Month: February 2024

1939 was a good year for San Francisco, and also the year the first person in my immediate family visited SF. My San Francisco exploring has been interrupted by the 2024 Tax Season, but I don’t usually get a chance to post something on February 29^th, so I searched my archives for some past pictures I posted for the 85^th anniversary of 1939. (Thumbnail images)

  

Dorthea Lange’s photo from the ramp of the First Street exit off of the Bay Bridge, now called the Fremont Street exit. You can see Coit Tower, the Shell Building, the Standard Building, and the Russ Building among other landmarks in her picture, none of which are visible from here today.

  

An artist’s rendition of what the Transbay Terminal that opened in 1939 would look like, and the Transbay Terminal on the last day before it closed forever in August of 2010.

 

A lady waiting for an auto, bus, streetcar or cab at on Market Street at Jones in 1939: I don’t know if that coat that’s attacking her would go over too well nowadays.

  

A couple of 1939 free-spirits riding their bicycles up to Sutro Heights above Playland-at-the-Beach:

  

The road leading from Yerba Buena Island to the Treasure Island Exposition that opened in 1939:

 

Grant Avenue, Chinatown, in 1939:

 

A long-ago 1939 family in a probably posed picture at Ocean Beach, with the Cliff House and Seal Rocks in the background:

  

My 17 year old mom, on the right, next to the Pool of Enchantment at the de Young Museum on her 1939 visit from North Dakota, and an update I did at the spot before the building was demolished in 2000:

 

 

 

Why 1971? Well, there are a lot of vintage pictures from different sources on the internet taken in San Francisco during 1971. Also, I’m old enough to remember what San Francisco was like in 1971. Besides, 1971 was probably an important year for some people. (Thumbnail images)

  

Coming out of the Yerba Buena Tunnel onto the Bay Bridge:

  

Look at that grouchy looking guy on the northwest corner of Jefferson and Taylor Streets. I hope I don’t look like that when I take pictures around San Francisco. (Vintage picture, SF Chronicle)

 

The 1971 San Francisco skyline from the top of the St. Francis Hotel: You can spot a number of the same buildings in both pictures. (Vintage picture, San Francisco Public Library Archives)

  

Fleishhacker Pool and Pool House after closing in 1971: The pool is buried beneath the parking lot of the San Francisco Zoo today, and the Pool House was burned down by homeless people shortly after I took my picture.

  

Edging into the Tenderloin on O’Farrell Street, looking east from Mason Street: (Vintage picture, amazingurban.com)

  

The old YMCA Building on the Embarcadero, with the infamous Embarcadero Freeway on the right: (Vintage picture, San Francisco Public Library Archives)

 

A couple of buddies fishing behind Pier 5: The pier has been cut back and remodeled now, so this is as close of a comparison picture I could get. You can just see the top of Yerba Buena Island on the right in my picture. (Vintage picture, UC Berkley Library Archives)

  

Looking across Embarcadero Center Plaza toward Market and Steuart Streets from the Vaillancourt Fountain: This is as close of a comparison picture I could get because the Park Padel Pickleball Court obstructs the view from the fountain in the vintage picture now. The Southern Pacific Building is on the right in both photos. The Rincon Annex Post Office Building is blocked from the view here now by One Market Plaza. The Hills Brothers Coffee Building is in the far background of the older picture. The old Audiffred Building is behind where the San Francisco Railway Museum Building on Don Chee Way is today. (Vintage picture, San Francisco Public Library Archives)

 

Way back to when I was 15, I learned from Herb Caen that, although it is often referred to as Portsmouth Plaza, a true San Franciscan calls it Portsmouth Square. From an article by Ko Lyn Cheang in last Thursday’s San Francisco Chronicle, I learned that they may be closing the famous park in Chinatown for several years for renovations. Some consider this little spot as the most historic piece of land in San Francisco; In 1846, John B. Montgomery, Captain of the USS Portsmouth, raised the first United States flag in the city of San Francisco at what was then called ‘La plaza’. In 1848, prospector, John Brannan announced the discovery of gold in Sacramento, which started the 49ers on a roll (the original ones). It’s overcrowded and the bathrooms are a fright, but its closer will disrupt the lives of a lot of people in San Francisco. These are a few pictures I’ve posted in the past that were taken at Portsmouth Square. (Thumbnail images)

The original Hall of Justice Building on Kearny Street. spelled Kearney in the old photo, across from Portsmouth Square. The vintage picture was taken after the 1906 Earthquake. The now closed bridge in the modern picture crosses over to the Hilton Hotel, which replaced the rebuilt Hall of Justice in 1968.

 

The rebuilt Hall of Justice on Kearny Street in 1958 from a Charles Cushman photo: Both pictures were taken from Portsmouth Square. This building appeared regularly in television shows such as ‘Lineup’ and ‘Ironside’, and many crime pictures like ‘Impact’. ‘The Man Who Cheated Himself’ and ‘The Lady from Shanghai’. The old hall was demolished in 1967.

 

Of course, the best look you get at vintage Portsmouth Square is from the website opensfhistory.org. This 1960 photo and update are looking at the southeast corner of Portsmouth Square.

  

The southeast corner of the Square in 1937, looking in the opposite direction from the previous pictures: The buildings in the background are the same in both photos.

  

Orson Welles, on trial for murder in the Hall of Justice Building, escapes and runs across Kearny Street to Portsmouth Square in the 1947 film ‘The Lady from Shanghai’.

  

Rita Hayworth chases after Orson Welles across Portsmouth Square in ‘The Lady from Shanghai’.

  

Probably my favorite Chinatown scene from any movie is from the 1949m film ‘Impact’. Here’s the setup; Brian Donlevy is on trial at the old Hall of Justice Building on Kearny for murdering his unfaithful wife’s lover. (He’s innocent) Anna May Wong has information that may save him but will not testify, although she comes to the courthouse out of guilt. Ella Raines, Donlevy’s new squeeze, spots her as she leaves the courthouse and a chase is on. As Anna May’s taxicab turns onto Washington Street from Kearny on the corner of Portsmouth Square jumps into a waiting taxicab to follow her.

  

They race up Washington past Portsmouth Square to Grant Avenue. This chase scene covers much of Chinatown, including some of its old alleys.

   

A child looks at the Robert Louis Stevenson Monument at Portsmouth Square in 1939:

“Who’s he, Daddy?’

“He wrote Treasure Island.”

“You mean, about the Fair?”

“No, it’s a story about adventures on a mysterious island with treacherous scoundrels, cutthroats, and pirates.”

“Oh, Alcatraz.”