken hanging,” circa 1901.  Photograph by D. H. Wulzen (from the D.H. Wulzen Glass Plate Negative Collection (Sfp 40), San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library). Wulzen took another photo of the Chung Hing & Co. poultry store at 4 Washington Place from a different angle and into its interior.  The “clerk” seen dressing a bird appears to be the same man seen in the background of the previous photo in this series.

In his book Picturing Chinatown: Art and Orientalism in San Francisco, art historian Anthony W. Lee wrote about Wulzen and “Fish Market, Two Men” as follows:

“[Wulzen]  was especially attentive to Genthe’s pictures of these spaces in the quarter more frequented by the working class. Of his fifty-five plates, more than forty were shot in the alleys, including Fish Market, Two Men … photographed on Washington Place. It closely resembles Genthe’s picture of the same subject …, differing primarily in the angle of approach and the wares (fish, not poultry) that the vendor has displayed.  Wulzen even carefully registers the sloping table and the slight angles of the two washbasins beneath it, just as Genthe had done.”

Unlike the case of several of his prominent contemporaries, Wulzen’s glass plate negatives escaped the destruction caused by the 1906 Earthquake and Fire, and his son Frank donated the negatives to the San Francisco Public Library (SFPL) on the 90th anniversary of the disaster.  The SFPL added Wulzen’s Chinatown scenes to its online offerings in 2016.  Born in 1862, Wulzen became a pharmacist in 1889, studying at the Affiliated Colleges on Parnassus Heights. In the 1890s, according to the SFPL, he became interested in photography and added a Kodak Agency to his drug store. Wulzen joined the California Camera Club and became known for a photographic style which was “straightforward and realistic, unlike the dominant ‘artist’ photography of the club.”  

“Chinese Fish Peddler, San Francisco Chinatown” c. 1900.  Photographer unknown (from the collection of the Monterey County Historical Society).  This hitherto unidentified photo also appears to be the same shop at no. 4 Washington Place which had attracted the interests of photographers Genthe and Wulzen.  

The 1894 Map identifies  the shop at no. 4 Washington Place as the “Chung King poultry & fish” store, but the business listings of the day, such as the Horn Hom & Co. directory of 1892 lists the name as “Chung Hing” (祥興; canto: “Cheung Hing”), and the 1895 Langley directory denotes the name as “Chong Hing & Co., 4 Washington Alley.”  

   “The Fish Market” undated [c. 1895- 1905].  Photograph by Arnold Genthe (from the collection of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division).  A print of this photo is also known by the title “Fish Market Scales” (without attribution to Genthe) in the collection of the California Historical Society. Based on the small sign appearing above the doorway on the right of the image, historian Jack Tchen identified the location of this scene as the Chong Tsui store (昌咀; lit. Prosperous Assemblage”; canto: “Cheung Jeuih”) at 5-½ Washington Place.  

Examination of images by other photographers and the Horn Hom Co. business directory of 1892 indicate that Jack Tchen misidentified the store in his book about Arnold Genthe’s photographs.  The Chinese signage over the main storefront entrance of the store shown in Genthe’s photo reads from right to left as 廣興  or Quong Hing (canto: “Gwong Hing”).   The Quong Hing store was located at 7 Washington Place.

Listing for the “Qung Hing” meat market at 7 Washington Place from the Horn Hong & Co. Chinatown Business Directory and lunar Calendar for 1892.

Untitled photo of the Quong Hing store located at 7 Washington Place, c. 1892.  Photographer unknown (from a private collector item on eBay).  The sign for the store appears more clearly in the upper-right corner of this photo than as shown in the Arnold Genthe photo of the same store.

“Chinatown market, San Francisco California, 1895.”  Photograph by Wilhelm Hester (from the University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections).  The sign appearing in the left of the frame reads 恆昌棧 (canto: “Hun Cheung Jan”; lit. “Lasting Prosperity store”), which occupied the space at no. 7 Washington Place or Alley.

To some readers, the Chinese character “棧” could also be interpreted to be an “inn” or a boarding house.  However, the Langley directories of 1894 and 1895 (the same year during which Wilhelm Hester took his photograph of a group of men gathered outside this storefront), lists a fish purveyor, “Hung Chong John, 7 Washington Alley.”  

Hester is perhaps best known for his documenting the maritime activities of the Puget Sound Region and his time spent in Alaska during the gold rush of 1898.  According to the University of Washington archivists, the bulk of his photos of the early history of ships and shipping in Washington State were taken between 1893 and 1906.  Born in Germany in 1872, Hester moved to the Pacific Northwest in 1893. He established successful photo studios in Seattle and Tacoma, principally taking and selling photographs of maritime subjects, as ships from around the world and their crews docked at various Puget Sound ports.  

The listing for the Hung Chong John store in the Langley directory of 1895

It appears that the Hung Chong John business shared the same address as the Quong Hing store. The address-sharing was not uncommon for this building.  At least as early as 1885 (when the city prepared its “official map” of Chinatown), the building at no. 7 Washington Place was subdivided by three businesses all with the same address.

Detail showing the subdivision of the building at no. 7 Washington Place in the San Francisco Board of Supervisors official map of Chinatown, July 1885 (from the Cooper Chow collection at the Chinese Historical Society of America).

Untitled photo of the west side of Washington Place (a.k.a. “Fish Alley), probably in the morning.  Photographer unknown. The wooden structure at left probably served as the shop spaces for the Kim Kee and Man Hop stores occupying the addresses at no. 6 - 8 Washington Place.

Unfortunately, the Langley directory of 1893 omits a separate Chinese directory and appears to have excluded Chinese businesses from its general listings. Based on its omission from the Horn Hong & Co. directory/calendar of 1892, the Hung Chong John store’s 1894 listing validates the year of 1895 during which Wilhelm Hester reportedly took his set of photos of Chinatown’s Fish Alley along Washington Place.

“Chinatown – fish market, c. 1900.”  Photograph by D. H. Wulzen (from the D.H. Wulzen Glass Plate Negative Collection (Sfp 40), San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library).  D.H. Wulzen’s no-nonsense approach produced vivid images of one store in particular, the Hop Chong Jan company, located at 12 Washington Place.  

D.H. Wulzen took at least three versions of his “Fish Market” photo (one of which is reversed on the SF Public Library website).  The business sign on the middle column of the storefront reads as follows: 合昌棧 (canto: “Hop Cheung Jaanh”; pinyin: “Hé chāng zhàn”). According to the 1894 Map, a business named “Hop Chong Jan & Co.” was located on the east side of the street at no. 12 Washington Place (a.k.a. Fish Alley).

Detail from 1894 map of Washington Place or Alley by immigration officer John Lynch (from the collection of the National Archives).

Listing for the Hop Chong Jan market at 12 Washington Place from the Horn Hong & Co. Chinatown Business Directory and Lunar Calendar for 1892.

“Chinatown – fish market, c. 1900.  Photograph by D. H. Wulzen (from the D.H. Wulzen Glass Plate Negative Collection (Sfp 40), San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library).  The business sign on the middle column of the storefront in this image is more faint, but the Chinese characters of 合昌棧 (canto: “Hop Cheung jaanh”; pinyin: “Hé chāng zhàn”) can be discerned.

The Hop Chong Jan company store also inspired other camerapersons to photograph its daily operations.  The upper level of the building in which the Hop Chong Jan company at no. 12 Washington Place featured a wrought-iron balcony.  The balcony grillwork enhanced interest in this building, as it figured prominently in other photographs and postcards from that era.

“Fish Alley, Chinatown” c. 1900.  Photographer and postcard artist unknown, published by Edward H. Mitchell of San Francisco).  Although unidentified, the postcard depicts the Hop Chong Jan company at no. 12 Washington Place. The details seen in the card are extraordinary, as they include sidewalk items seen in the photographs of the same building by D.H. Wulzen.

Untitled, San Francisco Chinatown, c. 1900.  The sign on the column of the storefront 合昌棧 (canto: “Hop Cheung jaanh”; pinyin: “Hé Chāng zhàn”) can be seen in the center for the Hop Chong Jan fish market at no. 12 Washington Place.

“Chinatown market, San Francisco California, 1895.”  Photograph by Wilhelm Hester (from the University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections).  In this view of two men in front of the store at no. 12 Washington Place, looking toward the southeast from the middle of the alleyway, the sign on the column (in the right half of the frame) faintly reads 合昌棧 (canto: “Hop Cheung jaanh”; pinyin: “Hé Chāng zhàn”) for the Hop Chong Jan fish market.

“Chinatown market, San Francisco California, 1895.”  Photograph by Wilhelm Hester (from the University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections).  In this closer view of two Chinese and one white man in front of the store at no. 12 Washington Place, looking toward the southeast from the middle of the alleyway, the store’s sign cannot be seen.  The presence of two lanterns from under the balcony’s overhang indicates that this photo was taken of the Hop Chong Jan (合昌棧; canto: “Hop Cheung jaanh”; pinyin: “Hé chāng zhàn”) market at a different time.  Certain details such as the window at left, the hanging scale, and the display shelves are identical to Hester’s other photos of the store.

“Chinatown, San Francisco California,” c. 1895. Photograph by Wilhelm Hester (from the University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections).  In this street scene showing two Chinese American men and a child in front of a market, the view is of no. 12 Washington Place, looking south down the east side of the alleyway toward Washington Street.  Certain details such as the window at left, the hanging scale, and the display shelves are identical to Hester’s other photos of the Hop Chong Jan 合昌棧 (canto: “Hop Cheung jaanh”; pinyin: “Hé Chāng zhàn”) market.

Untitled photo of Washington Place, a.k.a. Fish Alley, in pre-1906 Chinatown.   Photographer unknown (from the collection of the Bancroft Library). The photo shows almost the full elevation of the building at no. 12 Washington Place on the east side of the short street, looking north toward Jackson Street.  To the right of the store frontage, a door and an interior stairway appears in virtually all images of the building at no. 12 Washington Place.  The stairs presumably lead to the upper floors of the building.  My grandmother, Lillian Hee, was born in one of upper apartments above this store on October 31,1898.

“Chinatown – fish market on Dupont Street, circa 1900.” Photograph by D. H. Wulzen (from the D.H. Wulzen Glass Plate Negative Collection (Sfp 40), San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library).  

Wulzen’s photo of a fish market fortunately included the signage for “Hop Sing – clams” in the left of the frame. The San Francisco Public Library’s information that this market was located on Dupont Street is probably erroneous for at least several reasons.  The 1894 Map by immigration officer John Lynch placed a “Hop Sing fish" company as located at No. 13 Washington Place (a.k.a. Fish Alley), on the west side of the street.  Lynch also included a notation that the building was of “wood” construction, and Wulzen’s photo supports that conclusion.  Moreover, the low-rise aspect of the building in the photo appears inconsistent with the higher elevation structures on Dupont Street in Chinatown.  The Langley business directory of 1895 tends to support Lynch’s finding, although it lists a “Y Sing & Co.” at 13 Washington Alley, which might have been a typographical error.

“Chinatown – fish market, circa 1900.”  Photograph by D. H. Wulzen (from the D.H. Wulzen Glass Plate Negative Collection (Sfp 40), San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library).  For this close-up shot of the same Hop Sing market (no. 13 Washington Place), the San Francisco Public Library has produced no evidence backing its claim of a Dupont St. location.  

“Fish Market, One man sitting, "HOP SING CLAMS" sign,” circa 1900.”  Photograph by D. H. Wulzen (from the D.H. Wulzen Glass Plate Negative Collection (Sfp 40), San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library). This third shot of the Hop Sing market (at 13 Washington Place shows its operator during a lull in customers.  The San Francisco Public Library also incorrectly identifies the location of the market on Dupont Street.  

“Chinatown – fish market, circa 1900.”  Photograph by D. H. Wulzen (from the D.H. Wulzen Glass Plate Negative Collection (Sfp 40), San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library).  Fortunately, the photograph shows a portion of the business sign above the man holding a scale and which was largely obscured by the store’s awning.  According to the 1894 map and the Horn Hong & Co. directory of 1892, the Quong Shing (廣城; canto: “Gwang Sing”) store was located at no. 15 Washington Place.   The 1894 map described the “Quong Shing & Co.” as a small general merchandise store.

“Fish Market, a woman watches a man weigh fish,” c. 1900.  Photograph by D. H. Wulzen (from the D.H. Wulzen Glass Plate Negative Collection (Sfp 40), San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library).  From a slightly different angle as the preceding photo, Wulzen took a second shot of the Quong Shing (廣城; canto: “Gwang Sing”) store was located at no. 15 Washington Place.

“Fishmonger.”  Photographer unknown from the collection of the California Historical Society). The proprietor of a fish store provides an unusual smile in this photo taken on old Chinatown’s Fish Alley.  The only clue to the store’s location are provided by the business signage in the upper center of the image and above a handwritten number “22” on the inside left wall of the shop entrance:  a fanciful Chinese name 老倌 祥城魚棧客 (lit.: “Old Shepherd Felicitous City Fish Store”; canto:  “Low gwun cheung sing yu jahn haak”; pinyin: Lǎo guān xiáng chéng yú zhàn kè).

The store at no. 22 Washington Place was located almost in the middle of the block on the eastern side of the street.  Unfortunately, only the prior occupant of the storefront space was not noted on the 1894 Map, and the name of a predecessor business (“Tong Yuen Hing”) appears in the Horn Hong & Co. directory of 1892 at the address.  

The middle portion of the hand-drawn map of Washington Place or Alley by immigration officer John Lynch from 1894. The southerly end of the alleyway appears at the top of the image.

The last third of the hand-drawn map of Washington Place or Alley by immigration officer John Lynch from 1894. The northerly end of the alleyway at Jackson Street appears toward the bottom of the sketch.

A portion of “No. 145. Chinese Restaurant, San Francisco. Cal.” c. 1875. Stereograph by J.J. Reilly (from the collection of the Oakland Museum of California).  The barely discernible Chinese characters on the glass lanterns of the second floor balcony further attest to the restaurant’s name as 聚英楼 or, Cantonese pronunciation, “Jeuih Ying Lauh”). The Bishop directory of 1875 confirms that the English rendering of the restaurant’s name was “Choy Yan Low,” and its address listing read as follows:  “restaurant SE cor [sic] Washington alley and Jackson.”  

According to the maps of that era, the southeast corner of the intersection corresponded to the address of 633 Jackson Street.  As indicated by the 1894 Map, gambling establishments dominated the northern end and eastside of Washington Place (as the pattern that appeared in the “vice map” prepared by the city in July 1885).  Not surprising, three men can be seen standing on the eastside sidewalk of Washington Place (at right); they are positioned near the entrances to the gambling parlors.  

Detail of the north end of Washington Place from the July 1885 “vice map” of prepared by San Francisco.

Untitled photo of the northern end of Washington Place, a.k.a. Fish Alley or Tuck Wo gaai, looking south from Jackson toward Washington Street, c. 1890s.  Photographer unknown.  The Tuck Wo (德和) market for which the short street of Washington Place was named by the Chinese, occupied the southwest corner of the intersection partially seen in the foreground and to the right of the frame (at 635 Jackson Street). The entrances to gambling parlors were located along the east side of the alleyway at the northern end of Fish Alley and across from the alleyway frontage of the Tuck Wo market.

“The Butcher, Chinatown, San Francisco” undated [c. 1895- 1905].  Photograph by Arnold Genthe (from the collection of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division). Genthe mistakenly titled this photo, as the man working over the table is fileting fish from his storefront on Washington Place, a.k.a. Fish Alley.  

“Fish Alley, Chinatown. San Francisco, California” c. 1905. Postcard probably based on a photograph by Charles Weidner.  The view appears to look north on Washington Place, a.k.a. Fish Alley, in old Chinatown.

The status of Washington Place as “Fish Alley” as a fish and poultry destination appeared to have endured until the earthquake and fire of 1906.  The small street suffered the same fate of obliteration as every other street in old Chinatown.  As Will Irwin wrote about this lost street of old Chinatown (while offering nothing substantial about the Chinese themselves):  “Where is Fish Alley, that horror to the nose, that perfume to the eye?”

“Fish Alley, Chinatown” c. 1898.  Drawing by A.M. Robertson (from the collection of the Bancroft Library). In this artist’s rendering the markets on Washington Place of old Chinatown, the building at no. 12 is seen in the center, the birthplace of my grandmother in the same year this drawing was published.

In Chinatown today, the sign for the old alleyway still bears the old Chinese street name from the pioneer era.  

The street sign for Wentworth Place on the northwest corner of its intersection with Washington Street, June 22, 2022.  Photo by Doug Chan.  The sign still bears the Chinese name for the small street,德和街(canto: “duck who gaai”), the name of an old Chinatown business which occupied the southwest corner of the “T” intersection of Wentworth Place and Jackson Street from at least 1875 to 1906.

Wentworth Place, May 14, 2021.  Photograph by Doug Chan.  The city renamed Washington Place, a.k.a. Washington Alley or “Fish Alley,” to Wentworth Place after Chinatown was rebuilt in the wake of the 1906 earthquake and fire.  Since at least 1875, Chinatown’s residents have called this small street connecting Washington to Jackson streets as “Tuck Wo Gaai” (德和街).

Recollections of the now-legendary Fish Alley of old Chinatown have faded from living memory.  Many, if not most, Chinatown residents are unaware of the street name’s origin.  

Former Supervisor, Board of Education commissioner, and attorney Bill Maher on Wentworth Place between the rainstorms contemplates the small street of my grandmother's birth in 1898 as a third-generation Californian, Jan. 4, 2023. Photograph by Doug Chan.  Once known as Washington Place and “Fish Alley” to English speakers, the street sign still bears the old Chinese urban pioneer name of “Tuck Wo St.” (德和街; canto: "Duck Wo gaai") for today's residents of San Francisco Chinatown.

The vitality of the small street, however, not only lives on with the stories and the old images of its past, but Wentworth Place also serves as the home of the “Lion’s Den Bar and Lounge.”  As the first genuine nightclub to open in almost a half-century in Chinatown, its establishment might one day be regarded as one of the events which sparked an economic revival in the neighborhood.

Fish Alley:  it’s where we began; it’s where we’ll begin again.

[updated 2023-1-6]

[the-coffee-story]

Rise of the Forest God

Chapter 13 - The Photograph

"What is it?", Violet asked when Wilhelm, with some minor struggle, dropped the heavy file onto the table with a soft thud. He gently brushed away the blanket of thick dust that clung to the faded brown leather cover and opened it.

"This is a file on the cult of the Forest God," he explained. His long, raven hair fell in loose strands into his face, and he blew them out of the way of his eye. "Active in the 1970s, committed a murder and fell apart after a razzia led by private investigators Grace Storm and Professor Jules Calvet."

"Oh damn, so this would be easier if Evans was still among the living," Violet mumbled, mostly just to herself, as she huffed out a small sigh. She glanced back up and tucked a stray strand of her thick, ebony hair behind her ear. "What Forest God?"

Wilhelm's eye narrowed, and he cocked a brow. "So apparently, there's a pretty local and not particularly well known legend that sometime during Victorian times a man was possessed by some kind of otherworldly... what's the word? Entity, das war's, and after he started murdering people he was captured and buried alive somewhere in the woods, so that the entity would no longer cause harm."

"Well doesn't that just sound family friendly?"

Wilhelm smiled gently, his white teeth glinting in the sparse, flickering light. "The ideal bedtime story. Apparently the existence of the guy is confirmed, schau mal!" He carefully took an old black and white photograph from the file and gave it to Violet.

It was a dusty photo of a Victorian couple, faded, rotted at the corners and irreversibly yellowed, but otherwise remarkably well preserved, at least for what was important anyway. The bride to be, proudly stood slightly off-centre, had flowing dark hair that clung to her beautiful dress, and her heterochromatic eyes were sparkling in the sunlight. She reminded Violet of someone, but she wasn't quite sure who. The husband's hair was only a bit lighter, and his eyes were closed. A sweet, lopsided smile was playing on his lips.

Alice & Eustace, wedding was written on it in a curly handwriting.

"He doesn't look like a killer," Violet mumbled.

Wilhelm looked down and shrugged his shoulders. "Many killers don't. Speaking out of experience here."

"Okay, you have a point there," Violet admitted. She discarded the photo onto the table and leaned over. "What about that cult?"

"It was founded 1969, by a history professor and a primary school teacher. The teacher dropped out after a while, he had a bad feeling about the whole thing. Richtig so." Wilhelm stopped to scratch his head, humming and momentarily lost in his own thoughts. "There were around fifty members. At first they were peaceful, you know, they occasionally freaked the neighbours out with rituals and chanting but it wasn't anything serious...that changed in..." He turned the page. "...1976. A girl went missing in Forest Lane. Her name was Maisie Hester. She had a lot of trouble at home, so at first everyone thought she ran away. Well that is, until they found her body. Trigger warning for gore."

Violet laughed. "I've seen two gruesome murders this week alone, nothing can surprise me."

"Sicherheit geht vor." Wilhelm, with some hesitation, handed her the photos.

The body was... Only loosely recognizeable as human, but it was difficult. There was a lot of blood splattered, painting the landscape a deep vermilion, a lot of flies, and bloodcrusted brown hair. In other words, slightly worse than Marty and Lindsay.

"Oh my," Violet muttered.

"I was going to ask why you're so damn calm but then I remembered." Wilhelm rubbed his scarred forehead.

Violet shuddered. "How old was she?"

He turned the page back and checked. "Fourteen."

"Well damn."

"Do you want to see a picture from before she was literally torn to pieces?"

"Sure, why not?" Violet shrugged her shoulders.

The picture Wilhelm handed her was an old polaroid of two teenage girls with messy hair. Violet recognized the brown hair from the previous photographs. The girl had dark skin and large brown eyes.

She glanced at the other girl on the picture and suddenly her eyes widened. "Who's that?"

"Oh, that's her best friend." Wilhelm waved it off. "Lived in a farm in Forest Lane, but didn't have anything to do with it. Hey, hör mal, I just remembered, I know a guy who's been researching the cult, do you want me to contact him?"

Violet nodded, her brows furrowed. "Yeah, that'd... that'd be nice. Hey, can I take a picture of this photo?"

Wilhelm shrugged his shoulders. "Klar."

Five minutes later Violet left Graytown Prison. She turned her phone on and looked at the girl on the photo again.

The girl with heterochromia and a scar on the bridge of her nose.

[skylupine]

David T. Denny's residence at 512 Queen Anne Avenue, Seattle, Washington, between 1893 and 1906.

Photography--Hester, Wilhelm, 1872-1947

[taciturn-into-a-wolf]

Hester was working an odd shift- not one she usually worked, probably covering for someone. She was folding up paper stars with some difficulty, on account of her nails, when the door chimed and she looked up and- oh. The colour drained from her face, and she quietly hoped that werewolves were like T-Rexes, in that they couldn't see you if you didn't move.

Alexander glances over his shoulder as he walks in, as if expecting the customary William greeting (not to be mistaken for the Wilhelm scream). But when it doesn’t come and he does notice Hester paling and freezing up, there’s a mild sigh. “I could come back later, if you don’t want me here.”

[oledavyjones]

LODORE in dock with crew and loading ramps, Puget Sound port, Washington, ca. 1899

The LODORE was a three-masted British bark out of Liverpool, later known as the CARLA (1910). It was built in 1892 and sunk by a German submarine in 1918. 

Wilhelm Hester Photograph Collection. PH Coll 318 

[theamericanparlor]

Captain Zingler With His Dog

On the deck of the three-masted German ship FLOTTBEK, Tacoma, Washington, 1902,  steel ship built in Hamburg, 1891, 1,961 tons, German registry""  Wilhelm Hester Collection, University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections

[juergenfeytiat]

Dampfschiff „Fürth“: In der Kapitänskajüte

Dampfschiff „Fürth“: In der Kapitänskajüte

So lebte der Schiffsführer … mit Bildern des Fotografen Wilhelm Hester

  Nachweis Titelbild: Mannschaftsmitglied an Bord eines nicht genannten Schiffes um 1900; Kissen mit der Aufschrift „Nur ein Viertelstündchen“, Aufnahme: Wilhelm Hester (in Hamburg geborener amerikanischer Fotograf, 1872-1947) Quelle: commons.wikimedia.org; Man writing at table, interior of unidentified ship, Washington, ca…

[mynytours]

Where to Get Your Art Fix in New York City

w York City has a frankly ridiculous number of art galleries and museums. You can find art galleries, museums and photography galleries all over the town, including in Brooklyn and Queens. The biggest cluster, however, is in Manhattan, with an abundance in Chinatown, Chelsea, the Upper East side, Lower East Side, Soho and Midtown. If you’re visiting NYC for a few days and just can’t figure out which gallery to go to, well, this handy guide points you towards the best of the best.

David Zwirner

Let’s start with German expatriate David Zwirner’s offering. Since 1993, Zwirner has grown his gallery from relatively humble beginnings in Soho to an absolute behemoth, with global locations in London and Hong Kong, as well both up and down town. His gallery on West 19th Street exhibits work by international contemporary artists such as Luc Tuymans, Marcel Dzama, Chris Ofili, Lisa Yuskavage and Neo Rauch.  His West 20th Street building in Chelsea is a purpose built gallery building that hosts museum-quality shows of historical movements and figures. Additionally, he opened an NYC venue on East 69th Street in 2017.

MoMA PS1

Located in an extremely unique Romanesque Revival building that once used to be a public school, PS1 hosts a highly celebrated international studio program and mounts cutting-edge shows. You can’t wave your arm around without knocking over artwork. Every corner showcases a piece, as does the roof and even the stairwells! In 1999, PS1 became affiliated with MoMA in 1999. The two entities sometimes collaborate on exhibitions. In recent years, the art museum has showcased the work on international artists like Olafur Eliasson and Janet Cardiff and. Additionally, it hosts Warm Up, summer’s most fashionable Saturday-afternoon party.

Gagosian Gallery

Larry Gagosian might just be king of the gallery world, with 15 spaces all over the globe. His gigantic 20,000 square foot space in 24th Street is the jewel in his crown, launched in 1999 with a gargantuan installation by Richard Serra. Since then, there has been no stopping his galleries, with exhibitions featuring work by Damien Hirst, Ellen Gallagher, Ed Ruscha, Anselm Kiefer, Ed Ruscha, Andy Warhol and Julian Schnabel, among other luminaries.

New Museum of Contemporary Art

The New Museum originally opened in The New School, the place it takes its name from, back in 1977. It then moved to Soho and became part of its architectural landscape in the eighties and nineties. It was after that, in 2007, the New Museum was moved to its current location. It’s now housed in a visually distinctive seven-story building that was designed by Sejima + Nishizawa/SANAA, an avant-garde Tokyo architectural company. Apart from three main gallery levels, the building houses a café run by Hester Street Fair, a theater and roof terraces. Throughout its existence, as well as now, the New Museum has focused on emerging and underrated artists. Head on there to see artists you normally wouldn’t.

Gladstone Gallery

Need a fix of some daring Conceptualist art? Go to Gladstone Gallery, a firmly blue-chip gallery that exhibits bold artists like Anish Kapoor, Sarah Lucas and Matthew Barney. Gladstone Gallery has two locations in Chelsea, one on the Upper East Side and a branch in Brussels, Belgium.

Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)

MoMA has one of the finest collections of art from the 18th century, with art by iconic and venerated artists in virtually every corner. Crowds throng the space in late spring and summer, as well as around Christmas, when the best you can hope for might be a momentary glimpse of Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon or Van Gogh’s Starry Night. There are also special exhibitions and large installations that are popular enough for people to wait for hours just for that specific exhibit. At other times of the year, New Yorkers will swarm in on Friday nights, when admission is free. Your best bet on enjoying this space is buying an all-inclusive ticket online for $25. This will allow you to skip the line and find peacefully move through the gallery.

CLEARING

The New York branch of a gallery in Brussels, Belgium, this Brooklyn space focuses on contemporary art by a global roster of young and emerging artists with zeitgeist sensibilities. An Upper East Side location was also recently added.

47 Canal

If you looked up avant-garde or cutting-edge in a picture dictionary, you should find 47 Canal mentioned there. Constantly pushing the envelope, the gallery originally opened in 2008 on Canal Street in an office kept by artist Margaret Lee, who runs it with her boyfriend Oliver Newton. Since then, the gallery has located to Grand Street with a roster that includes Anicka Yi, Antoine Catala and Trevor Shimizu.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

This is the museum you’ve probably already heard of even if you don’t have much of an interest in art. Taking up over 13 astounding acres of Central Park, this sprawling museum boasts over 5,000 years of art from every corner of the world. From ancient mummified royalty to cutting edge fashion couture from last year’s runway, this is the institution that has it all. Of particular note is the Temple of Dendur, an Egyptian temple from 10 B.C. that once overlooked the Nile and was then transposed Sackler Wing to overlook a reflective pool. Other highlights include Grecian sculptures, European and Asian armor,  contemporary photography and medieval art. Buy advanced online tickets to skip the lines. If you’re on a budget, it’s advisable to come in early on weekdays and pay what they wish. If there’s one place you should visit multiple times, it’s definitely the Met. The special exhibits change every few months, and are always gems.

JTT

This LES showcase was started in 2012by Dealer Jasmin Tsou for emerging and under-appreciated artists in 2012. She raised the money herself at Miami’s NADA art fair where she had a small but immensely successful project booth. The gallery has done a lot for then underrated artists like Cole Slayer, Becky Kolsrud and Jamian Juliano-Villani.

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

As impressive as the Guggenheim’s modern art works collection is, it’s arguable that it’s the building itself that steals the show. A concrete inverted ziggernaut that resembles a Babylonian step pyramid, the design has invited both controversy and awe in equal measures. Created by Frank Lloyd Wright and opened in 1959 in New York just a few months after his death, it’s a feat of geometric shapes. The gallery space showcases art along a winding spiral that resembles a nautilus shell, with not much separating ideas, artists or even time periods. Take the elevator to the top of the museum and follow the gentle slope down, so the art reveals itself at different angles as you descend, and then across the open circular rotunda. It’s a one of a kind approach to display and viewing of art, and the building itself has inspired some stunning high concept exhibits by contemporary artists, including hundreds of sculptures by Maurizio Cattelan's hanging from the ceiling, and a series of films by Matthew Barney and. The price of admission might be steep ($25), but it’s so worth it.

Acquavella Galleries

A well-established gallery uptown, this is the last word in blue-chip venues. With gorgeous architectural details by Beaux-Arts, it offers museum-quality shows of both modernist and Impressionist masters. Its regular roster includes names like Enoc Perez, Zeng Fanzhi and Damian Loeb.

Michael Werner

Another German entry, this New York gallery was opened under the direction of Gordon VeneKlasen by renowned German art dealer Michael Werner in 1990. This gallery includes some of the most breathtaking artists in contemporary terms, including James Lee Byars , Aaron Curry, Per Kirkeby, Marcel Broodthaers, A.R. Penck, Markus Lüpertz, Peter Doig, Jörg Immendorff, Eugène Leroy ,Thomas Houseago, Don Van Vliet and Sigmar Polke. Contemporary American and European painting, drawing and sculpture rules the roster in this gallery, but it also specializes in works by modern masters including Wilhelm Lehmbruck, Kurt Schwitters, Hans Arp, Francis Picabia and Piero Manzoni.

Half Gallery

Founded in New York City by Bill Powers, this secretive gallery focuses only on the most recently up-and-coming  of up-and-coming artists.

Lévy Gorvy

Named for its founder Dominique Levy, who used to be a partner in L&M Fine Art, this gallery was opened in 2013 in a three-floor space in what used to be a bank building on the Upper East Side. Dominique Lévy partnered with Brett Gorvy, who used to be Chairman and International Head of Post-War and Contemporary Art at Christie’s at the end of 2016. At this point the gallery was renamed Lévy Gorvy. Lévy Gorvy also has a location in London in addition to New York.

Brooklyn Museum

A premier institution in Brooklyn, the Museum can be considered the less thronged alternative to some of the bigger name spaces in Manhattan, with impactful and innovative items. Located on the edge of the sprawling Prospect Park, it contains Judy Chicago’s renowned  feminist piece, The Dinner Party, as well as a large holding of Egyptian art. The collection also has works by Impressionists masters like Monet, Degas and Cézanne, as well as period rooms, examples of Early American Art, and so much more.

The Jewish Museum

Housed in the 1908 Warburg Mansion, the Jewish Museum has temporary exhibitions of both contemporary and modern art, as well as a considerable collection of artworks of Judaica and art. One permanent exhibit is specifically for children, and the little ones are also catered to through a restaurant that includes an Uptown outpost of Russ & Daughters, purveyors of Kosher delicacies like whitefish, lox and sable.

Whitney Museum of American Art

After spending 50 years in a building designed by Marcel Breur on Madison Avenue at 75th Street, the Whitney Museum was shifted to a new home in 2015 in the Meatpacking District in Lower Manhattan. This new building was designed by international celebrity architect Renzo Piano. The Whitney building now boasts an incredible 63,000 square feet of indoor as well as outdoor exhibition space. The Whitney museum was founded in 1931 by art patron and sculptor Gertrude Vanderbilt. It focuses on work by American artists, holding around 15,000 pieces by nearly 2,000 artists in its collection. This collection includes, Georgia O’Keeffe, Willem de Kooning, Jasper Johns, Alexander Calder, Edward Hopper (whose entire estate is housed by the museum), Claes Oldenburg and Louise Nevelson. It is most famous for its temporary shows, especially the Whitney Biennial, the exhibition everyone loves to hate. The Biennial remains the most prominent as well as the most controversial appraisal of contemporary art in America.

The Frick Collection

Originally built for industrialist Henry Clay Frick, this is a lavish residence that houses a private collection of masters from the 14th through the 19th centuries. The 1914 structure was designed in an 18th-century European style by Carrère & Hastings designed, with a reflecting pool and a beautiful interior court. The permanent collections include world-class paintings, sculpture and furniture by the likes of French cabinetmaker Jean-Henri Riesener Vermeer, Rembrandt, and Renoir.

Yossi Milo Gallery

With an impressive roster of global camera talent Yossi Milo is the place to go to for striking photography.  Be on the lookout for Pieter Hugo, Tierney Gearon and Philippe Gronon.

International Center of Photography School

New York City’s preeminent institution devoted exclusively to photography, the International Center of Photography was founded in 1974. Originally opening in the Willard Straight House on Fifth Avenue’s Museum Mile, it moved to a midtown address on Sixth Avenue in 1999, and then again to the Bowery in 2016. It has an exhibition space, a library housing thousands of biographical and photographic files, and a school.

Book your professionally guided walking tour in NYC!

[recentanimenews]

Funimation Updates English Dub Cast Listings For "JUNI TAISEN, Black Clover," "Kino's Journey," "GARO" and More

You know... anime doesn't always introduce everyone in the first episode. Or, sometimes, they're there, but they don't speak yet. Or, there are noteworthy one-off characters in later episodes. Many of Funimation's fall 2017 anime SimulDub announcements didn't announce all the voices with the initial reveals. So, they're gone back and added more of who's who.

  See our updated cast lists for our Fall SimulDub season on our blog including JUNI TAISEN, Black Clover, Kino's Journey, GARO, and more! https://t.co/areW3HedNw http://pic.twitter.com/3ntRRG3jyH

— Funimation (@FUNimation) November 15, 2017

    Black Clover Watch new episodes on Sundays at 3:00pm CT

From the studio that brought you Yu Yu Hakusho, Tokyo Ghoul, Naruto, and more!

Asta and Yuno are two orphans who want the same thing: to become the Wizard King. Locked in a friendly rivalry, they work hard towards their goal. While Yuno excels at magic, Asta has a problem uncommon in this world: he has no powers! But, on the day they receive their grimoires, they surprise everyone. To reach their goal, they’ll each find their own path to greatness—with or without magic. 

  CHARACTER CAST Asta Dallas Reid Yuno Micah Solusod     Episode 1   High Priest Brian Mathis Sister Lily Dawn M. Bennett Arlu Sara Ragsdale Rekka Megan Shipman Revchi Daman Mills Tower Master Bill Jenkins     Episode 2   Father Brian Mathis Man David Matranga     Episode 3   Nash Morgan Berry Horo Kristi Rothrock Narrator Cris George     Episode 4   Sekke Garret Storms William Josh Grelle Yami Christopher R. Sabat Finral Brandon McInnis Nozel Ricco Fajardo Fuegoleon J. Michael Tatum Charlotte Colleen Clinkenbeard Gordon Mike McFarland Noelle Jill Harris Koza Matt Shipman Gayaya Chris Thurman Bumoda Dalton Tindall Tanon Anthony Bowling Lounie Skyler McIntosh Amy Dani Chambers Shinana Coby Lewin     CREW   ADR Director Cris George ADR Engineer Zachary Davis Scripts Bonny Clinkenbeard Mixing Engineer Nathanael Harrison

    The Ancient Magus’ Bride Watch new episodes on Mondays at 3:00pm CT

The award-winning manga comes to life with a highly anticipated anime series! Suffering a tragic childhood and sold at an auction, Chise Hatori has little hope for a better life. But when a mysterious sorcerer named Elias takes interest in her aptitude for magic, he decides to make her his apprentice—and his bride.

  CHARACTER CAST Chise Hatori Dani Chambers Elias Ainsworth Brian Mathis     Episode 1   Seth Noel Garret Storms Silver Lady Rachel Glass Jade Tia Ballard     Episode 2   Althea Varley Lara Woodhull Angelica Varley Janelle Lutz Hugo Alex Moore Simon Callum Tyler Carson     Episode 3   Lindel Todd Haberkorn Nevin Jason Douglas Beana Leah Clark Gwee Mikaela Krantz Uil Terri Doty     Episode 4   Mikhail Renfred Jarrod Greene Alice Jennifer Green Barney Tyler Walker Jasper Robert McCollum Matthew John Burgmeier Mina Jennifer Alyx Molly Melanie Mason     CREW   ADR Director Kyle Phillips ADR Engineer Jeremy Woods Scripts Bonny Clinkenbeard   Jamie Marchi Mixing Engineer Nathanael Harrison

  Dies irae Watch it on Tuesdays at 3:00pm CT 

At the end of World War II, sorcerers use the lives lost in battle as a ritual sacrifice in an attempt to resurrect a group of supermen whose coming would signify the world’s end. Yet when the war finally ends, no one knows whether the ritual was a success. Decades pass, and it’s all forgotten until present-day Japan when Ren Fuji has a disturbing dream of black-clothed knights.

  CHARACTER CAST Episode 00 (Prologue)   Reinhard Heydrich Dave Trosko Karl Krafft Brandon McInnis Beatrice von Kircheisen Alexis Tipton Eleonore von Wittenberg Alex Moore Riza Brenner Caitlin Glass Wilhelm Ehrenburg Aaron Roberts Wolfgang Schreiber Mikeala Krantz Rusalka Schwägerin (Anna) Jeannie Tirado Valeria Trifa Ian Sinclair Rot Spinne Marcus Stimac     Episode 1   Ren Brandon McInnis Kasumi Madeleine Morris Kei Brittany Lauda Marie Jad Saxton Rea Trina Nishimura Shirou Austin Tindle     Episode 2   Kei Brittany Lauda Marie Jad Saxton Rea Trina Nishimura Shirou Austin Tindle     CREW   ADR Director Tyler Walker ADR Engineer Domonique French Scripts Tyson Rinehart Mixing Engineer Andrew Tipps

  Kino’s Journey -the Beautiful World- the Animated Series Watch new episodes on Thursdays at 3:00pm CT

In an imperfect world, the stories make it beautiful. Meet Kino, a traveler exploring beyond the boundaries into unknown mystical places! With only her guns and talking motorcycle, Hermes, by her side, she learns about unique people and their customs through the fascinating stories they weave. But to see everything, she can only spare three days in each land before moving on to the next adventure.

  CHARACTER CAST Kino Lindsay Seidel Hermes Derick Snow     Episode 1   Man Ian Sinclair Regel Garrett Schenck     Episode 2   Riku Christopher R. Sabat Shizu Jeff Johnson     Episode 3   Diplomat Larry Brantley President Wendy Powell Teacher Megan Shipman General Mark Stoddard     Episode 4   Elder Barry Yandell Tower Clan Chief Bill Jenkins     CREW   ADR Director Kyle Phillips Assistant ADR Director Tabitha Ray ADR Engineer Jeremy Woods Scripts Aaron Dismuke Mixing Engineer Gino Palencia

  JUNI TAISEN: ZODIAC WAR Watch it on Wednesdays at 3:00pm CT 

  For one wish, they’ll risk it all. The time has come for the Twelve Tournament—held every twelve years. Twelve proud warriors, each baring a name from the Chinese zodiac, will prepare to fight in the bloody battle royale. The victor is granted a single wish, and they’ll do whatever it takes to earn it. Blood and tears will flow on this battlefield—who will be the lone survivor?

  CHARACTER CAST Duodecuple Mark Stoddard Eiji (Ox) Ian Sinclair Kiyoko Jād Saxton Michio (Dog) Chuck Hüber Misaki (Monkey) Caitlin Glass Nagayuki (Dragon) Clifford Chapin Ryoka (Rooster) Monica Rial Sumihiko (Ram) Kenny Green Toshiko (Boar) Stephanie Young Tsugiyoshi (Rat) Daman Mills Usagi (Rabbit) Jerry Jewell Yoshimi (Horse) Randy E. Aguebor     Episode 5   Kanae (Tiger) Colleen Clinkenbeard Take (Serpent) Matt Shipman Sumi (Sheep) Kenny Green Ryoka (Bird) Monica Rial Duo (Host) Mark Stoddard     CREW   ADR Director Vic Mignogna Lead ADR Engineer Rickey Watkins Scripts Alex Muniz   Joel Bergen Mixing Engineer Neal Malley

  URAHARA Catch this show on Tuesdays at 3:00pm CT 

Japan’s fashion hotspot, Harajuku, is known for having some unusual visitors—but culture-thieving aliens from outer space? Well that’s just crossing the line! Banding together, three kawaii high school girls aren’t about to let anyone take away the beloved district where PARK, their new pop-up shop, has just opened for business! CHARACTER CAST Kotoko Sarah Wiedenheft Rito Julie Shields Mari Alexis Tipton Ebifurya Anthony Bowling Misa Monica Rial Ebi Chris Wehkamp Episode 3 Sayumi Tia Ballard CREW ADR Director Jeremy Inman ADR Engineer Matt Grounds Writer Emily Neves Mixing Engineer Adrian Cook

  Code: Realize ~Guardian of Rebirth~ See this SimulDub on Wednesdays at 3:00pm CT

  Cardia has spent her life locked away in solitude, hidden from others due to a deadly poison that lies within her. But everything changes when she’s suddenly abducted by the royal guards! Before she can despair, she’s rescued and swept away by Arsène Lupin, a dashing and chivalrous thief. Together, they’ll travel to London to find her father and answers about her mysterious condition.

  CHARACTER CAST Cardia Beckford Jill Harris Lupin Arsene J. Michael Tatum Impey Barbicane Chris Guerrero Victor Frankenstein Micah Solusod Count Saint-Germain Brandon McInnis Abraham Van Helsing Ian Sinclair     Episode 1   Finis Justin Briner Rempart Leonhardt David Wald Isaac Beckford Greg Dulcie Sisi Apphia Yu     Episode 2   Finis Justin Briner Victoria Stephanie Young Sisi Apphia Yu     Episode 3   Delacroix Trina Nishimura Sisi Apphia Yu     CREW   ADR Director Jerry Jewell Assistant Director Apphia Yu ADR Engineer William Dewell Writer Samuel Wooley Mixing Engineer

Gino Palencia

    King’s Game Watch it on Saturdays at 3:00pm CT 

  One night, all 32 members of a high school class receive a text message on their cell phone. It welcomes them to a game where they are given specific tasks to carry out in a 24-hour period. The tasks seem simple at first, but soon the tasks go beyond what the kids are comfortable with. Furthermore, they learn that the cost of failure is death. Will they be able to find a way out before more die?

    CHARACTER CAST Nobuaki Coby Lewin Natsuko Bryn Apprill Chiemi Alexis Tipton     Episode 1   Aimi Lindsay Seidel Yuuichi Jarrod Greene Masatoshi Kyle Phillips Rina Heather Walker Matsuoka Jeannie Tirado Takuya Clifford Chapin Nanami Skyler McIntosh Mizuki Brittany Lauda Teruaki Matt Shipman Toshifumi Orion Pitts Tatsuya Anthony Bowling Daiki Chris Thurman Kenta Garrett Storms Riona Tabitha Ray Ryou Justin Briner Yuuna Megan Shipman Haruka Jessica Peterson Makoto Tyler Walker Tsubasa Stephen Sanders Asuka Ariel Graham Hanako Rachel Glass Hayato Drew Breedlove Kuramoto Amber Lee Connors Megumi Kasi Hollowell Misa Lynsey Hale Shin Drew Bramlett Shou Stephen Fu Male Teacher 1a Brian Mathis Female Student 1a Kristin Sutton Tsubasa’s Father Mike McFarland Tsubasa’s Mother Alex Moore     Episode 2   Daisuke Dallas Reid Shouta Austin Tindle Misaki Jad Saxton Abe Brian Olvera Akemi Jennifer Alyx Akira Brad Smeaton Chia Natalie Hoover Emi Emily Fajardo Fujioka Jean-Luc Hester Hideki Ricco Fajardo Hirofumi Brandon McInnis Hiroko Kristen McGuire Kana Megan Emerick Kaori Genna Ford Kawakami Daman Mills Keita John Wesley Go Maki Amanda Gish Male Teacher 2A David Wald Mami Felicia Angelle Masami Sara Ragsdale Minako Sarah Wiedenheft Mizuuchi Travis Mullenix Motoki Ethan Gallardo Nami Jill Harris Naoya Howard Wang Ria Mikaela Krantz Satomi Dawn M. Bennett Shingo Dalton Tindall Yoshifumi Elijah Muller Yousuke Alejandro Saab     CREW   ADR Director Tyler Walker Assistant ADR Director Tabitha Ray Lead ADR Engineer Domonique French Assistant ADR Engineers Jamal Roberson   Nick Hernandez   Xavier Earl Scripts Jeramey Kraatz Mixing Engineer Neal Malley

Blood Blockade Battlefront & Beyond Watch it on Saturdays at 3:00pm CT 

After a breach between Earth and the netherworld opens up over New York, humans and creatures from other dimensions become trapped in an impenetrable bubble that surrounds the city. Forced to coexist in a new city known as Salem’s Lot, the shaky peace between humanity and the netherworld creatures is protected by an underground group of super humans known as Libra.

When a case of mistaken identity brings not-so-ordinary delivery boy Leonardo Watch face-to-face with this group, he joins their ranks hoping to help prevent the destruction of the world by a group of monsters and madmen lead by a powerful being known as the King of Despair.

  CHARACTER CAST Leonardo Watch Aaron Dimsuke Zapp Renfro Ian Sinclair Klaus Von Reinhertz Phil Parsons Gilbert Alstein Francis Henry Steven Starphase J Michael Tatum Femt Josh Grelle Deldro Brody Mike McFarland Dog Hummer Orion Pitts Patrick Ray Hurd Sonic Monica Rial K.K. Stephanie Young Aligura Tia Balard Chain Sumeragi Trina Nishimura Zed O’Brien Christopher Wehkamp Nej Alison Viktorin Neyka Alexis Tipton Franz Ackerman Bruce DuBose     Episode 2   Hospital Director Mark Oristano Dr. Gunther Bill Jenkins Luciana Estevez Jeannie Tirado Zamedle Damon Mills Zamedle’s Dog Ian Mead Moore     Episode 3   Ellen Elizabeth Maxwell Larry Bryan Massey Tall Male Punk Chris Rager Short Male Punk Chris Thurman Sharon Janelle Lutz Tracy Brittany Lauda Vedid Terri Doty     Episode 3   Delimid Brian Mathis Emilina Morgan Berry Gähnen John Swasey Janet Amber Lee Connors Mi-Yeon Katelyn Barr Ogamu Steve Powell Olga Alex Moore Velved Rachael Messer     CREW   ADR Director Mike McFarland ADR Engineer Brandon Peters Mixing Engineer Adrian Cook

GARO -VANISHING LINE- Watch it on Thursdays at 3:00pm CT

  An omen awakens in a city that never sleeps. Caught in the resulting shadow war, two lives cross paths. While Sword seeks to expose this darkness, Sophie searches for her missing brother. Something more mysterious than fate has brought them together as they chase after their only clue, two words—El Dorado.

    CHARACTER CAST Sword T. Axelrod Sophie Madeleine Morris Luke David Matranga Zaruba Barry Yandell     Episode 1   Chiaki Felecia Angelle Ricardo Garret Storms Ricardo Horror Garret Storms   Chris Guerrero     Episode 2   Hardy Christopher Dontrell Piper Enith Alle Mims     Episode 3   Sword T. Axelrod Gina Trina Nishimura Damian J. Michael Tatum Nero Matt Holmes Mafia Elder Ben Phillips Clemenza Charlie Campbell Mia Natalie Hoover     Episode 5   Waitress Felecia Angelle Viola Wendy Powell     CREW   ADR Director Caitlin Glass ADR Engineer Manuel Aragón Scripts J. Michael Tatum Mixing Engineer Neal Malley

------ Follow on Twitter at @aicnanime

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[photoforumpasquart]

Hester Keijser – A few notes on Bank of America, posthuman embodiment and the curious absence of the viewer in the mind of the contemporary photography critic

A rather baffling article in the British newspaper “The Independent” informed its readers on Wednesday 14 September 2016, that “analysts at Bank of America have reportedly suggested there is a 20 to 50 per cent chance our world is a Matrix-style virtual reality and everything we experience is just a simulation.” What is baffling, is not the suggestion that the entire universe might, in a sense, be said not to exist as such, might be immaterial, might be someone else’s dream. Philosophers and scientists have been postulating this for centuries. What is baffling, is that this is communicated by a big commercial bank seated in one of the most powerful nations in the world. What reason can a bank have for sharing this ‘news’ with their clients? What kind of vital implications do they expect this to have for their and their clients’ business activities? Is virtuality something they will now start to calculate with in their own computational models of future risks, strategies and opportunities?

The ramifications of this step are not to be underestimated. It’s as if a rogue theory about the ontological foundation of our tangible reality has escaped from the confines of the lab, where until now it was contained by a handful of scientists. Set free into the wild, this new cosmogony will wreak havoc in the minds of ordinary citizens, who are wholly unprepared to entertain this notion as anything more than something from a science fiction movie. And now we are supposed to seriously engage with it? Just wow. Isn't there enough anxiety and paranoia in today’s world already? Neither is it very reassuring to be told that, even if we were to be simulated life forms, we would never know about it. Except they just told us so. I had half expected the article to conclude with helpline information for readers who were upset or distressed by the story.

The headline would probably not have caught my eye, had I not just been exposed to Katherine Hayles’ book “How we became posthuman. Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature, and Informatics”, published back in 1999 (1). Hayles writes:

“The emergence of the posthuman as an informational-material entity is paralleled and reinforced by a corresponding reinterpretation of the deep structures of the physical world. Some theorists, notably Edward Fredkin and Stephen Wolfram, claim that reality is a program run on a cosmic computer. [...] living in a condition of virtuality implies we participate in the cultural perception that information and materiality are conceptually distinct and that information is in some sense more essential, more important, and more fundamental than materiality. The preamble to ‘A Magna Carta for the Knowledge Age’, a document coauthored by Alvin Tofler at the behest of Newt Gingrich, concisely sums up the matter by proclaiming, ‘the central event of the 20th century is the overthrow of matter.’”

With her words on my mind, the communication of the central bank of America felt like the final act of this event. Matter has officially lost out against code, computations and information, which, as we have come to believe, are essentially bodiless. For Haynes, the central question is: “what happens to the embodied lifeworld of humans in this paradigm, [in which] embodiment has been systematically downplayed or erased in the cybernetic construction of the posthuman?”

Even though embodiment is widely discussed in cybernetic theories, it is not a topic that regularly crops up in the now – so – popular publications on the how, what and where of photography in the digital age. My own interest in the matter developed through my correspondences with Urs Stahel (2), published on the blog platform of Foto Colectania (3). After having participated for several years in various conversations on contemporary photography, the realization had crept up on me that the body (and in particular that of the viewer) is conspicuously absent in our readings of photographic work. “Embodiment, as I searched to explain to Urs Stahel rather clumsily, “is the word I use for the way an image doesn’t speak to the eyes only, but calls on our other senses like smell, hearing and touch, affects our breathing, our posture and our vestibular sense, which helps us orient ourselves in space, and ultimately addresses and transforms our way of being in the world.”

As is often the case, once you figure out what questions want asking, doors open, and you’ll soon happen upon others grappling with the same issue. I discovered that ‘embodiment’ is also a ‘thing’ in contemporary photography theory, even if efforts are still mainly concentrated in academic circles (4). For instance, Ellen Esrock’s research traces the neglect for the body as the primacy locus for the experience of art to the onset of modernism. While it was in line with scientific developments in the late nineteenth century for “humanists and scientists [to theorize] that spectators respond to art and architecture through their bodies, projecting themselves into material objects and animating them with their own bodily life”, this had become less acceptable just a few decades later.

Esrock: “...the influential art critic Wilhelm Worringer (1908) identified two fundamental principles of creative impulse: empathy and abstraction, arguing that ‘the urge to empathy’ was not an appropriate response to the emerging abstract art of the time. Influenced by Worringer’s ambitious argument, other artists and critics of the early twentieth century came to regard empathy as a comfortable, multisensory response to naturalistic depictions and to associate empathy with passive, feminine, imitative forms of art making (Koss 2006). Abstraction, on the other hand, was understood to be a sheerly optical response appropriate to avant-garde abstract art and was associated with experiences of estrangement and discomfort and with active, masculine modes of authentic creativity. Characterized in this way, empathy had little to offer proponents of the burgeoning modernism, with its abstractions and its ethos of alienation.”

In other words, the conspicuous absence of the embodied viewer that I had registered in the existing writing on photography was perhaps not accidental, but directly related to the history of artistic discourse, which had set limits on what can and cannot be talked about. Not surprisingly, these limits were set in a time when talking about the body and how one is aware of its inner sensations - our interoceptive sense - was frowned up. And still today, there is a lingering embarrassment and a sense of shame in talking about own’s own body, especially in public when strangers are present. We are encouraged to control and even to police our bodies, which we possess like masters possess a slave, to be punished at will, to be exploited in hard labor, to be worked out in exercise, or to be given a brief respite in spare time. What we know much less, is how to be a body, let alone having the language to express ourselves adequately when prompted to describe inner sensations (5).

Esrock’s arguments are more nuanced and far richer than I can convey within the short span of this article. At present it should suffice to point in the direction of her research, and also that of Katherine Hayles (6), or of people like Sarah Kember (7) and Ariella Azoulay (8). In their work lies a potential to break down and lay bare the conventions that rule our aesthetic and political appreciation of photographic images, and to explore what this absence of the body and the erasure of embodiment tells us about ourselves, our societies and our wicked dreams of escaping the material world by convincing ourselves that we are nothing but weightless, bodiless and potentially immortal data and code.

Finally, I want to Bank of America for reminding us once again that many of the boundaries and limits we struggle with or feel defined by, are wholly arbitrary, and can safely be suspended in wild acts of imagination.

—————————–

(1) Excerpts of her book can be accessed via: http://faculty.georgetown.edu/irvinem/theory/Hayles-Posthuman-excerpts.pdf

(2) Urs Stahel was the co-founder of the Winterthur Fotomuseum, which he has been managing for the past 20 years. Since 2013, he has been the curator for the platform Paris Photo (2014), the new Institute for Industrial Culture (MAST) in Bologna, and the Mannheim-Ludwigshafen-Heidelberg Photo Festival (2015). He also works as an author, a consultant and a lecturer (at the Zurich University of the Arts, the University of Zurich, the Sammlung Bank Vontobel). He is the writer and editor of numerous books, for example, books about Paul Graham, Roni Horn, Rineke Dijkstra, Anders Petersen, Amar Kanwar, Ai Weiwei, Shirana Shahbazi, Boris Mikhailov as well as books on themes such as “Industriebild” (‘Pictures of Industry’), “Trade”, “Im Rausch der Dinge” (‘The Ecstasy of Things’) and “Darkside I + II”.

(3) Foto Colectania is a private non-profit organization created in Barcelona in 2002 with the objective of disseminating photography in the social, artistic and educational spheres. http://correspondencias.fotocolectania.org/en/

(4) This is not a bad thing, even if many photographers profess to have a dislike for discursive writing. I would argue that, in fact, many academics are currently more avant garde and future forward in their thinking than most of us who are writing on photography.

(5) For example, who hasn’t sat at the doctor’s office at a loss for words to describe what ails us?

(6) Hayle’s profile and a selection of her writing is available at: http://nkhayles.com/index.html

(7) See Sarah Kember’s profile at Goldsmith University London, where she is Professor of New Technologies of Communication https://goldsmiths.academia.edu/SKember.

(8) Ariella Azoulay is Professor of Comparative Literature and Modern Culture and Media, Brown University Independent curator and film maker. http://cargocollective.com/AriellaAzoulay

[demospectator]

“Chinatown vegetable market stall, San Francisco California, 1895.”  Photograph by Wilhelm Hester (from the University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections).

Chinatown Vegetable Store: Photos by Wilhelm Hester

In 1895, photographer Wilhelm Hester captured several images of San Francisco Chinatown’s Washington Place or Fish Alley and other storefronts.  In this image, a woman stands in front of a San Francisco Chinatown sidewalk display of vegetables.  Based on her plain dress, the viewer can surmise that she worked as a house servant for a merchant family.  The proprietor or store helper stands three steps above her and behind the display.  Central to the image, a small boy stands at the top of the shop’s stairs, staring out onto the street.  His young age suggests that the child is a native San Franciscan, representing the infancy of my grandparents’ generation and the then-miniscule second-generation of the American diaspora.  

This seldom-circulated photo remains a personal favorite.  The boy’s solitary presence in the image evokes not only the child’s curiosity about whatever was occurring  on the street that day, but also his perceiving the newness of everything in his world.  A quarter-century after Wong Ching Foo coined the term “Chinese American,” the child in this Hester photo represented the first significant cohort of Chinese Americans, as distinguished from the Chinese merely in America.   We know from publications such as the Chinese Digest that the societal conditions in which he was raised challenged his generation to confront and debate the question of whether the future would better be pursued in China or in America.  

Wilhelm Hester is perhaps best known for his documenting the maritime activities of the Puget Sound Region and his time spent in Alaska during the gold rush of 1898.  According to the University of Washington archivists for the Wilhelm Hester Collection, the bulk of his photos of the early history of ships and shipping in Washington State were taken between 1893 and 1906.  Born in Germany in 1872, Hester moved to the Pacific Northwest in 1893.  He established successful photo studios in Seattle and Tacoma, principally taking and selling photographs of maritime subjects, as ships from around the world and their crews docked at various Puget Sound ports.  Unlike his contemporaries who also photographed old Chinatown, the location of Hester’s studios in the northwest probably saved his work from destruction in the earthquake and fire of 1906.  He retired from the photography business in about 1905 or 1906 to pursue real estate speculation, only occasionally taking photographs in subsequent years. In his retirement he lived in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle.  Hester died in Seattle in 1947.

Unfortunately, this, and a second, photo of the vegetable stand fails to provide any clues about the location of this store in old San Francisco Chinatown.

“Storefront in Chinatown market, San Francisco, California, 1895″ Photograph by Wilhelm Hester (from the University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections).  This is the second of two photos taken by Hester of the same vegetable and meat shop, location unknown. 

Research is continuing, and any viewers who recognize the business or family members may provide additional information to me care of the Chinese Historical Society of America.

[oledavyjones]

Crew of the PYTHOMENE on deck with Captain Sparry, Washington. Photographer: Hester, Wilhelm, 1872-1947 Date: about 1904

Found : https://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/digital/collection/hester/id/70

[theamericanparlor]

Crew of the MOZAMBIQUE on deck, Puget Sound port, Washington, ca. 1900

Hester, Wilhelm, 1872-1947 Date ca. 1900 Notes: Caption on mount: Br. Ship Mozambique, Capt. P. McCrone. The MOZAMBIQUE was a four-masted British bark out of Glasgow, later known as the German ULRICH (1911) and the Norwegian SYDNAES (1915). It was built in 1892 and abandoned at sea in 1920. University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections

[theamericanparlor]

Crew of AUSTRASIA on loading ramps with lumber, Washington, between 1893 and 1906

Photographer: Hester, Wilhelm, 1872-1947 Date: between 1893 and 1906

Notes The AUSTRASIA was a four-masted British bark out of Liverpool, later known as the German GUSTAF (1910) and the Australian MELBOURNE (1927). It was built in 1892 and sunk in 1937 after a collision with another vessel.

University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections

[oledavyjones]

Four-masted bark FORTEVIOT at anchor in Commencement Bay, Tacoma, Washington, ca. 1904 Wilhelm Hester