Chinatown: Street Scene

All four cards of these cards are based on the same post-earthquake photo, presumably by Weidner. The "Grant Avenue" caption of the Newman and Pacific Novelty cards is incorrect: the image looks west on Washington Street from just above Grant toward Stockton. Several of the buildings still stand in 2025. The building at left is 815 Washington (note the distinctive sewer pipe at far left).

Weidner 596 is probably closest to the original photo and is by far the best of the four in print quality. It shows one man looking into a shop window at left.
Pacific Novelty 391 shows two men rather than one at left, and in the street at right it shows a man who does not appear on the other cards.
Newman V324, postmarked SF 7/14/1913 with P.P.I.E. cancellation, shows two different men at left. Another example is postmarked 8/11/1910, so the original photo must date from ca. 1907-1910.
Pacific Novelty 2807. I described Newman V324 as "garish" before I found the later white border era Pacific Novelty 2807; it's the same image (two men at left) and caption as Newman 324, but its coloring raises "garish" to another level.

Steve's SF postcard pages:

Before Dolores Park