Blue Jeans on the New York Waterfront: Levi Strauss, the Gold Rush, and an American Icon
For most of their history, Greenwich Village, the East Village, and the Lower East Side have had an intimately interconnected life and history. These parts of New York have been crossroads and hotbeds of cultural and intellectual innovation. The East River and Hudson River waterfronts have linked these neighborhoods to global networks of trade and immigration. This lively and vibrant maritime history is perfectly encapsulated in the life of Levi Strauss, and in that of the denim jean.
Born in Germany, on February 26, 1829, Strauss immigrated to the United States in 1847. He spent his formative years in New York City, settling in Manhattan, where young Levi worked for the dry goods business of his brothers Jonas and Louis, J. Strauss Brother & Co. This enterprise, which sold textiles and ready-made clothing, helped lay the foundation for his future ventures in California. The firm was part of New York’s bustling garment district, which, at the time, had significant business ties to Greenwich Village’s textile and mercantile trade. By 1853, the Strauss family lived and worked at 165 Houston Street, today 372 East Houston Street.
One of the fabrics that the family sold was denim. Denim originated in 17th-century Nîmes, France. There the weavers were trying to reproduce a strong cotton twill fabric known as jeane that was produced and used in the great 16th-century maritime city of Genoa, Italy. Janne was the old French word for Genoa, hence jeane, what today we call jeans. Since this fabric was so strong and durable, it was and continued to be used extensively for centuries by maritime trades, from shipbuilders and sailors to merchants. The French fabric became known as denim, or“from Nîmes” (de Nîmes), which the French exported under the name bleu de Gênes (blue jeans!) as the original Genoese fabric had been dyed with indigo.
By 1853 Levi Strauss was ready to help expand the family business, especially as the country was in the throes of the California Gold Rush. By the early 1850s, New York City had firmly established itself as a critical hub for transatlantic and transcontinental shipping. The discovery of gold in California in 1848 triggered an economic boom, fueling mass migrations and increasing the demand for goods and services. New York’s shipping lines eagerly capitalized on this, offering passage to California via three main routes:
- The Overland Route – A grueling months-long trek across the continent, fraught with dangers including harsh terrain and disease.
- The Panama Route – A more expensive but faster option, involving a sea voyage to the Isthmus of Panama, an overland crossing, and another ship to San Francisco.
- The South America Route – One of the fastest methods for reaching California was aboard large and speedy sailing ships, the famed clipper ships, that sailed around the southern tip of South America, the stormy and dangerous Cape Horn.
Strauss, like many other entrepreneurs, opted for the Panama Route. Steamship lines such as the United States Mail Steamship Company (USMSC) and the Pacific Mail Steamship Company (PMSS) operated out of New York, primarily from piers along the East River. These companies had lucrative government contracts to transport passengers and mail between New York, Panama, and California. Although the exact ship Strauss took from New York to Panama is not definitively recorded, it was likely operated by one of these companies.
Upon arriving at the Caribbean coast of Panama, passengers had to endure an arduous overland crossing. In 1853, this journey involved traveling by small boat along the Chagres River, followed by a trek on foot or mule through thick jungle to the Pacific coast at Panama City. By 1855, the completion of the Panama Railroad would make the crossing much easier, but Strauss had to brave the old route, which was infamous for its tropical diseases and challenging conditions.
After reaching Panama City, travelers boarded Pacific Mail steamers for the final leg to California. Strauss is documented as having arrived in San Francisco aboard the Pacific Mail steamship Isthmus on March 14, 1853. This leg of the journey took about three weeks, during which passengers faced rough seas and crowded conditions aboard the steamer.
Levi Strauss’s voyage from New York to San Francisco was more than just a physical journey; it was a passage from one economic frontier to another. His travels embodied the transformative nature of mid-19th-century American commerce, linking the maritime world of Greenwich Village and the East Village to the booming goldfields of California. As Strauss established his business in San Francisco, selling goods—including denim fabric with its origins in Old World Italy and France—he carried with him the legacy of the innovative spirit of immigrants carried by New York’s dynamic shipping industry.
Within twenty years, Levi Strauss would partner with the Nevada tailor Jacob W. Davis to patent what we today call “blue jeans.” The mid-20th would see the explosion of jeans in cultural popularity. From Beatniks in the 1950s to Hippies in the 1960s and the rock scene of the 1970s and 80s, Greenwich Village and the East Village play a vital role in popularizing what has become this most iconic American piece of clothing, which has 19th century roots via immigrant Levi Strauss in these neighborhoods.