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Colonel A. Andrews
Among the portraits of prominent people in The Wasp this week is that of Colonel
A. Andrews, the gallant old pioneer, who remembers San Francisco when it was a
little village clustered around Telegraph Hill. To few people is it given to
enjoy such a long and useful life as Colonel Andrews has lived, for he has been
some sixty years identified with the progress of San Francisco as one of its
leading merchants, and in that time, has seen our city pass through many strange
vicissitudes. A volume containing the reminiscences of this pioneer would make
very interesting reading, for he has known, intimately, most of the noted men
who have shaped the history of the Pacific Coast since the days when, as a
captain in the United States Army, he fought under the Stars and Stripes in the
war with Mexico. Few of his old comrades of that stirring period are still
alive, but the Colonel has not apparently changed in the least for the last
thirty years. Time seems to pass him by untouched.
 The
great fire of 1906 is not the first calamity from which Colonel Andrews had seen
San Francisco arise greater than ever.
Before the last great conflagration Colonel Andrews’ Diamond Palace on
Montgomery Street, was one of the sights of San Francisco. Scarcely had the
smoke subsided on the blackened ruins of San Francisco, before the Colonel with
the spirit of a true pioneer began to reconstruct his Diamond Palace on the same
plan of gorgeousness, on Van Ness near Ellis Street, and there his host of
friends hope to see him presiding for many years to come. In his younger days,
the Colonel took a lively interest in sporting events of various kinds, and has
attended some of the most notable ever held. Even now he is not averse to
recounting his experiences in that line. Although never a candidate for office
he has also taken an active interest in public affairs and has sat as a delegate
in some famous conventions in California.
He is a genuine type of the famous old pioneers who laid the foundation of San
Francisco so broad and strong that nothing can destroy them.
The Wasp
February 15, 1908
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