Month: June 2024

Herb Caen once wrote that Commercial Street is the only street besides Market Street that runs directly to the Ferry Building, and he was right; Sacramento Street just misses it to the south and Clay Street to the north. Commercial used to run from Grant Avenue, Chinatown, to the Embarcadero, but it stops now at Battery Street due to the construction of the Embarcadero Center. I took a walk down Commercial Street last Sunday, updating some vintage pictures that were taken along the street. (Thumbnail images)

 

We’ll start where Commercial Street plunges down eastward from Grant Avenue. The view is looking south down Grant Avenue in 1963. (opensfhistory.org)

  

Looking down Commercial Street from Grant Avenue in 1960: That’s Bruce Lee on the mural at the right in the modern picture. (opensfhistory.org)

  

Commercial Street, looking down from Grant Avenue after the 1906 Earthquake and Fire: (UC Berkeley Library Archives)

  

Approaching Kearny during the 1950s: (San Francisco Public Library Archives)

  

Commercial Street levels out after you cross Kearny, continuing east. The photo on the left is a slide picture I took in 1983, and the update on the right was taken last Sunday.

 

As you approach Montgomery Street, you’ll come to the site of the first Mint established in San Francisco in 1852. A historical marker has been placed on the building commemorating the site, and another building has been build over the old Mint since the 1940 picture was taken. (Shorpy Archives)

  

An undated picture of an old brewery on Commercial at Leidesdorff Street, taken before the Transamerica Pyramid Building the background was constructed in 1972: (San Francisco Public Library Archives)

  

Commercial at Sansome Street in 1959: If you look hard enough….. you’ll notice that you can’t see the Ferry Building from here anymore. Actually, you probably still could if it wasn’t for that tree that they seemed to be so fascinated by in last Sunday’s picture. (opensfhistory.org)

 

Now we’ve reached what used to be the 100 block of Commercial Street. The Embarcadero Freeway is in the background of the vintage picture from Nancy Olmsted’s book ‘Ferry Building: Witness to a Century of Change’.

  

This is where Commercial Street emptied into the Embarcadero before the Embarcadero Center was build. The vintage picture is from the Charles Cushman Archives.

The summer’s approaching, and that means family visitors from out of state. They wanted to see as much of San Francisco as they could in three and a half days, so I took the tour guide job and enjoyed every minute of it. San Francisco is always a little lonelier to me for awhile after they leave. (thumbnail images)

  

On the first day, after boba tea in Chinatown and a cable car ride up Nob Hill, I took them to the top of the Mark at the Mark Hopkins Hotel. The view is a lot different from there now than from the old postcard from ebayimage.com.

  

After hearing the story of how it got its name, the kids wanted to pose in “Weepers Corner” on the northwest side of the top of the Mark.

  

The Point Bonita Lighthouse in Marin County, north of the Golden Gate Bridge: I can’t take credit for this location idea, I had never been there before, but my visitors wanted to see it. (lighthousefriends.com)

  

The Urbano Sundial: “Made it Ma, top of the world!” (Ingleside Terraces Homes Archives)

 

The obligatory visit to Ocean Beach, and perfect weather for it: (opensfhistory.org)

  

A boat ride out to Treasure Island for a late lunch at the Mersea Restaurant and Bar: (opensfhistory.org)

  

But for me, the highlight of the visit was last Saturday. They put together a gathering on board the Jeremiah O’Brien Liberty Ship to commemorate the 80^th anniversary of the D-Day, Normandy, Invasion, and the kids got to come on board. There were commemorations, period clothes, and a Rosie the Riveter contest, among the honors. I wore the uniform my father wore when he served on the USS Wichita Cruiser during World War ll, and I got to chat with Carl Nolte, on my right, who writes the ‘Native Son’ column for the San Francisco Chronicle. Mr. Nolte traveled with the Jeremiah O’Brien thirty years ago when she sailed back to Normandy for the 50^th anniversary of D-Day chronicling the journey with daily updates for the picture. It wasn’t the first time the Jeremiah O’Brien visited Normandy, she was there for the original invasion on June 6^th 1944. The picture from shopify.com is of the Jeremiah O’Brien sailing through the Thames Bridge in London for the 1994 anniversary. My brother, Kevin, on my left, is one of the O’Brien’s crew members who helped put the commemoration together, and we were his guests.