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Harriet Levy
Harriet Levy (left) and Alice B Toklas, in France 1909.
Born
Harriet Lane Levy

(1866-03-29)March 29, 1866
San Francisco, California, US
DiedSeptember 15, 1950(1950-09-15) (aged 84)
Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, US
OccupationWriter
Known for920 O’Farrell Street

Harriet Lane Levy (March 29, 1866 – September 15, 1950) is a California writer best known for her memoir, 920 O’Farrell Street. Levy was also an avid art collector, a childhood friend of Alice B. Toklas, and an acquaintance of Gertrude Stein.

Early life

She was born on March 29, 1866, in San Francisco, California, United States, into an upper middle-class Jewish family and raised in San Francisco.[citation needed]

Young women such as Levy were expected to marry well-off men, which generated additional societal expectations. However, the intellectually inclined Levy was hesitant to marry early.[1]

Career

Levy graduated from the University of California at Berkeley as an English major in 1886, and became a prominent writer for popular local publications, such as the San Francisco Call. She also wrote for The Wave, a San Francisco weekly, with notable writers such as Jack London and Frank Norris.[citation needed]

One of Gertrude Stein's early word portraits was dedicated to Levy. Levy became the center of considerable effort on the part of Toklas and Stein to ensure her return to San Francisco, this time without Toklas, her original traveling companion.[2][3]

In 1908, in Paris, Levy was invited to Pablo Picasso's party in the Montmartre in and Montparnasse quarters, to honor the painter Henri Rousseau. Levy wrote a description of the famed Rousseau Banquet, which was published in a limited edition of 30 copies in 1985 as part of a UC Berkeley seminar.[1][4]

Levy moved to Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, in 1943 during World War II and resided at the La Playa Hotel with her friend Mary Godde.[5]

At the age of 80, Levy's autobiography, 920 O’Farrell Street, was published. The book chronicles her childhood in an upper-middle-class San Francisco neighborhood, offering a glimpse into her early life experiences.[6] A volume of the verse, I Love to Talk About Myself, was published the same year.[7]

Death

Harriet Levy died on September 15, 1950.[5][8]

References

  1. ^ a b Levy, Harriet Lane (April 1986). A Supper in Montmartre (PDF). Bancroftiana.
  2. ^ Kellner, Bruce (1988). A Gertrude Stein Companion: Content with the Example. New York, Westport, Connecticut, London: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0313250782.
  3. ^ Mellow, James R. (1974). Charmed Circle: Gertrude Stein & Company. New York, Washington: Praeger Publishers. ISBN 0395479827.
  4. ^ Hobson, Charles (November 17, 2002). Why I Love Books (PDF). Bolinas: Bolinas Museum. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
  5. ^ a b "Harriet Levy". Carmel Pine Cone. Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. September 22, 1950. p. 9. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
  6. ^ Levy, Harriet Lane (2017). 920 O'Farrell Street. Pickle Partners. ISBN 9781787205369. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
  7. ^ Levy, Harriet Lane (1947). I Love to Talk About Myself & Other Verses Concerning God & Man & Me. Grabhorn Press.
  8. ^ "Harriet Lane Levy, S.F. Writer, Dead". The San Francisco Examiner. San Francisco, California. September 17, 1950. p. 13. Retrieved July 25, 2023.

External links

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