13.5.07

F I R S TP R E V543NEXTLAST

The Other Story at Market and Bush
At the corner of Market and Bush is this bronze mechanics monument, a memorial to James Dohanue the founder of the giant Union Iron Works that was the cornerstone of San Francisco shipbuilding in the 1800s. But if you walk a few steps away from this monument and look behind some bushes you may spot a small bronze plaque honoring another different kind of achievement. The corner is significant because it was the location the workshop of Charles August Fey. It was here that Fey invented and manufactured the first slot machine, the Liberty Bell slot machine in 1898. Fey pioneered many innovations in gambling machines here transforming gambling from card games into a mechanical industry. When I see the above statue, instead of seeing mechanics toiling on a punch press, I imagine a giant slot machine arm being pull down into play.
[ MAP F-15 ]


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