Place and Time

Somehow William and Fred Stager made it to San Francisco where they opened the Stager Bros. Grocery Store at 101 Haight Street. In the first photograph below you can see the number “101” clearly printed on the front window. Notice the very reasonable price for pork and beans: 5¢! My mother and grandmother have only told me of the existence of one such grocery store; however, the second photograph here shows a very different looking store front also bearing the Stager name.

Notice how the first store has an entrance on the side of the building, while the other store has an entrance at the street corner. Clearly, these are either two separate buildings or there was an extensive remodeling that took place at some point. Perhaps the brothers owned two stores, or the store may have been moved at some point. According to my grandmother, the store on Haight Street burnt down during the great 1906 San Francisco earthquake, possibly explaining the move.