Page 111 - Historical Study of Yerba Buena Island, Treasure Island and Their Buildings

FIGURE 36. Japan's Samurai House and Temple on Medial Lake. Circa 1939.

Exhibits from the United States include displays from a few states, such as Missouri, Illinois,
Oregon and a "Western States" grouping. Most of the California counties provided displays
also. County displays included groupings from the Southern Counties, Mission Trail Counties,
and Redwood Empire Counties; while the individual county displays were from Alameda, Contra
Costa, San Joaquin, Sacramento, Shasta, Cascade and San'Francisco.

International, national, state, county and local displays, although a major part of the Exposition,
were not the only displays of interest. Some of the more popular exhibits were: Metal Homes, a
Dutch Restaurant, Ripley's "Believe It or Not", a Diving Bell, life and history of Mark Twain,
and "Jerusalem - The Holy City", to name a few. Both the Sally Rand Nude Ranch and the
Snake Show were considered by many "a must" for entertainment. Also, an unusual number of
religions were represented at the Exposition. Displayed were a Hindu temple, a Moslem
mosque, and a Christian Science room. The Christian Businessmen's Association even provided
an exhibit. There was also a display called the "Temple of Religion" which contained 10 murals,
a hand carved pearl portrayal of the "Last Supper" of Jesus, as well as a Biblical garden
containing the 200 varieties of flowers mentioned in both the Old and New Testaments of
the Bible.

As would be expected, there were foods and restaurants of all types available at the Exposition.
The Dutch restaurant introduced the Javanese dish "rijsttafel" (rice table) to America. The
Chinese village included a restaurant with chefs direct from China. Altogether, in 1939 the
foreign restaurants included: two Chinese, a Javanese, a Dutch, a Scotch, a Russian, two French,
an Italian, a Philippine, and a Mexican restaurant. In 1940, one French restaurant and the Italian
restaurant closed because their sponsoring countries did not attend the Exposition that year.

September 1, 1995 Historical Study ofYerba Buena Island, 2-7
Treasure Island, and their Buildings