History of The Tip

Chapter 7: The origynal Original Ray’s

But what happened to the Tip after the Tip’s demise is most curious of all.

With the chihuahua (named Spanky) as Nigel’s sole heir and Nigel’s most practiced drinking buddy as executor of his will, the estate of Langhorne the Younger was perhaps not as well-tended to as it might have been.

Besides, in San Francisco, in 1888, who had ever heard of intellectual property?

Even the most cursory perusal of the era’s newspapers shows a proliferation of advertisements for pubs, taverns, bars, cabarets, restaurants and rooming houses that went, at least in part, by the name the Tip. There was “The Original Tip” on Jones Street, “The New Original Tip” on Sutter. There was “The One and Only Original Tip” on Hyde, directly across the street, as it turns out, from “The New Tip Tavern,” which was just around the corner from “The New Tip Club for Discriminating Gentlemen.” There was even one that called itself “The True Historical Tip (& Netherworld Muzeum)” and that showcased daguerrotypes of the actual original place on its walls and, beneath a gaslight by the front door, displayed a small glass casket containing what it claimed were the remains of Spanky, “world-famus chiwawa dog and last canine proprietor of the world’s most notorius saloon.”

Dozens of opportunistic Tips popped up in the city within five years of the Tip’s obliteration. But against all odds — and logic — it turns out that one of them was real.

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Previous · Chapter 6
A brief Examinashun of the Management stile of Spanky, a dog

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Next · Chapter 8
A slyce off ye olde tip