City of Paris Dry Goods Co.

The City of Paris Dry Goods Company began in eighteen fifty when brothers Félix and Émile Verdier sailed into the San Francisco harbor on a ship named the Ville de Paris. Before they even docked, residents eager for fine French silks, wines, and lace swarmed the vessel in rowboats, purchasing the entire cargo while the ship remained in the bay. This immediate success established the store as a premier purveyor of luxury goods for a city newly enriched by the Gold Rush.