San Francisco & Pacific Coast Vintage Menus

Transpacific shipping and west-coast cuisine — Pacific Mail, Oceanic, Occidental & Oriental, Nippon Yusen, 1886–1910

San Francisco was the launching point for the great transpacific shipping lines — Pacific Mail Steamship Company, Oceanic Steamship Company, Occidental and Oriental, and the early Japanese carriers (Nippon Yusen Kaisha and Toyo Kisen Kaisha). Voyages departed for Yokohama, Hong Kong, Honolulu and Manila, and the printed menus often blended Western fine-dining conventions with Pacific destination motifs.

A distinctive and visually rich corner of our archive — Polynesian, Japanese and California influences all preserved in printed menu form.