Back to school

In a post last November, I wrote that November always feels like the last month of fall to me just as August feels like the last month of summer, as well. I think the August impression comes from my grade school upbringing and always having to go back to school the first week of September. I probably didn’t learn until late into high school that summer actually lasts until nearly the end of September! School systems in general in America haven’t altered this too much, so San Francisco is quieter and less crowded by mid August when kids start to go back to school. I noticed that today when I took a walk along Market Street from the Ferry Building to Powell Street.

This is at the Ferry Building, where this old Belt Line Rail Service train was passing in the 1940s. It seems so antiquated nowadays! I’m used to the normal traffic you see here these days, like on Naked People on Bikes day. (Vintage picture from SFGate)

This is looking northeast toward Sansome Street from Market during the 1940s. This is a great picture from Market Street Railway. The blue-green curtained Crown Zellerbach Building blocks out the view of the Shell Building from here today. The building behind the one with the TYPEWRITERS sign in the vintage picture has been remodeled and is the copper colored building behind the Zellerbach Building. The Ferry Building can be seen at the far right in both photos.

This is Market Street looking west near Montgomery Street just after the 1906 Earthquake and Fire. The damage looks light because the fire that destroyed most of San Francisco hadn’t spread yet. The crowned Call Building and old Palace Hotel are on the far left. The Palace Hotel was destroyed in the fire, but the Call Building survived. The rebuilt Palace Hotel and remodeled Call Building are on the left in my photo, as well. (San Francisco Library History Center)

This is on 3^rd Street, south of Mission Street near Minna, in 1939. The Call building is in the background in both pictures. The building to the right of the WORK CLOTHES sign is in the center of my photo, as well, and is having some type of facelift now. (retrosnapshots.com)

A Salvation Army Band is marching along the same spot as the previous photo, and was probably taken on the same day in 1939. The buildings directly behind the band have been demolished and the location is now part of the Yerba Buena Gardens.  (retrosnapshots.com)

Looking west from the north side of Market Street toward the old Humboldt Building in the late 1960s: (Vintage Everyday)

This is an antiwar protest near Union Square on Post Street, looking east toward Stockton Street, at the end of the 1960s. That was probably a police motorcycle on fire. (Vintage Everyday)