The San Francisco restaurant Coppa’s became legendary in the early 20th century as a gathering spot for bohemian artists and writers, especially after they decorated its walls with curious and intriguing murals. Though the murals remained in existence for scarcely a year, because of the fires that followed the earthquake of April 1906, they have been forever tied to the restaurant’s mystique.

 

The artists and writers who contributed drawings included some who would become prominent, such as Maynard Dixon, Xavier Martinez, Jack London, George Sterling. The artists, along with poets and writers, contributed puzzling sayings and quotations that adorned the walls, fascinating – and insulting – customers (“Philistines”) who came to gawk at the bohemians.