Taking the long way to Tad’s (For Tad’s Steak House)

Yesterday, I headed over to San Francisco on BART for a breakfast at Tad’s Steak House on Ellis Street. If I get off at the Powell Street BART Station, I’m only about two minutes on foot to Tad’s. Knowing that I was planning on tackling a high cholesterol and unhealthy breakfast, I decided to take a roundabout way to Tad’s to get a little exercise first, and take a few pictures I’ve wanted get along the way. I got off BART two stops early at the Embarcadero Station, walked along Drumm to Sacramento Street, and caught the Muni #1 bus up the hill to Grant Avenue, Chinatown, and started heading back to Tad’s. (Thumbnail images)

At California Street I was able to update a 1950s picture of the St. Mary’s Square Garage. Some of the buildings you can see behind the garage in the vintage picture from left to right are the tall Russ Building, the Hobart Building, and the Hunter-Dulin Building with its Gothic looking roof. All of these are blocked now by buildings I couldn’t name if I had to. (San Francisco Public Library Archives)

I doubled back to Grant Avenue through St. Mary’s Square, the most peaceful spot in Chinatown. I love that little park, and I’ve never seen it as crowded as in this photo that looks like it’s from the 1940s. During World War Two, Madame Chiang Kai-shek, easily the most famous Asian woman in the world at that time, paid a visit to St. Mary’s Square. . (San Francisco Public Library Archives)

Leaving Chinatown, I moved down Grant Avenue to Maiden Lane, cut through to Stockton Street, and double back to Post Street to get this update of a 1940s picture taken at the northeast corner of Union Square. . (San Francisco Public Library Archives)

I crossed through Union Square to Powell Street, and walked down the west side of Powell to update this late 1950s picture from the San Francisco Remembered Facebook page of two ladies passing by Tad’s Steak House at 120 Powell Street, where the restaurant originally opened in 1955. In 2019, Tad’s closed on Powell Street, and moved around the corner to Ellis Street. Tad’s was right behind where the couple with the child in my picture were.

Ah, I’m getting closer and hungrier. I’m happy to say that the neon Tad’s Steaks sign made the move to Ellis, as well.

When I finished my breakfast and left Tad’s, I crossed over to Ellis Street at Powell, doubled back along Ellis to Market Street, and walked back along Market to the Powell Street BART Station. On the way, I did an update of the old clock across Market Street from the Emporium Building where the Bloomfield Shopping Center is now. The clock is not accurate nowadays, it was not 8:40. Before I left, I looked at the walking tracker app on my iPhone and found that I covered 2.6 miles on my journey. That ought to be enough exercise to offset eggs over easy, link sausages, hash browns, and toast.