International Settlement was a relatively short lived entertainment district within San Francisco , located along a one block stretch of Pacific Avenue between Kearny and Montgomery Streets, whose popularity lasted from to Pacific Avenue went through many transformations since its early days of the s when it was a main thoroughfare for the vice-ridden Barbary Coast , and was then lined with brothels and violent saloons.
International Settlement was the third major transformation of the Pacific Street district of San Francisco. During the late 19th and early 20th-centuries within San Francisco , the Barbary Coast was a red-light district which contained dance halls, concert saloons, bars, jazz clubs, variety shows, and brothels.
The early decades of the Barbary Coast would be marred by persistent lawlessness, gambling, administrative graft , vigilante justice , and prostitution.
Pacific Street received its second transformation after the earthquake and fire of , when most of its buildings were destroyed. The city's financial boosters then invested heavily in reconstruction and within three months over a dozen dance halls and a dozen bars were rebuilt and operating.
This era of Pacific Street was nicknamed ' Terrific Street ' by musicians in describing the quality of music at Pacific Street's clubs, and indeed the first jazz clubs of San Francisco would occur there. This new transformation of Pacific Street was gentrified and tame compared to the lawless pre-earthquake version of the Barbary Coast, and Terrific Street became a tourist mecca for middle-class youth.
