Month: November 2017

In a letter to the editor in the morning paper that I subscribe to, the East Bay Times, a reader wrote something to the effect, “On Thanksgiving we give thanks to God for the things in life we have, and the next day, on “Black Friday”, we kill anybody who gets in our way of a bargain!” Now there’s a writer who needs to be heard from! Anyway, I headed over to San Francisco today to be a part of it. “Black Friday” isn’t a bad day to try to get into the Christmas spirit, just as long as you’re not shopping!

This is Market Street looking east from Stockton Street circa 1900. Three buildings can still be seen today. First and foremost, the crowned Call Building on the right, remodeled in the late 1930’s. On the left is the Gothic looking Mutual Savings Bank Building with its green and red roof. Just behind that is the brownish-red Chronicle Building. The clock at the top of the building was destroyed in 1905, the year before the 1906 Earthquake and Fire.

Stockton Street at O’Farrell looking north in 1951: Neiman Marcus and Macy’s Men’s Store are now where the City of Paris Department Store was. This area of Stockton Street from Market Street to Geary Blvd., under construction because of the MUNI Metro extension to Chinatown, is closed off and carpeted for shoppers during the Holiday Season. (San Francisco Chronicle, SFGate)

The southwest corner of Union Square in 1974: (Vintage photo from Viewoftheblue.com)

The east side of Union Square looking toward Maiden Lane in 1974: The Suntory Whisky billboard has been replaced by Sennheiser and Sonos billboards.  Viewoftheblue.com)

Elegant Maiden Lane at Christmastime in 1949: You don’t see a lot of crowds in this famous alley anymore. That was an interesting lady having a quiet smoke in front of me. I was worried that she might be a little “out there” (she was probably worrying the same thing about me), but when I said hello to her, she was quite elegant herself, a hang on from the old days. (Moulin Studio)

A Macy’s Department Store display window for Christmas in 1979 and 2017:

Santa Claus arrives at the Emporium Store on Market Street by wagon in 1949: Boy, that ain’t the way I heard that he gets around! (San Francisco Chronicle, SFGate)

The dome inside the Emporium Department Store in 1898, and the dome in Emporium, now Bloomingdale’s on Black Friday, 2017:

The cable car turntable at Powell and Market Streets, no Santa and no pretty girl dressed like an elf anymore:

“Come on, Santa, get your mind back on the kids!”

(SF Chronicle)

In 1953 on the northwest corner of O’Farrell and Stockton Streets they staged a demonstration to point out the dangers of jaywalking. Our Junior G-man at the same corner was going to make sure that didn’t happen on Black Friday, 2017. (San Francisco Chronicle, SFGate)

 

 

To see the town the way it used to look long ago, that’s what I like the best about working on this blog.

The Mechanics Monument at Battery and Market Streets circa 1910: (Vintage photo from Moulin Studios)

Fisherman’s Wharf, 1938: That tank on the left was full of gas. What a terrorist alert that would create today! It would have blown Fisherman’s Wharf all the way over to Chinatown! (Moulin Studios)

Approaching the Bay Bridge from Oakland in the 1940’s: (SF Chronicle)

Telegraph Hill from the Bay, back when the Embarcadero was still a bustling port: (Vintage Everyday)

Ocean Beach and the Great Highway, circa 1915: (Moulin Studios)

The old Gingerbread Cliff House that burned down in 1907 from a rare angle: I’ve been trying to get a good photo of the Cliff House from Sutro Heights for a long time now. Trees block most of the view of the restaurant from the top of the park today. However, earlier this week I found a trail that winds part of the way around the side of the cliff. It can be dangerous if you’re not careful and there’s evidence that homeless people have been sleeping there, but it offers a view of the Cliff House that not many people can see anymore.

Another terrific picture from the Shorpy Collection of the Fairmont and Mark Hopkins Hotels on top of Nob Hill:

Although there’s an abundance of material, I couldn’t seem to come up with any picture taking ideas throughout the week. I can’t call it “writer’s block” because I’m not particularly a good writer so I’ll call it “photographer’s block”, although my skills there are open to debate, as well. Anyway, I decided that a nighttime prowl through the City, like ‘The Shadow’ would open up some possibilities. “Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?’ I said to myself, like ‘The Shadow’ does, as I moved through San Francisco from twilight to dark, but all I saw were friendly and happy people. San Francisco, like Disneyland, is two different places day and night, although, I suppose you could say that about anywhere! Sometimes when I visit places in San Francisco at night that I’ve been to dozens of times in the day, it’s like seeing them for the first time.

I started out at the Powell and Market Streets cable car turntable at twilight in the rain. Trees block the view past the St. Francis Hotel and up Nob Hill today. The old Powell Theater that went back to the 1920’s is where the Burger King is today. (Vintage picture from Vintage Everyday)

Before catching a cable car up Nob Hill, I headed one block east to 4^th and Market Streets across from Stockton Street to get a comparison of this twilight picture from 1954. (SFGate, San Francisco Chronicle)

Fisherman’s Wharf at dusk:

“Oh, this is the night. It’s a beautiful night. And we call it Bella Notte.”

Obviously, anything even remotely Italian reminds me of that scene from ‘Lady and the Tramp’. (Peter Stratmoen)

Looking east of Fisherman’s Wharf at dusk from Alioto’s Restaurant: Funny how the rain stopped so suddenly, huh? Actually, I took in two evenings for my nocturnal knock around, the 16^th and the 17^th. That mast ship in the background of the vintage picture is the square rigged ‘Balclutha’,  built in 1886. In 1988 she was moved from this location to the Hyde Street Pier. (Peter Stratmoen)

Speaking of the Balclutha, here she is docked at Pier 43. Also, here’s something I didn’t know until I researched the Wikipedia entry on her, the Balclutha was filmed in a scene in the 1935 movie ‘Mutiny on the Bounty’ with Clark Gable and Charles Laughton!

The Fairmont Hotel on Nob Hill, where Tony Bennett introduced the world to ‘I Left My Heart in San Francisco’, probably, around the time that the vintage picture was taken: (Vintage Everyday)

Grant Avenue at Clay Street, and the never-changing Chinatown with its multicolored manhole covers: (Vintage Everyday)

With the accuracy in continuity of the ‘Bullitt’ car chase scene, we’re back where I ended the night before. This is at Market and Powell Streets at 5:15 PM on December 14^th 1945, and Market and Powell Streets at 6:15 PM on November 16^th 2017. I took my picture an hour later because it isn’t as dark at 5:15 PM in November as it is in December. The Market Street crosswalk has been relocated since December of 1945 so my picture is a little farther back. The old Emporium Store, now Bloomingdale’s is in the background of both photos. (SFGate, San Francisco Chronicle)

The Barbary Coast Trail walking tour, established in May of 1998, was created by the San Francisco Historical Society and historian Daniel Bacon, a member of the society. It follows north to south, from Aquatic Park to the old U.S. Mint Building on 5^th Street, or south to north from the Mint to Aquatic Park, whichever is preferred. It trails through much of old San Francisco, and at times travels along the original shoreline. The entire trail can be followed on the old McQuillan map from 1878 below. Our tour will follow the south to north route. Some references suggest that you can take this tour all in one day. I broke it up over three days and I still felt old and tired when I finished, although, I enjoyed every step of the way! So put on some comfortable shoes and kick back, you’re in for a long armchair walk!

 

Beginning at the old Mint Building on 5^th and Mission Street the trail moves north along 5^th to Market Street. (SFGate)

Along the way, you’ll spot gold medallions placed in sidewalks along the trail like this one at the Mint Building. The medallions have an arrow pointing toward the direction of the Barbary Coast Trail. I’ll have more on these later in the post.

The trail crosses Market Street and heads up Powell Street to Union Square. The cable cars at the Powell Street turntable were temporarily shut down when the vintage picture was taken. The photo looks like the 1970’s so I don’t think that this was during the big shut down from 1982 to 1984.

We’re now at Union Square across from the St. Francis Hotel.

http://opensfhistory.org/

The tour crosses Union Square, seen here just after the 1906 Earthquake and Fire, and enters Maiden Lane.

Moving through Maiden Lane we turn left onto Grant Avenue. Maiden Lane, once called Morton Street, was an alley filled with brothels before the 1906 Earthquake.

Along Grant Avenue we’ll cross Sutter Street where the old Whitehouse Department Store was located. Our view is from Sutter Street looking east toward Grant.

At the next block we arrive at the official entrance to Chinatown at Bush Street. In 1983 I took the top picture looking back down Grant Ave. toward Sutter Street. The Whitehouse Store had not yet become the Banana Republic.

We’ve entered Chinatown and we’ll head north past where the old postcard was taken.

The trail moves into Waverly Place, seen here from Clay Street in 1938 when a cable car line ran along Clay.

http://opensfhistory.org/

From Waverly place we’ll head into once notorious Ross Alley, long ago famous for Shanghaiing, Tong Wars, and prostitution cribs. Seen here in Arnold Genthe’s vintage photo from before the 1906 Earthquake and Fire, the alley is quaint and peaceful today. The building the gentleman is looking into in my picture is the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory where you can have your own fortune baked into a cookie.

From Ross Alley we’ll double back to Washington Street and Grant Avenue. The medallion on the northwest corner of this intersection has two arrows. These are the medallions placed between the two origination points of the Barbary Coast Trail directing visitors traveling either north along the trail or south.

The trail passes through the old Portsmouth Square. We are now in some of the oldest settled areas of San Francisco and near the original city shoreline. The vintage photo is another Arnold Genthe picture taken at Portsmouth Square.

Let’s head down to Montgomery and Clay Streets, where the old Montgomery Block, a hangout for writers and poets, was torn down at the end of the 1950’s. The Transamerica Pyramid building, seen from Montgomery and Clay Streets under construction, occupies the location of the old “Monkey Block” today.

Now we’re on Pacific Avenue, the street that epitomizes the “Barbary Coast” more than any other street in San Francisco. “Blackie” Norton’s Paradise Saloon from the 1936 film ‘San Francisco’ was on Pacific Ave. Nick’s Saloon, from William Saroyan’s play ‘The Time of Your Life’ was on Pacific. Just about every old movie about San Francisco before the 1906 Earthquake is centered around or mentions Pacific Avenue. In the 1940’s and 1950’s it became the ‘International Settlement’ the center of San Francisco’s wickedest nightlife. The two posts that held up the International Settlement sign on Pacific Avenue at Montgomery Street are still there today.

http://opensfhistory.org/

We’re going to turn north onto Columbus Avenue from Pacific and head north, or more accurately, northwest. Look back at the old Sentinel Building, also known as Columbus Tower, completed in 1907. The vintage picture is from the Charles W. Cushman Collection.

We’re going to travel along Columbus Avenue, seen here at Columbus and Stockton Street, and head toward Washington Square. I couldn’t get the most accurate lineup with the OpenSFHistory picture because of the construction, but you can still see the steeples of Saints Peter and Paul Church in the background of my picture.

Washington Square at Saints Peter and Paul Church: The famous San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen once quoted something to the effect, “Washington Square, which is not a square, has a statue of Benjamin Franklin not George Washington, and is located in North Beach where there is no beach!” From Washington Square we’ll head up to the top of Telegraph Hill.

A 1926 picture from the Shorpy Historic Photo Archive shows the old urn balustrade that circled the parking lot where Coit Tower is today. The balustrade was considered unattractive and removed by the end of the 1930’s.

We’ll head back down Lombard Street from the top of Telegraph Hill. In  October of 1983 I took the above two  pictures of the Parade of Ships for Fleet Week from here on Lombard Street when there was a greater navy presence for the occasion. These are two perfect photos for today’s November 11^th posting.

From Telegraph Hill the Barbary Coast Trail takes you down to the Embarcadero, probably my favorite street in San Francisco. There’s just something magical to me about the shipping history, the fog, and the film noir like setting of this street. The foggy vintage picture is from the great photographer Fred Lyon.

After leaving the Embarcadero the Barbary Coast Trail travels along Jefferson Street past Fisherman’s Wharf and where the old Joe DiMaggio Restaurant was located. (Gordon Clark)

We can’t pass by here without stopping at the Fisherman’s Wharf Boat Lagoon. The vintage picture is on the wall of Alioto’s Restaurant, seen in both photos.

We’re nearing the end of our journey. These two photos were taken at the Hyde Street Pier from the ferryboat Eureka looking over to Aquatic Park across the 1895 schooner C.A. Thayer. The top picture is from a slide I took in 1985 from the third deck of the Eureka. Yesterday’s photo was from the second deck, the third deck being closed off now.

The trail ends (and begins) at Aquatic Park. We’re looking at the Hyde Street Pier from behind the Maritime Museum. My 1985 slide looks very similar to the picture that I took yesterday. The 1886 square-rigger Balclutha has been relocated to the Hyde Street Pier since my 1985 picture but is temporarily away from the pier in dry dock for repairs at the current time.

We’ll end on the steps behind the Maritime Museum. I don’t remember what was going on in 1985 when I took the top slide picture, and I don’t know who the girl dancing was, but it must have been a fun day!

This is an update of a post that I did in April of 2016. I was up on Potrero Hill today getting some new pictures and I talked with a fellow named Franklin who lives on the hill. He’s an avid photographer and history buff, and  it was a pleasure to meet him.

This image is looking north on Rhode Island Street from 20^th in the 1920’s. That house on the left is still there today. (Peter Linenthal and Abigail Johnston)

An unpaved corner of De Haro where it branches off, and 25^th in 1941: I can spot some of the houses still there. http://opensfhistory.org/

De Haro Street, between 22^nd and 23^rd Streets in 1939: Maybe, the same telephone pole. (Peter Linenthal and Abigail Johnston)

The 101 Freeway skirts the western side of Potrero hill:  (Phil Palmer)

On the eastern side of the hill on the corner of Mariposa and 3^rd was the Strand Service Station.

“Fill ‘er up and check the oil!”

“Fill ‘er up and check the oil yourself. We don’t do that anymore!”

(Peter Linenthal and Abigail Johnston)

DeHaro between 24^th and 24^th Street on December 19^th 1941, looking south: http://opensfhistory.org/ DeHaro between 24^th and 25^th looking north, on the same day in December 1941: That looks like a puppy dog in the old photo. The house at the top of the hill in the vintage picture is still up there. http://opensfhistory.org/

Vermont Street from 21st, San Francisco’s real “Crookedest Street in the World” not Lombard Street, according to Wikipedia: http://opensfhistory.org/

An image from the 1930’s looking north on Potrero Avenue at 19th Street: (Found SF)

The Mission District, and at its southeast side, Bernal Heights are two areas of San Francisco that I don’t explore as often as I should.

We’ll start with Bernal Heights. Its steep, winding and narrow streets made me wonder how anybody ever drove around this area before automatic transmissions were invented. Here we are at Mullen and Franconia in 1941. http://opensfhistory.org

Cortland and Bradford, 1952: This must have been a nasty accident! Look at the distance between the banged up car near the damaged telephone pole and another damaged car further up the hill. (Bold Italics)

Here’s another angle of the accident. (Bold Italics)

439 Cortland Avenue: They’ve changed from selling drugs to booze here. I suppose there’s a fine parable for that, but I don’t know what it is. http://opensfhistory.org/

Bernal Heights from Holly Park in 1973: (MaxKirkeberg)

The views from Bernal Heights are among the best in San Francisco. Of course, it’s always recommended that you stay on the walking paths.

Now we’ll wander on down to the Mission District. You can do it in one day here on the internet, but I needed two days, and even that wasn’t enough to see most of these areas. Here we are at 18^th and Guerrero Streets in 1947. (Uptown Almanac)

An accident at 24^th Street at Bryant Street in the 1940’s: The streetcar tracks are gone now, and you can’t see the Roosevelt Theater up the street anymore through the trees. The “Roosie”, as it was affectionately nicknamed, was a neighborhood movie theater that opened up in 1924 at York Street and 24^th.  The theater is still there, but it’s now called the Brava and is used mostly for performing arts rather than film today. (Uptown Almanac)

Another accident, two buses colliding at Mission and 23^rd  Streets in 1942: It could have been worse; I once read where a police bus and a cement truck collided into each other and ten hardened criminals escaped! I think I got that joke from the movie ‘Raising Arizona’. (Uptown Almanac)

Still another accident, this time at 24^th Street and Potrero Avenue: They needed to be more careful around here during the 1940’s! The person in the back of the ambulance being rushed to the hospital wasn’t having a red letter day!

727 Valencia Street: Cherin’s is still there, but I can see how the store might be easy to miss on your first visit there nowadays. (Uptown Almanac)

 

 

It may have been “leisure time” for the people in the vintage pictures, but the traffic, crowds, and the fog on the Saturday before Halloween made it less of a leisure time and more of a labor of love for me. Still, I’ll take any day “out in the field” in San Francisco over a day in the office anytime. So come along with me, and we’ll find some relaxing things to do around San Francisco before the cold days of fall arrive.

It’s a mild afternoon, so let’s take in a movie. How about Star Wars at the Coronet Theater in 1977? We’ll have lots of leisure time waiting in line for two or three hours! (Vintage photo from the San Francisco Chronicle)

How about lunch at Fisherman’s Wharf, and a stroll around the boat lagoon with these three ladies, whoever they were? There are a lot more buildings on Russian and Nob Hills now, but you can still see all of the ones in the vintage picture in my photo.

We’ll head out to Ocean Beach around 1972. Hope I can get the Cliff House in my picture through the fog! It wasn’t a bad attempt as far as bad attempts go, especially considering that you couldn’t see the Cliff House half the time. There’s some really strange looking people in that early 1970’s picture, particularly the lady with the child in the center. I have no idea what kind of a beach outfit that is! This was at the time that the Cliff House was painted blue with ocean waves around the top.

Or, maybe, a leisure stroll through the “Oriental” Tea Garden is your cup of tea. The vintage picture is where the old entrance used to be to the Japanese Tea Garden, you can see it in the background of my photo. There have been a lot of changes to the landscape in the garden since the name was changed to the Oriental Tea Garden after Pearl Harbor. The original name was restored in 1952.

We can spend to a pleasant afternoon listening to music in the old Music Concourse in Golden Gate Park, and then wander over to the DeYoung Museum; except, there’s never a band playing there when I visit. That’s the old art deco museum during the 1920’s.

Well, if you’d like to ride the Sky Tram behind the Cliff House or ring the bell at sunset in the Redwood Dining Room we can hang around here for awhile! I never rode the Sky Tram, but I did listen to them ring the bell at sunset when the sun disappeared behind the ocean horizon quite a number of times.

Would you like to do some shopping at the Cliff House Gift Shop? I know, there were a lot more items to choose from long ago, but it’s not a bad little shop today and I almost always buy something when I go in there.