Well……. if you don’t like stunning, never before available views of the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges, Fisherman’s Wharf, Pier 39, the Embarcadero, Telegraph, Nob and Russian Hills, Aquatic Park, Alcatraz and the Bay, then you probably won’t like the SkyStar Ferris Wheel at Fisherman’s Wharf. The weekend after Labor Day, I finally took a ride on the attraction since it was moved from Golden Gate Park to Fisherman’s Wharf. After I landed safely, which one does because it’s not dangerous and it’s not necessarily scary, I searched the internet and my archives for vintage photos that were taken approximately, sort of, looking toward the same direction as the photos I took. (Thumbnail images)
Heading up to the top, looking east toward Treasure Island and the Bay Bridge:
The view of Fisherman’s Wharf from hundreds of feet lower than an old postcard taken during the 1960s:
You have two similar views here that match my picture closer; one from the postcard on top, and also a scene from the opening credits of every episode of the 1970s television show ‘The Streets of San Francisco’.
Looking toward Telegraph Hill and Downtown San Francisco: The older photo from Flickr looks like it’s from the 1980s:
Looking over Pier 39 toward Pier 35 and the World War Two Liberty Ship, the Jeremiah O’Brien: The old Pier 39 is at the bottom of the vintage picture from opensfhistory.org, taken in 1923: Pier 37, between Piers 35 and 39, has been demolished.
I didn’t get too bad of a lineup of Nob and Russian Hills with this 1960s photo from opensfhistory.org.
Looking toward Russian Hill: My photo is looking over the intersection of Mason and Jefferson Streets. I’m not sure where the crossroads are in the 1930s picture from the UC Berkeley Library of Russian Hill from Fisherman’s Wharf, but I think they’re a block southwest at Beach and Taylor Streets.
There’s also a terrific view of Alcatraz Island and the Bay, looking north. When the 1946 picture from opensfhistory.org was taken, there were still quite a few “bad boys” in that penitentiary building.
Looking toward Pier 45 and the Golden Gate Bridge in another old postcard from the 1960s:
Gliding down past the old Pier 43 Archway: This picture from the San Francisco Library Archives is as close to a match up that I could get. I’m going to have to research to see what that other pier arch on the left was. It would have been about where the pier that you catch the Red and White Fleet tour boats is located.
Walking back to catch the MUNI streetcar, I snapped a picture of the Fisherman’s Wharf Boat Lagoon. The 1939 picture is from the UC Berkeley Library Archives. The building on the right in the vintage picture was demolished. The little chapel, on the right in my photo, is there now.
San Francisco Film Locations Then & Now 
All but the last was taken from that scary contraption?! The second to last seems to be not so high up. San Francisco is such a big place. It is not easy to identify the angles of these pictures, except for the last, from where they were taken. I suppose that the piers are either in one direction or the other. I have no idea where Russian Hill and Nob Hill are relative to the location, although I suppose that I can guess that they are precisely where they seem to be in your pictures. Gee, and this is just a small portion of San Francisco.
The SkyStar Wheel is 150 feet high, Tony, so my pictures were take as the ride ascends and descends while it rotating. The vintage pictures I located after I took my pictures, so their not a perfect line up, but they’re generally facing close to the same direction as my photos. I only used them for an approximate comparison.
Oh, I do not expect them to line up like they usually do. I just can not identify the location as easily as I sometimes can. Of course, I am not very familiar with San Francisco.