San Francisco and Ah Toy

Many people ask what I'm up to and I find that it's easier for me to express myself in writing than it is with speaking. If that isn't the hallmark of a true introvert, I don't know what is. So, if you could, please just imagine my voice as you're reading this. If you aren't familiar with my voice, Morgan Freeman's is probably the closest substitute.

I've had this Ah Toy project in my head for about two years but, due to various other projects, I wasn't able to really get going with it until June of this year. Since then, however, I've been working on it full time and loving it. (Read the "My Current Project" page on the right to learn how I got started with it.)

In the five-ish months that I've been working on this book, my knowledge of San Francisco's rich history has grown immensely. Growing up in San Jose, I've always viewed San Francisco as "that city up north somewhere" where the Giants play (geographers will tell you that it's actually more west than north). It is, as you know, much more than that.

I started by reading some accounts of what San Francisco was like in the Gold Rush. It turns out that there are TONS of letters, journals, newspaper articles, and reports written about just that, so I dug in. What I found was pretty gnarly. Unless you like the idea of camping in the mud in chilly, foggy weather with fleas in your bedding and the pleasant aroma of sewage wafting into your nostrils, San Francisco living was not a pretty picture. Here are a few accounts:

The first time I went on shore, I was like a countryman in London, completely bewildered. It was the rainy season and the ground was so soft and so much cut up by the constant stream of trucks and carts, that it was impossible to get along without sinking up to the knees.

George Coffin, 1849

Crossing the shoulder of the hill, the view extended around the curve of the bay, and hundreds of tents and houses appeared, scattered all over the heights, and along the shore for more than a mile. A furious wind was blowing down through a gap in the hills, filling the streets with clouds of dust. On every side stood buildings of all kinds, begun or half-finished, and the greater part of them mere canvas sheds, open in front, and covered with all kinds of signs, in all languages.

Bayard Taylor, 1849

The mud was unfathomable. Mules with teams swamped as a matter of course; and even mules without teams, in several instances, floundered and sunk into the invisible world, in spite of heroic efforts to rescue them.

James Parker, 1853

This is the world into which Ah Toy landed in 1849/1850. She, however, went right to work and established herself quickly. It didn't long for others to notice.

Everybody has seen the charming Miss Atoy, who each day parades our streets dressed in the most flashing European or American style, having discarded the national dress of her country.

The Daily Alta California, 7/1/1851 

The first Chinese courtesan who came to San Francisco was Ah Toy. She arrived I think in 1850 and was a very handsome Chinese girl. She was quite select in her associates was liberally patronized by the white men and made a great amount of money.

Elisha Crosby, 1878

In 1851, there were only a few Chinese women in the city, among whom was the notorious Miss or Mrs. Atoy. Everybody knew that famous or infamous character, who was alternately the laughing-stock and the plague of the place.

The Annals of San Francisco, 1855

(She elicited a range of responses, it seems.)

Ah Toy's story is written in snippets. She shows up in newspaper stories, the journals of her customers, and in general histories of women in the west. Most mentions are a paragraph or less in length, which means I have a lot of piecing together to do. My goal is to take all those snippets and create a full accounting of her life: her triumphs, her failures, her good and bad sides, her power struggle, and how she navigated her life in her new, adopted homeland. I will also explore that homeland, San Francisco, in all the splendor, squalor, and wildness of its instantaneous growth brought on by the frenzy for gold. It will be a fun story to write.

I just hope I'm not too in over my head!