Bret Harte at the Bohemian Club

624 Taylor Street
Nob Hill

The artist, Jo Mora, created and donated the sculpture to the Bohemian Club of which he and Bret Harte were members. In 1933, when the old Bohemian Club was torn down, the memorial was removed and  reinstalled on the new club in 1934,

Francis Bret Harte (August 25, 1836 – May 6, 1902) was an American author and poet, best remembered for his accounts of pioneering life in California.

The plaque which is on the Post Street side of the club depicts 15 characters from Harte’s works.

The characters represented come from a handful of stories and a poem that established Harte’s reputation. He wrote these while living in San Francisco during the gold rush:  Tennessee’s Partner, The Outcasts of Poker Flat, M’Liss and The Luck of  Roaring Camp.  Through his poem “Plain Language from Truthful James,” Harte created a wily Chinaman who outwits his Anglo gambling opponents shown on the far right as the Heathen Chinee.

Jo Mora has been in this site many times you can read all about his life and other works here.