The Pacific Museum of Anatomy and Science, located on Pine Street between Montgomery and Sansome. This educational institution, "For Gentlemen Only", specialized in wax models of instructive anatomy, most of whom were female, along with a collection of Egyptian mummies and preserved anatomical curiosities. It was a place where men fancying themselves refined gentlemen could gaze in detail on female anatomy in a civilized manner, foregoing the whorehouses, back alleys, and dangerous hellholes of the nearby Barbary Coast.
The Zymoglyphic Museum Curator's Web Log has just posted a really nice story on The Pacific Museum of Anatomy and Science, a popular anatomical museum located in San Francisco from the 19th until the early 20th century. If the above quotation piques your interest, I highly recommend you check out the entire fascinating post (click here) and also the similarly themed "'Morbid curiosity': The Decline and Fall of the Popular Anatomical Museum" by Michael Sappol (click here).
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