Buried beneath the streets of San Francisco is a legion of wooden ships, abandoned long ago by Gold Rush fortune-seekers, and eventually paved over. A new theatrical production on the city’s Pier 35 attempts to exhume this history, in a metaphorical way: by staging a massive, immersive environment of mid-nineteenth-century society, right now to the historical food, drink, sailing and rabble-rousing.
The “San Francisco Historium Spotlight,” running for one weekend, is the work of Red Barn Productions (in coordination with the San Francisco Historical Society), which also stages the “Great Dickens Christmas Fair” each year in Daly City. Entering this sprawling time-travel bubble, visitors can pan for gold like the fabled Forty-Niners, talk with crusty prospectors and peruse a market center for wares. They can duck into lively saloons for a pint of ale or a whisky – all period-authentic comestibles, including oysters and original sourdough – while enjoying old-style music and live performances.
“Throughout the Historium, visitors will find a packed slate of entertainment including high-kicking saloon shows, a one-ring circus, magicians and street performers, sea shanties, hustling hucksters and busking musicians,” write the organizers. Visitors can even board a recreation of a circa-1890s tall ship, the Matthew Turner, so as to “relive the city’s burgeoning growth as a port hub for trade, art and travel.”
Details: Open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. August 22-23 at Pier 35, 1454 The Embarcadero, San Francisco; $40 general admission ($20 ages 5-12 and free for children 4 and under), sanfranciscohistorium.com