Near the Van Ness entrance was a village of performers from Somaliland. They danced and shook spears on the ballyhoo stand but did little business. Early in the year the Exposition asked them to leave, and when they stayed on, the assistant director of concessions brought in the immigration authorities. Guards loaded the villagers onto a Fadgl train and took them to the Yacht Harbor, where a government tug carried them to Angel Island for deportation. Todd's account of the episode is written in the racist language of its time.
Their compound, combined with the space of the failed Selig Wild Animal Arena next door, was given to Henry Garcia and Martin Goni for 'the Streets of Seville'. It had a cabaret cafe with the dancer Estrellita and a Plaza de Toros for bloodless bullfights. The show had flair but too little capital. The bulls learned where the gate was and waited there to be let out. It closed after taking in a little over $10,000.
At a glance
- The Somali villagers were deported via Angel Island early in 1915.
- The Streets of Seville took in a little over $10,000.
- The Streets of Seville's principal dancer was Estrellita.
Afterward
Demolished with the Zone in 1916.
Where it stood
Somali Village (later Streets of Seville) stood at about 37.80269 N, 122.42626 W on today's map. The whole fairground over the city →
Sources
- Frank Morton Todd, The Story of the Exposition, vol. II (1921), ch. LXVI, p. 365 (Streets of Seville)
- Frank Morton Todd, The Story of the Exposition, vol. II (1921), ch. LXVIII, p. 375
- Map of the Zone concessions, spring 1915 (reproduced in 'Let Me Get There', USC Scalar), Somaliland beside the Wild Animal Arena, across from the Ostrich Farm