I’ve been riding bikes around San Francisco for decades, and the various editions of the ‘San Francisco Bike Map & Walking Guide’ have come in handy for avoiding hills or steep grades; the darker streets showed where the grades were. However, when I got an ebike in 2020 the map became obsolete concerning bike riding for me, but still handy for walking. I found one of my copies of the map, the 2011 edition. I paid $5.99 for it, and I’m sure I got my money’s worth. I took a picture of the northeastern portion of the map and went back to my archives to collect some then and now pictures to post of the area. The locations of my photos are numbered in red, not to be confused with the dark purple numbers on the map that indicate bicycle routes, and the pictures ricochet from Pier 45 at the top to City Hall at the bottom. (Thumbnail images)
#1 The crew at the bridge of the World War ll submarine USS Pampanito: The Pampanito is open for visitors at Pier 45. (Images of America)
#2 Bathing Beauties on the west side of the Maritime Museum at Aquatic Park in 1939: That tall microphone-like thing was there for broadcasting messages. (San Francisco: West Coast Metropolis)
#3 Piers 37 and 35, seen the opening of the 1934 film ‘Fog Over Frisco’ staring Bette Davis Pier 37 is gone but pier 35 remains.
#4 Franklin D. Roosevelt’s motorcade, on Van Ness near Bay Street in 1938: Fort Mason is in the background. (opensfhistory.org)
#5 The Parade of Ships opening Fleet Week in October of 1986: This was a slide picture I took from Chestnut Street on Telegraph Hill.
#6 Another slide picture I took of the Embarcadero, looking south from Levi Plaza in 1983: The old Belt Line railroad tracks were still there then.
#7 The Filbert Street drop near Hyde in the 1940’s, courtesy of Fred Lyon:
#8 We’ll stop and say hi to Carol Doda, here on southeast corner of Broadway and Columbus in 1966. (SF Chronicle)
#9 A big jump over to the Haas-Lilienthal House at California and Franklin Streets: They’ve done a little remodeling since 1887. (SF Heritage)
#10 California Street and Van Ness, looking east during the 1950s. You can’t see Grace Cathedral from here anymore. (Phil Palmer)
#11 Another slide picture of mine at the intersection of Pine and Powell Streets in 1987:
#12 The Chinese New Year Parade, coming up Pine Street near Grant Avenue in 1934: (San Francisco, Portrait of a City)
#13 Where Battery and Bush Streets come into Market Street, in front of the Crown Zellerbach Building in 1962: (San Francisco, Portrait of a City)
#14 Steuart and Mission Streets, looking south past the historic Audiffred Building in a slide picture I took in 1983: You can see the Embarcadero Freeway in the background of the slide.
# 15 The intersection of First and Mission Streets in 1970: (San Francisco Pictures Blog)
#16 Third Street between Mission and Howard Streets, looking toward Market Street in 1952: (opensfhistory.org)
#17 The Bay Bridge Inn on Harrison Street between Fifth and Sixth Streets: I wasn’t sure if the motel in this postcard was still around since I took my comparison picture before the Pandemic, but it still is.
#18 The O’Farrell & Jones cable car line on, seen appropriately at Jones Street at O’Farrell in the Tenderloin, closed in 1954. (Market Street Railway)
#19 Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio leave the McAllister Street side of the City Hall Building after their 1954 wedding. She looked so happy.
#20 The less photographed side of City Hall, seen on Fulton Street, looking past Franklin toward Van Ness Avenue in the 1940s: (flickr.com)
