The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, May 8, 1904, Page 17

y Pages 171020 * +* CALL | Pages 171020 SAN FRANCISCO, SUNDAY, MAY '8, 1904. OLD BOND STREET, A DINGY ALLEY OF LONDON, THE RENDEZVOUS OF UNPRETENTIOUS SHOPKEEPERS WHO THRIVE BY ROYAL PATRONAGE English Metropolis Is Deprived of Millions by the Old Lease- hold Laws. LONDON, May 7.—Some of the ab- surdities of London’s archaic leasehold £ystem have been strikingly {llustrated by the discovery that although the city corporation owns the larger portion of New Bond street, which, as the ultra- fashiopable shopping street, ranks among the most valuable property in London, the rental which the city obtains from the shops there aver- ages only about $25 & year. And Lon- don is mow mourning its lost milllons. There are two Bond strests—old Bond runs porthward a short iccadilly, and New Bond continues it a much ace to Oxford street. Since 1 street why the distinction the names should be maintained is any mysteries of London's lature. New Bond street got its fe 183 years ago. Soon after opened in 1721 a local rhymster n amazement: @Gestroyed by Time's t devouring roy. and where's the Maypele in the ges and turnipe once grew whers New Bond street and a newer #e < and buildings now rise up and down. Lon4 self seems growing out of town. t the City Hlithers thought appar- London had almost reached inroads on cabbage fields. With a short- striking contrast to by the ancestors of the Westminster and Bedford, ing in wealth from rents, they granted per- their bullding lots at s often as low as 320 a exceeding $35. A queer serted in these leases by fourteen years, the held- them have to pay a “fine” ng to seven times the annual By a subsequent arrangement, r that these wright be commuted Fur- through any pay his rent d the lease, the cor- ther burst of generost al act of grace, the lease on the eighty years, at the ex- hich time the property re- sued e neglected to LUCKY = legally done e for all tim LEASEHOLDERS. England re- and thus the only a few hun- this property, to bring in hundreds of ds And it is not the shop- emselves who profit by the ese long dead and buried Few of them are aware owns the ground in shops stand. They pay Is to the smart folk who first 1 of the leases. street—the old combined—is and fof half a & annual ds from and the has been century the favored shop- t of royalty, wealth and y It is the Mecca of fash- n’s pilgrime from all over the earth, ly from all over the And it is as dingy and little and shabby outside as re gorgeous inside. Few in the street are more than ries high. street " t Bond mior is of decent h—for a London street—but Bond t nlor is a degenerate offspring der and shorter street. It goes only a few yards on fts own hook 1 it contracts its roadway and nerrows its sidewalks to a few feet 4 wobbles a bit here and there its infancy it bad been 25 to the course it should wh follow through the cabbage patches &and turnip flelds Externally most of the shops are not much to look at. Few of them go n for window display; they mnever hold bargain sales; they make no ppeals to the crowd; they scorn to e recourse to any of the ordinary nethods of attracting custom. By heir very avoidance of all show and t they proclainr the wide the garish shops of Regent Oxford street and Piccadflly, which gaping crowds may al- s be found. They consider them. es “the real thing”: and as long their wealthy and aristocratic cus- take them at their own esti- te and are content to pay for their much more than they would e 1o pay elsewhere, they will con- recognized arbiters of Lon- fashions, both masculine and MYSTERY OF BOND STREET. "Why Bond street, narrow and un- ghtly as it is, should be thus favor- the social elect is at first & mys- the casual observer. But it is nystery that is soon solved. Royal patronage and flunkyism have made Bond street and relieved 1t of the ne- ssity of hustling for trade. Royalty put the seal of its approval on ond street, and where royalty points he way wealth obsequiously follows. When you enter Bond street from Piccad the first shop encountered on the left-hand side is a bake: Oc- cupying a corner site, it has a front- age both on . Piccadilly and Bond street. In appearance it is a very or- ¢izary sort of shop. One would net e the ry to that royal warrants and kneaders of dough within have been appointed bakers to her Majesty the Queen, his royal Highness the Prince of Wales and other members of the royal fam- | | | | ) — [ [ | ‘i | i ; 1 THE TAMOU} PEAUTY JX.N SNARED ioigu NELSON. QNCE LIVED IN THIS HOUSE y oW OCCUPIE] Iy, A TISH&O}EE ; have to ge far in any American city to find one more attractive to the eye. But signs proclaim to all and sundry ily. And it is a significant faot that it is not in the Piccadilly windows of the shop, but in those facing Bond street, that the royal warrants are displayed. Plccadilly is by far the finer and more imposing street of the two, but Piccadilly has never been taken specially under royal protection. Two doors from the lucky baker’s is 2 quaint little old fashioned shop, in the windows of which are shown cheese, butter, eggs, bacon and poul- try. In any of the small streets of the big cities of America if such a shop were seen one would wonder how it came to be overlooked in the march of improvement and escaped demoli- tion. But this insignificant shop has no reason to apologize for its pres- ence. It has a big pull with the royal family. Signs announce that the pro- prietors are not only “cheesemon- gers by appointment to his Majesty the Xing’” but “buttermen” to the Duke of Connaught, “poulterers” to the Duke of Edinburgh, and purvey- ors to the King of Sweden and the House of Commons. The Duke of Ed- inburgh, who became the Prince of Baxe-Coburg Gotha, has been dead some years, but the memory of his patronage still counts for something. CIGAR STANDS WITH PULLS. Sandwiched in between the ‘‘cheese- mongers” and the baker's is a cigar shop on which Is emblazoned the royal coat of arms. A document framed and hung ia the window gives the authority for displaying the proud heraldic device. It reads: “You are hereby appointed cigar merchant to his Majesty the King. Given under my hand and seal at Buckingham Palace this 23d day of July, 1901, in the first year of his Majesty’s reign.” Then fol- —_— T Mrs. Bradley Martin Makes Motor Fashionable and Queen Is Not Consulted. LONDON, May 7.—It is not true that Queen Alexandra set the fashion of motoring among English soclety wo- men—this distinction belongs to Mrs. Bradley-Martin. Although Mrs. Brad- ley-Martin generally is one of the most obedient followers of her Majesty in all matters of fashion, the craze of motor- ing caught her so severely that she could not wait till the sport had re- - e -+ DIEDe o0 & - BOND-STREET ROOKERIES, IN ONE OF WHICH FAMOUS DIVINE DIED. | lows the {llegible signature of the “keeper of his Majesty’s privy purse.” It is a royal warrant and to a British tradesman counts for more as an ad- vertisement than does a standing page in a Sunday newspaper on the other side. As one continues his course through Bond street it is seen that these royal warrants have been lavishly bestowed there. Two other cigar dealers proud- 1y display them, one of which enjoys the additional distinction of being “tobacconist to the King."” Time was when royal warrants pos- sessed potent powers and might get a man’s head cut off, but in these days of triumphant democracy their chief function seems to be to help trades- men sell their wares. And perhaps some day a radical Parllament may put its foot down on them as interfer- ing with the free play of competition and the beneficent law of the survival of the fittest. But meanwhile Bond street flourishes on them ard has no difficulty In maintaining its steep prices, despite the competition of less favored reglons. Royal armorial bearings are about the only form of advertising that Bond street allows fitself, but of them it makes the most. Some of its shops display half a dozen of them and they are by no means confined to English royalty. The Emperor of Russia, the King of Portugal and the King of Sweden lend their aid as ‘“patrons,” for those of royal blood are never re- ferred to as ‘‘customers.” One shop boldly declares itself “purveyors to all the courts of Europe.” A student of heraldry may spend a very interesting’ half hour in Bond street studyi these devices. ; ARMOR BEARINGS FOR “ADS.” But if these grim old warrior mon- archs who used to display them proud- 1y when they led their armies to battle could come back to earth and see them employed as advertisements for tailors, dressmakers, haberdashers, cheese deal- ers, bakers, hairdressers and shoemak- ers, what a shindy they would raise with their inglorious descendants who authorize such use of them. American girls are among the last customers of Bond street. They may turn up their pretty noses when they first see it and declare truthfully that there isn't a third-rate town in the TUnited States that can’t show a more imposing street and finer looking shops, but the royal bait held out proves too much for them. ‘What is good enough for a Queen or a Princess i{s none too good for them, and as for the expense—wéll, a Bond street label is supposed to be the in- disputable hall mark of Fashion—with abig “F." In its ancient days many of the no- bility] and gentry lived in little Old Bond street. As the favorite prom- enade of swelldom it was natural that Beau Brummel when in the height of his fame as the arbiter of masculine fashion should there frequently display the elegances and eccentricities of his attire. All the gay old bucks used to strut up and down the street every pleasant afternoon. . At 41 01d Bond street Laurence Sterne died on March 18, 1768, within a month after the publication of his “Senti- mental Journey.” The ground floor of the house is now hop for the sale of Turkish cigarettes. “I never heard of him,” said the proprietor when I asked . eoncerning the famous author. “He wlte7 ¥ i Ty PRSNATHE TEL st (St o et R Lo R s B W EORET wasn't in my line of business, was he?” Boswell at one time had lodgings in Old Bond street, and there on one oc- casion entertained at dinner Johnson, Garrick and Goldsmith. HOME OF CELEBRITIES. After the battle of Cape Bt. Vincent and the expedition against Teneriffe, in which he lost his arm, Nelson in 1797 laid up for repairs for three months at No. 150 New Bond street. At that time his friendship with Lady Hamilton had not, according to his biographers, ripened, and it was his wife who nursed him and personally dressed his wounds. A comparatively modern building now occuples the site. Lady Hamilton, whose beauty still survives in twenty-four portraits of har by Romney, took up her residence at 150 New Bond street In 1811. That was ten years after Nelson's death, and it 1s hardly consistent with what is known of.-her character to suppose that her choice of abode was influenced by its proximity to the house where her heroic lover had suffered. The house, a very plain one, is now occupied by a haughty fish dealer with the royal coat of arms over his door. “T ain’t never ‘eard tell of Lady 'Amil- ton,” said the fish dealer's clerk who responded to the visitor's inquiries. “Lived in this 'ere 'ouse once, you say? Well,” he added with a laugh at his own jest. ‘I've 'eard tell that in them old days some of them fine ladies wuz a queer lot.” Jackson, the pugilist, Byron's in- structor In the fistic art, occupied rcoms in New Bond street, where he sparred with his aristocratic patrons. Of him the poet wrote: All men unpracticed in exchan, Must get to Jackson's ere they ging knocks dare to bex. celved the imprimatur of the Queen. It is, however, understood that Lady Cra- ven, Mrs. Bradley-Martin's daughter, egged her mother on in this matter—a disposition to get there first being one of the Countess of Craven's chief char- acteristics. Lady Craven for some time has been known to be impatient with regard to waiting for people in high places to set the fashion, and she 1S commencing to show that she has ideas of her own and means to them Into practice whether people Hke it or not. Now that her Majesty has taken to motoring all English society women will follow suit. It is, however, the first time that Queen Alexandra has had to play second fiddle in the domain of setting fashion. Lady Craven caught the motoring fever about twelve months ago, but it is only with- in the last month or so that she has been bold enough to assume the role of driver. She engaged an expert French chauffeur, who not only taught her how to drive, but educated her in me- chanical intricacies. She learned the major part of the details in Paris, where she knew she would be practi- cally free from the observation of her society friends. She afterward took lessons from a mechanical expert in London, and after a few spins on some of the English roads between London and Brighton, accompanied by her chauffeur, she summed up sufficient courage te assume full control of her own vehicle. After having satisfled herself that she was fully qualified to manipulate the machinery she became her mother’s teacher, and it was no small surprise when Mrs. Bradley- Martin was found engineering a gor- geously equipped motor around Hyde Park a few weeks ago. The matter, for the moment, created a little sensation in society because motoring had been somewhat looked upon as an exhibition of vulgar wealth because the best peo- ple in London had not yet abandoned the “spanking” horse for the latest cr ations of the motor manufacturer. CURZON A MARTINET. Those in immediate attendance on Lady Curzon welcome her appearance in London and particularly the chance of her being for a time free from the personal observation of his lordship, the Viceroy. Lord Curzon is described as a veritable taskmaster, and, I am told, he does not consider it undigni- fied to remonstrate when he thinks it necessary with the most subordinate menial in the household. He even formulates ingenious schemes to catch erring and unwary servants. If, for instance, he suspects one of lying in bed until 8 o’clock while he or she should be on duty at 7, the delinquent is bound to be caught by his lordship. A valet employed by Lord Curzon before he went to India was, it seems, not overzealous in getting out of bed in the morning. Lord Curzon's cus- tom was to receive his letters and newspapers in his room every morning at 8 o’clock, and as the valet was late a few mornings, his lordship con- cluded that he was sleeping beyond his usual time. One night, on coming home late from the House'of Com- mons he determined to catch the valet napping—literally—and in order to carry out his object he slipped a note in his boots inviting the unsuspecting servant to call him at 7 o'clock next morning. The trap was successful; the valet had his usual extra half hour and had no alternative but to plead guilty. His punishment was to pack his things and go. Before Lord Curzon went to India his household was frequently under- staffed because his lordship’s reputa- tion with regard to his treatment of servants was not calculated to Im- press them favorably. There were al- most daily calls on the registry offices and In the end it became nearly im- possible to get anything like a sponsible servant to accept a situation in the Curzon household. In money matters, too, the Viceroy is, I am told, exacting to a farthing. Servant« traveling and other incidental eox- penses are examined with painful scrutiny and such items as tips given by domestics to railway officials or others would never be allowed. In striking contrast to her husband is Lady Curzon. She is generous to a fault and the servants love her. His lordship’s persistency in calling her by her christian name, Mary, in the presence of the servants, however, caused the latter to adopt the same familiarity—not in her presence. of course—but on every other occasion when there was any necessity to re- fer to her ladyship. The regularity with which his lordship used to inter- fere with the servants did net, of course, help matters to run always smoothly between husband and wife. It was, however, considered by some of the more charitable of the servants that Lord Curzon’'s bark was not as bad as his bite and that he was more a victim to disciplinary mania than a man who desired to make people un- comfortable. —_————————— Lelita Armour May Soon Walk. VIENNA, May 7.—Lolita Armour of Chicago was recently examined by Pro- fessor Lorenz, who said her condition was thoroughly satisfactory and that she had made fine progress toward're- covery. The professor said he had no doubt that after a short course of massage and manipulation of the injured joint the little girl would be able te walk pertectly. . put re-