The Magnolia Saloon at New High and Marchessault Streets, Sonora Town, ca.1887
Six (or seven) nattily attired black men standing outside the Magnolia Saloon at New High and Marchessault Streets in Sonora Town in about 1887. All of the buildings lining the street are adobe or wood. A wagon is parked across New High Street near a laundry. Two large trees shade that side of the street near a picket fence. The J.W. Robinson Mansion is visible on the left overlooking Castelar and Bellevue (Sunset Boulevard). Notice that Marchessault does not cross New High Street. In this time Marchessault only came this far. Bellevue (later Sunset Boulevard) crosses New High Street just north of the Magnolia, one would make a right hand turn here and run up New High a few hundred feet before being able to make a left turn on Bellevue and continue west. Also notice the sizable shadow on the street. This is thrown by a building on Plaza Church property, perhaps the clergy house on the SE corner of New High and Marchessault Streets.
USC digital archive/California Historical Society Collection, 1860-1960