The Wasp — 1887 — page 402: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page is primarily a directory of hotel and lodging advertisements for various California cities, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento, and smaller towns. The listings describe amenities, room rates, and proprietor names for establishments ranging from grand hotels to modest boarding houses. There are no visible political cartoons or satirical illustrations on this page. The content is straightforward commercial advertising, typical of late 19th or early 20th-century publications that generated revenue through classified and display ads. The hotels advertise features like "first-class," "new," and "elegant" to attract travelers, reflecting the period's booming development of California's transportation and tourism infrastructure.