"Dupont was busy in the early days. For example, in 1876 there were twenty groceries on this street north of Broadway, often several at one intersection. In contrast, Stockton and Kearny Streets each counted but a third of that number. Usually these stores sold liquor, but spirits could also be purchased by the glass from other purveyors." San Francisco's Telegraph Hill by David F. Myrick, page 197

"Long ago, at the northeast corner of Grant and Gerke was a restraurant and a rooming house. The house at the end of the alley, No. 6, was built in 1884 and later became the property of Frank Bacigalupi. (Bacigalupi is the maiden name of Luisa Traverso, the mother of the three Traverso brothers.) When the house next door was for sale, Bacigalupi withdrew $2,000 in gold coin from his savings on April 17, 1906, to buy the building the next day. Of course the sale was not consummated; instead Bacigalupi joined the other refugees trudging out to the persidio. Guarding his suitcase full of gold, he was able to act quickly after the fire had been subdued. Instead of buying the property next door, he used his money to purchase 18-inch redwood boards which the army had bought to help rebuild the ravaged city. Brushing aside the still-warm embers and using the old foundations, Bacigalupi built two houses on his lot within a week. These structures, one fronting on Greenwich and the other at 6 Gerke Alley, were among the first post-fire buiildings on Telegraph Hill. San Francisco's Telegraph Hill by David F. Myrick, page 127