While I was working on a post up on Nob Hill today, I was sorry to see that they had demolished the old Crest Garage. Sitting strategically on the southeast corner of California and Powell Street, it can be seen in a number of vintage pictures, old movies, and prime time television shows from the past. Here are a few pictures that I have posted on my blog where the Crest Garage can be seen in the old and current images.
One of the best pictures of the Crest Garage, and also one of my favorite vintage San Francisco pictures, as two cable cars from the California and Powell Street Lines cross the intersection in the 1940’s. The Crest Garage can be seen behind the cable car on the right in my picture.
Here’s another then and now of the Crest Garage from the 1940’s that I posted in November of 2016.
In another picture, this one from the early 1950’s just across California Street from the previous picture, the Crest Garage is on the far right in the old photo from Vintage Everyday and with the arrow sign on it in my picture. The apartment building between the garage and Powell Street was demolished by the 1990’s.
In the 1964 movie ‘Good Neighbor Sam’, Jack Lemmon races his Thunderbird past the Crest Garage which by that time had become a Flying A Service Station.
In a 1968 episode of the television show ‘Ironside’ starring Raymond Burr, the Crest Garage had by then become a parking garage. My picture of the garage behind the cable car signal box taken in August of 2017 was the last picture I took of the building.
The oldest picture I’ve seen of the Crest Garage dating from the 1920’s; I’m not sure but it might be from the Shorpy Picture Archive. The bottom photo is all that’s left of the garage today. You can see the imprint of where the Crest Garage leaned against the old Apartment building on California Street since the 1920’s.
