Abraham "Old Abe" Warner (circa 1814-1896) was an eccentric shop owner in the nineteenth century, in New York and San Francisco.
Abraham Warner was fond of children, animals, art, and his collection of various items. He was superstitious about or perhaps admired spiders, as he refused to kill them or to disrupt their webs. He however kept himself tidy and well groomed. The most commonly ordered drink at his bar was a gin and whisky
hot toddy
A hot toddy, also known as hot whiskey in Ireland, is typically a mixed drink made of liquor and water with honey, (or in some recipes, sugar), lemon, herbs (such as tea) and spices, and served hot. Hot toddy recipes vary and are traditional ...
with
cloves, but he refused to sell whisky straight. He made free
chowder
Chowder is a thick soup prepared with milk or cream, a roux, and seafood or vegetables. Oyster crackers or saltines may accompany chowders as a side item, and cracker pieces may be dropped atop the dish. New England clam chowder is typically ...
and sold locally made
French bread
This is a list of notable French breads, consisting of breads that originated in France.
* Baguette – a long, thin type of bread of French origin. The "baguette de tradition française" is made from wheat flour, water, yeast, and common sal ...
alongside French and Spanish drinks, and seafood.
Life
Abe Warner was born in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
,
New York, between 1814 and 1817. He was first employed as a
butcher
A butcher is a person who may slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat, or participate within any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat and poultry for sale in retail or wholesale food establishm ...
in
Fulton Market
The Fulton Fish Market is a fish market in Hunts Point, a section of the New York City borough of the Bronx, in New York, United States. It was originally a wing of the Fulton Market, established in 1822 to sell a variety of foodstuffs and p ...
, an later, in 1849, on San Francisco's Long Wharf. It was during this job that he gained his notable
top hat
A top hat (also called a high hat, a cylinder hat, or, informally, a topper) is a tall, flat-crowned hat for men traditionally associated with formal wear in Western dress codes, meaning white tie, morning dress, or frock coat. Traditional ...
. In 1856, Warner bought a restaurant at the foot of
Meiggs Wharf
Meiggs' Wharf (also known as Meigs Wharf and Meiggs' Pier) was an L-shaped wooden pier extending between from the northern San Francisco shoreline, an exceptional distance for its time. It was built to attract the lumber shipping trade by transp ...
and renamed it
the Cobweb Palace. He sold the Palace in an auction in 1893 and died in 1896. His bedroom upon death contained a cockatoo which had died days before, a Louis XIV bed, and a younger portrait of himself.
See also
*
Meiggs Wharf
Meiggs' Wharf (also known as Meigs Wharf and Meiggs' Pier) was an L-shaped wooden pier extending between from the northern San Francisco shoreline, an exceptional distance for its time. It was built to attract the lumber shipping trade by transp ...
*
The Cobweb Palace
References
''Abe Warner the Cobweb King'' SFGate.com
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Businesspeople from the San Francisco Bay Area
1810s births
1896 deaths
19th-century American businesspeople