Description
Alice Gerstle Levison belonged to two prominent San Francisco Jewish-Victorian families, the Gerstles and the Levisons, both of whom maintained significant influence in the areas of business, culture, and society within the city. She was born Alice Gerstle in 1873 in San Francisco, and her father, Lewis Gerstle, and uncle, Louis Sloss, held principal positions in the Alaska Commercial Company. In 1896 she married Jacob Bertha Levison, who served as the president of the Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company from 1917 to 1937. In this interview, Gerstle Levison discusses the 1906 earthquake and fire, the Lilienthals and other prominent families in San Francisco, the social clubs and customs of the city, and the standards of private and public honor and responsibility of her time and her people.