Month: June 2026

Are you down for a long walk? Well, I sure am NOT! I did these photo sets on two different days, and some of them I lifted from posts I did in the past. Jones Street is an interesting choice; if you’re heading south, it starts out at Fisherman’s Wharf, climbs Russian Hill, levels out a bit at Vallejo Street before climbing Nob Hill, and drops down into the Tenderloin. Heading north, Jones Street escapes the Tenderloin, goes back up Nob Hill, (Jones Street from Pine to California is not a good option on foot, heading north) levels out again at Sacramento Street, then takes an up and down roller coaster ride before sliding back down Russian Hill to Fisherman’s Wharf. Either way, you’re going to do a lot of hill climbing if you’re hiking, but you’re also going to see some spectacular views. As in previous posts, you can follow the Jones Street journey from Market Street to Jefferson Street by the red numbers I placed at the picture locations on my trusty old map that I bought around the same time as I started this blog. (Thumbnail images)

  

#1: The old Jones Street cable car terminal, the ‘Hyde Street Grip’ at Jones and Market Streets: Hmm, must have been the ‘The Red House’ playing at the United Artist Theater on Market Street. (UC Berkeley Library Archives)

  

#2: Jones and Eddy Streets in 1962, looking toward the Tenderloin Police Station. (Vintage San Francisco Library photo from the Huffingtonpost.com)

   

#3: Jones Street at O’Farrell in 1955, looking northwest: Those are the cable car tracks of the line that ran between Market Street and Hyde Street at Beach. (San Francisco Digital Library Archives)

 

#4: Another look at the Jones and Hyde Street Cable Car Line at Jones and Post Streets around 1950: (opensfhistory.org)

 

#5: Jones Street, between California and Pine Streets in 1923: This is one of the steepest and scariest streets to drive down in San Francisco, and if you fall while walking south here, you’ll probably roll down to the Tenderloin. (Shorpy Archives)

  

#6: Traffic goes the other way today than it did on a cobblestone Jones Street in 1923, and you don’t want to stand out here in the street too long taking a picture, because when cars begin the drop behind you, they can’t see you at first. (UC Berkeley Library Archives)

  

#7: A car fire on Jones Street at California in 1936: That’s an unfinished Grace Cathedral in the background. (UC Berkeley Library Archives)

  

#8: Clay Street, looking east from Jones Street in 1875: (opensfhistory.org)

   

#9: Jones Street looking toward Pacific Avenue and the valley between Nob and Russian Hills in 1952. (The Charles Cushman Collection)

  

#10: Looking north down Jones Street past Union Street in a slide picture that I took in 1983 and updated in 2021:

  

#11: Mysterious Judy Barton (Kim Novak) thanks “Scottie Ferguson” (James Stewart) for pulling her out of San Francisco Bay in a poster scene from the 1958 movie ‘Vertigo’. The scene was in front of Scottie’s house on the northwest corner of Lombard and Jones Streets. (ebay.com)

  

#12: Jones Street at Jefferson, around 1950: Last October, it was announced that Castagnola’s Restaurant, one of the oldest in Fisherman’s Wharf, was going to be reopening. Now there’s news from AI saying that the restaurant will be demolished for the new promenade being planned for the Fisherman’s Wharf Lagoon. All I know is that it was still boarded up today when I went to take my picture. If you look to the far right in my photo, you can see the empty gap where Alioto’s Restaurant was, and that still depresses me! This is where I catch an F Line Streetcar back to Market Street. Yeah, right, like I’m going to walk back! (opensfhistory.org)

Finishing up a triple play of old movie theaters in the Richmond District that started with the Clay Theater, then the Four Star Theater, and finishing with the Vogue Theater. This movie house originally opened in 1910 as the Elite Theater, on information from Cinema Treasures. (Thumbnail images)

  

The Vogue Theater in 1941, and I hope that Elena says yes! (San Francisco Library Digital Archives)

  

Another cool picture from opensfhistory.org of a streetcar passing the Vogue Theater in 1942:

  

Another view from west of Presidio in May of 1946: Wow, KYA Radio! (opensfhistory.org)

 

A streetcar passing the theater in 1948: I had a difficult time getting a perfect line up on this one while standing in the intersection but, it turned out okay. I enjoy it when all of the old buildings in a post are still around. (San Francisco Library Digital Archives)

  

Looking back toward the Vogue on Sacramento Street from west of Presidio Avenue, during the 1990s: I was off on my match up here, as well, but it wasn’t all my fault; moving farther over, the bus waiting there would have blocked more of my view of the Vogue. (opensfhistory.org)

“I went down to the demonstration, to get my fair share of abuse.”

It never hurts to throw a Rolling Stones song in, now and then. These are some then and nows concerning the touting of various viewpoints around San Francisco. Some of them I’m all for, some of them I’m not clear on, some of them are historic now, and some of them are issues of color, like blondes, brunettes or redheads? Most of the vintage pictures are from the San Francisco Library Digital Archives. (Thumbnail images)

  

Citizens from the Chinese community in San Francisco demonstrated in front of Pier 45 at Fisherman’s Wharf, in a picture from museumca.org in 1937: They were calling on the United States Government to stop importing products to Japan, after Japan’s invasion of China.

  

1940 demonstration against “Bundles for Britain” at the San Francisco Chronicle Building on Mission Street at 5^th. Bundles for Britain was an organization that wanted to send supplies to the people of England during the ‘Battle of Britain’. The majority of the United States wanted to remain neutral in the war at that point.

  

The “Red Scare” on the Embarcadero at Pier 35 in 1951: There were some good movies shot in San Francisco on the subject during this period , like ‘The Woman on Pier 13’, (there never was a Pier 13 in San Francisco) and ‘Walk a Crooked Mile’.

  

A poignant photo in front of the City Hall, taken in 1963, the same year as the 16^th Street Baptist Church bombing in Alabama:

  

A pro marijuana demonstration in Union Square in 1964: His pants aren’t quite as high off the ground as her dress is. (opensfhistory.org)

  

A 1966 demonstration against divorce on Polk Street in front of City Hall: Elizabeth Taylor probably wasn’t with the group.

  

A 1978 demonstration against the “Bakke Decision” on Affirmative Action at Grove Street, on the south side of City Hall: The War Memorial Opera House is in the background.

 

A demonstration in front of the long gone United Artists Movie Theater at 1077 Market Street in 1955, protesting the film ‘Gentlemen Marry Brunettes’; probably all in fun.