The weekend before Halloween, I went to the City at evening time to enjoy the Halloween weather (whatever that is) around town, and to practice taking panoramic pictures with my phone. I wandered around Nob Hill for awhile, waiting for the vampires to come out, (occasionally, people dress up like vampires during Halloween season, and do a ‘Vampire Prowl’ around Nob Hill) and then I headed down into Chinatown. These are a collection of nighttime pictures around San Francisco that I did update comparison pictures of the last week of October and the first week of November.(Thumbnail images)
Grant Avenue, looking toward California Street and the Sing Fat Building: This is as close of a comparison as I could get to the old 1930s postcard. (foundimage.com)
I was practicing taking panoramic pictures with my iPhone last Saturday night of a cable car crossing Grant Avenue on its way up California Street, so this isn’t exactly a perfect match up with the old 1960s picture at the same location. (hippostcard.com)
Powell Street at Market, it looks like the 1950s: This might have been a good comparison picture if the old bank building at number one Powell Street wasn’t covered up with a tarp, because I’m standing in about the same spot as the 1950s photo. (San Francisco Public Library Archives)
They are getting ready to fix up Union Square for Christmas when I went back last evening to finish up my set of nighttime pictures. I didn’t get too bad of a line up with this old postcard of Union Square at night in 1912. The building on the right in the postcard was remodeled into the IMagnin Building in the 1940s, the buildings along Stockton Street, to the left of the Dewey Monument, are all still there. (UC Berkeley Library Archives)
Market Street, between 6th and 7th Streets: The Katharine Hepburn movie, ‘Summertime’ playing at the United Artists Theater on the right dates the vintage picture from during 1955. With reckless abandon, I headed into the area at night to get an updated picture. What a great Saturday spot this used to be; movie theaters all along Market Street and classy department stores like Weinstein’s; a far cry from what this area is like now. (San Francisco Chronicle)
A picture I took in January of this year, when City Hall was lit up for the 49ers who were in the Playoffs, matches up pretty good to this picture of City Hall in October of 1966. (San Francisco Public Library archives.
San Francisco Film Locations Then & Now 
Halloween is my least favorite Holiday. I remember how people in some neighborhoods of San Francisco wore costumes weeks prior to Halloween. It was a good reason to avoid it. However, although I do not participate, it is gratifying to know that people can enjoy such traditions. I suppose that there is much to enjoy in San Francisco.