In Search of ‘Baghdad by the Bay’ Originator
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Your article dealing with Herb Caen (“He’s the Heart of San Francisco,” March 28) was inaccurate on one point. Herb Caen did not coin the name “Baghdad by the Bay.” I think Ring Lardner, the American short story and screenwriter, did the coining.
Some of my friends have disagreed, claiming either Ambrose Bierce or another author of that period was the originator of the phrase.
About eight years ago, the California Historical Society unearthed a monograph dating from the 1890s entitled “Baghdad by the Bay” and notified the San Francisco Chronicle. So, the phrase predates Herb Caen’s writing career, and the true author is as yet unconfirmed.
HAROLD R. GOODMAN
Rancho Palos Verdes
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