He moved to San Francisco in 1874, where he opened a concert saloon called The Fountain on Kearny Street.
[1] Walter overspent on expensive acts from Europe such as Parisian ballet or a Hungarian boys military band.
His chronic shortage of money led him the lease the Orpheum to John Cort in 1891.
The financial panic of 1893 forced Cort out and Walter returned to manage the Orpheum with Morris Meyerfeld, Jr. providing the finance and business acumen.
Meyerfield immediately announced that the show would go on and the Orpheum circuit continued to expand with Martin Beck as its general manager.