‘It was the Rialto of the desperate, Street of the Adventurers.’

That’s how the San Francisco Sun newspaper described Kearny Street three days after the 1906 Earthquake in an article called ‘The City That Was’. {Kearney Street, a wilder and stranger Bowery} or {In a half an hour of Kearney Street I could raise a a dozen men for any wild adventure, from pulling down a statue to searching for the Cocos Island Treasure} are some of the passages from the article describing Kearny Street; interestingly spelled Kearney by the long ago author. It’s not as colorful as it used to be, but you can find as many vintage pictures of Kearny Street as you can of Market Street, California Street, or the Embarcadero. I took a picture taking walk along some of Kearny Street over the Mother’s Day weekend. (Thumbnail images)

 

Kearny  Street at Broadway: The caption says 1905. (UC Berkeley Library Archives)

  

Kearny at Columbus during the 1930s: The building on the left in the vintage picture where the Pyramid Building is now was the beloved Montgomery Block Building, the hangout of writers and artists. The Sentinel Building is in the center of both pictures. (San Francisco Main Library Archives)

 

The next two sets are related. These first two are a then and now I did some years back of a picture I found in a 1949 magazine showing three children on the northwest corner of Kearny at Broadway.

   

This photo I found in the San Francisco Main Library Archives last week while researching for vintage Kearny Street pictures. I looked at it closer and wondered if they were the same kids as in the previous magazine picture. Yup, they sure are! The picture was taken at the same spot from the opposite direction.

An off-Broadway nightclub at Kearny Street and Nottingham during the 1960s: Kearny and Market Streets from 3rd Street in 1938: (San Francisco Main Library Archives)

 

The Hastings Department Store on the northwest corner of Kearny and Post Streets in 1938: (UC Berkeley Library Archives)

  

Looking back past Hastings toward Post Street in 1938: You can see the Call Building, now called Central Tower, at the far left of both photos. (UC Berkeley Library Archives)

  

The old and new Palace Hotel, looking past Lotta’s Fountain at Kearny and Market Streets: (UC Berkeley Library Archives)

 

Market Street at 3^rd looking towards Kearny in 1938 and a quiet Mother’s Day, 2025: You can see the then extended and in a different spot, Lotta’s Fountain, behind the old streetcar.

“Now, I’m standing on the corner of Third and Market. I’m looking around. I’m figuring it out. There it is, right in front of me. The whole city. The whole world. People going by. They’re going somewhere. I don’t know where, but they’re going. I ain’t going anywhere.” – From ‘The Time of Your Life’ by William Saroyan. (San Francisco Main Library Archives)