Good Reads / Community Library Notes
The Bohemians
Jasmin Darznik
Review by Priscilla Comen
The Bohemians
Jasmin Darznik
Review by Priscilla Comen
The Bohemians by Jasmin Darznik is the story of Dorothea Lange and the city of San Francisco, where jobs are hard to find when Lange arrives there. Her wallet is stolen and she has no money so applies at a café where the pay is fifty cents for an entire day’s work. On the cable car she meets a young Chinese woman, Caroline Lee, who takes charge of her. Lee takes her to an Italian restaurant run by Reppa Coppa who feeds her a heaping dish of pasta and oysters.
They talk about their past and Lange says she had polio as a young girl. Although she recovered she wears a brace on one leg and tires easily. They have two traits in common: both have been down on their luck and neither one will go back home again. The next night they are at a party and Caroline introduces Lange to everyone including Consuelo, a star reporter who tells the truth about war and its consequences. Dorothea wears a long blue dress of Caroline’s and feels confident here at last.
Lange meets handsome Maynard Dixon and they chat until his ex-wife interrupts them. Dorothea thinks she’ll never see him again but she’s wrong. Author Darznik describes how the skilled artists and talented writers and sculptors take over San Francisco and make it an unique city. It is still a small town and there are a million stories for Caroline to tell.
Lange gets a job printing photos and selling odd items. Because of the war women replace men in employment. She realizes that female photographers do very well in this city; Imogene Cunningham Alma Levenson, Tina Modoth, and others who flourished. They developed their own methods and styles. Dorothea loved being with Caroline in her room listening to her stories or to records or playing cards. There were many places they couldn’t go as there were signs that said “no Chinese.” They bought cheap seats to see Charlie Chaplin or Douglas Fairbanks or Theda Bara. They took long walks to see the hills and wild flowers and to Golden Gate Park and the Japanese Tea Garden. Dorothea wears her old coat and a fedora hat she wears over her eyes. She feels safe and strong. One day she meets Consuelo who takes her to China Town where she sees Donaldina Cameron at her home for orphaned girls. When Dorothea expresses interest, Cameron tells her to ask Caroline. The photos she takes help raise money for the home.
The story Caroline tells is about how Donaldina hid sixty-one girls in her care and they all walked West. After the big fire the girls slept in a shuttered church, their shoes on in case of emergenc ies. Later, Donaldina returned through the devastated city to get the girls’ immigration papers and documents they would always need. They take a ferry to Marin County and settle in a theological seminary. Author Darznik tells stories inside of stories to give the main tale depth and meaning.
At the Palace Hotel Dorothea joins the Camera Club and displays a few of her photos she’d taken with a borrowed Leica. Imogene Cunningham introduces her to Ansel Adams, a young man of sixteen. A man nearby asks if Dorothea has any more. This is Sydney Franklin who runs one of the oldest saloons in San Francisco and sells liquor and beer at stands in the Presidio. He became a wealthy man and required photos and photographers. Mrs. Edythe Kalten wants her portrait taken and Dorothea pictures her in the Garden’s Greenhouse. Mrs. Kalten’s check pays for the plates of Cannoli and champagne Dorothea and Caroline have for dinner that night.
Later Dorothea goes to Sydney Franklin’s office and shows him several photos. He asks how much and she says she wants to open a studio. She convinces him she’ll repay his loan with twenty percent interest and he’ll take thirty percent of the business. They have a deal. Union Square is the perfect location for an upscale portrait studio, as it’s the fanciest shopping district in the city, always filled with people, streetcars, and motorcars. The address was 540 Sutter and just off Union Square. The building was a disaster, needed painting, cleaning of windows and moldremoved. With Caroline as her assistant, Dorothea transforms the place into an Arabian and One Nights setting with a silver Samovar and a black velvet sofa and Persian carpets, all from flea markets. They replace broken pipes and soiled floor boards. The building manager is impressed that Sydney Franklin is involved in the project. On August 1st they open and people come in but mostly to look. They look mostly at Caroline as she changes from Oriental to all American girl.
One day Maynard Dixon enters and leaves Dorothea a note telling her to come to his studio. A week later she goes there. His paintings are everywhere as are bison skulls, beads,, hatchets and ceremonial headdresses; it is a scene of the West. A blond girl in a painting is his daughter Connie. Drawings on a table are for a magazine to pay for his daughter’s college tuition.
Dorothea charges more for her portraits but no one complained. The wealthy wanted more and paid for it. Then the Spanish Flu hit and thousands died. Schools and movie theaters closed, masks were required and no appointments were made for photos. Edythe Katlin asked them to deliver masks, food, and medicines to a neighborhood of flop-houses and homeless. A woman yells at Caroline for being Chinese. Soon the armistice came and a huge parade went down Market Street and a party at the photo studio. Ansel Adams got sick and wanted to go to Yosemite. After a time he recovered but was never the same although he still took great photos of his beloved mountains and rivers and waterfalls.
The next time she sees Maynard he’s behind the wheel of a yellow roadster, borrowed for the day. They drive to the ocean, have a picnic he’d brought, and made love. Caroline told her to stay away from Maynard but it was no use. She was hooked. He took Dorothea to wonderful places in San Francisco and beyond: Tadich Grill for oysters, Aliotos for lobster, the Mark Hopkins Hotel, all the swanky places. Author paints a picture of Dixon, his positive and negative attitudes about his paintings, his chaos with his wife Lilian. Dorothea worshipped him. He knew he’d make good even when he was down.
After bombs exploded in San Francisco, Dixon took Dorothea to New Mexico. In Santa Fe they wander then go to Taos where they stay with Mabel Dodge. Dixon wants to stay there forever but Dorothea talks him out of it due to her work, her debt to Franklin; and she offers to help Dixon until he can work on a big mural.
During the “Palmer Raids” thousands of people are searched, harassed, and arrested for being anarchists or communists. They were often deported though most were American citizens. During this time, Dorothea and Maynard married. They took their vows in her studio and even her mother came, then they went to Copa’s for linguine and an Italian rum cake. They moved to a small house at the bottom of Broadway.
After Maynard loses the commission he’s angry and drunk. He drinks during the day and is mean to Dorothea and stays in bed. He decides to go to Taos, takes his daughter Connie, and his paints and brushes. Meanwhile Dorothea finds her assistant Caroline in the darkroom, bruised and cut. She also finds a huge pearl on the floor and a photo of a man who is the son of a man who spoke at their party about keeping the Chinese out of the city. It’s Senator Pharrell and the young man with the pearl is his son who has spoken against the Chinese population in San Francisco.
Dorothea photographs the plight of the Chinese for the Chronicle and the Examiner papers which run expose articles on this. Dorothea later photographs the homeless, the trash, the tents and the people selling apples during the Depression, women and small children begging for food. She works for the Farm Security Administration documenting the Dust Bowl and immigrant crisis.
Later she documents with photos the internment of the Japanese-Americans during WWII. Meet and feel as if you know these famous artists and photographers of San Francisco in this well-researched historical novel on the fiction shelf of your local library.
They talk about their past and Lange says she had polio as a young girl. Although she recovered she wears a brace on one leg and tires easily. They have two traits in common: both have been down on their luck and neither one will go back home again. The next night they are at a party and Caroline introduces Lange to everyone including Consuelo, a star reporter who tells the truth about war and its consequences. Dorothea wears a long blue dress of Caroline’s and feels confident here at last.
Lange meets handsome Maynard Dixon and they chat until his ex-wife interrupts them. Dorothea thinks she’ll never see him again but she’s wrong. Author Darznik describes how the skilled artists and talented writers and sculptors take over San Francisco and make it an unique city. It is still a small town and there are a million stories for Caroline to tell.
Lange gets a job printing photos and selling odd items. Because of the war women replace men in employment. She realizes that female photographers do very well in this city; Imogene Cunningham Alma Levenson, Tina Modoth, and others who flourished. They developed their own methods and styles. Dorothea loved being with Caroline in her room listening to her stories or to records or playing cards. There were many places they couldn’t go as there were signs that said “no Chinese.” They bought cheap seats to see Charlie Chaplin or Douglas Fairbanks or Theda Bara. They took long walks to see the hills and wild flowers and to Golden Gate Park and the Japanese Tea Garden. Dorothea wears her old coat and a fedora hat she wears over her eyes. She feels safe and strong. One day she meets Consuelo who takes her to China Town where she sees Donaldina Cameron at her home for orphaned girls. When Dorothea expresses interest, Cameron tells her to ask Caroline. The photos she takes help raise money for the home.
The story Caroline tells is about how Donaldina hid sixty-one girls in her care and they all walked West. After the big fire the girls slept in a shuttered church, their shoes on in case of emergenc ies. Later, Donaldina returned through the devastated city to get the girls’ immigration papers and documents they would always need. They take a ferry to Marin County and settle in a theological seminary. Author Darznik tells stories inside of stories to give the main tale depth and meaning.
At the Palace Hotel Dorothea joins the Camera Club and displays a few of her photos she’d taken with a borrowed Leica. Imogene Cunningham introduces her to Ansel Adams, a young man of sixteen. A man nearby asks if Dorothea has any more. This is Sydney Franklin who runs one of the oldest saloons in San Francisco and sells liquor and beer at stands in the Presidio. He became a wealthy man and required photos and photographers. Mrs. Edythe Kalten wants her portrait taken and Dorothea pictures her in the Garden’s Greenhouse. Mrs. Kalten’s check pays for the plates of Cannoli and champagne Dorothea and Caroline have for dinner that night.
Later Dorothea goes to Sydney Franklin’s office and shows him several photos. He asks how much and she says she wants to open a studio. She convinces him she’ll repay his loan with twenty percent interest and he’ll take thirty percent of the business. They have a deal. Union Square is the perfect location for an upscale portrait studio, as it’s the fanciest shopping district in the city, always filled with people, streetcars, and motorcars. The address was 540 Sutter and just off Union Square. The building was a disaster, needed painting, cleaning of windows and moldremoved. With Caroline as her assistant, Dorothea transforms the place into an Arabian and One Nights setting with a silver Samovar and a black velvet sofa and Persian carpets, all from flea markets. They replace broken pipes and soiled floor boards. The building manager is impressed that Sydney Franklin is involved in the project. On August 1st they open and people come in but mostly to look. They look mostly at Caroline as she changes from Oriental to all American girl.
One day Maynard Dixon enters and leaves Dorothea a note telling her to come to his studio. A week later she goes there. His paintings are everywhere as are bison skulls, beads,, hatchets and ceremonial headdresses; it is a scene of the West. A blond girl in a painting is his daughter Connie. Drawings on a table are for a magazine to pay for his daughter’s college tuition.
Dorothea charges more for her portraits but no one complained. The wealthy wanted more and paid for it. Then the Spanish Flu hit and thousands died. Schools and movie theaters closed, masks were required and no appointments were made for photos. Edythe Katlin asked them to deliver masks, food, and medicines to a neighborhood of flop-houses and homeless. A woman yells at Caroline for being Chinese. Soon the armistice came and a huge parade went down Market Street and a party at the photo studio. Ansel Adams got sick and wanted to go to Yosemite. After a time he recovered but was never the same although he still took great photos of his beloved mountains and rivers and waterfalls.
The next time she sees Maynard he’s behind the wheel of a yellow roadster, borrowed for the day. They drive to the ocean, have a picnic he’d brought, and made love. Caroline told her to stay away from Maynard but it was no use. She was hooked. He took Dorothea to wonderful places in San Francisco and beyond: Tadich Grill for oysters, Aliotos for lobster, the Mark Hopkins Hotel, all the swanky places. Author paints a picture of Dixon, his positive and negative attitudes about his paintings, his chaos with his wife Lilian. Dorothea worshipped him. He knew he’d make good even when he was down.
After bombs exploded in San Francisco, Dixon took Dorothea to New Mexico. In Santa Fe they wander then go to Taos where they stay with Mabel Dodge. Dixon wants to stay there forever but Dorothea talks him out of it due to her work, her debt to Franklin; and she offers to help Dixon until he can work on a big mural.
During the “Palmer Raids” thousands of people are searched, harassed, and arrested for being anarchists or communists. They were often deported though most were American citizens. During this time, Dorothea and Maynard married. They took their vows in her studio and even her mother came, then they went to Copa’s for linguine and an Italian rum cake. They moved to a small house at the bottom of Broadway.
After Maynard loses the commission he’s angry and drunk. He drinks during the day and is mean to Dorothea and stays in bed. He decides to go to Taos, takes his daughter Connie, and his paints and brushes. Meanwhile Dorothea finds her assistant Caroline in the darkroom, bruised and cut. She also finds a huge pearl on the floor and a photo of a man who is the son of a man who spoke at their party about keeping the Chinese out of the city. It’s Senator Pharrell and the young man with the pearl is his son who has spoken against the Chinese population in San Francisco.
Dorothea photographs the plight of the Chinese for the Chronicle and the Examiner papers which run expose articles on this. Dorothea later photographs the homeless, the trash, the tents and the people selling apples during the Depression, women and small children begging for food. She works for the Farm Security Administration documenting the Dust Bowl and immigrant crisis.
Later she documents with photos the internment of the Japanese-Americans during WWII. Meet and feel as if you know these famous artists and photographers of San Francisco in this well-researched historical novel on the fiction shelf of your local library.