Month: October 2026

And why not? As one of the five cable car terminuses and three blocks away from Fisherman’s Wharf, it’s a great spot to include in your San Francisco adventure. There was also a few relatively unknown movie scenes filmed here. (Thumbnail images)

   

Looking north along Taylor Street past the intersection, circa 1940: The cable car turnaround was right in the middle of the intersection then. Sharp eyes will spot Pier 45 in the far background of both photos. (opensfhistory.org)

I first learned about the cable car turnaround being right of the middle of the intersection when watching Buster Keaton’s 1922 film ‘Day Dreams’, or ‘Daydreams’. While being chased by the police from Minna Street to North Beach, Keaton jumps on a cable car on Columbus Avenue, and thinks he’s lost the police. While he’s relaxing he doesn’t notice that the turnaround at Bay and Taylor is turning around and sending him right back to where to police are. The view from the movie scene is looking east along Bay. A school bus has replaced the old Tin Lizzie on the left.

   

In 1941 the turnaround was moved from the middle of the intersection. Its current location is about twenty five feet south on Taylor. The vintage picture is looking north from Francisco Street. (opensfhistory.org)

  

Grip men turning a car around in 1953: The view is looking toward the northwest corner of the intersection. (opensfhistory.org)

  

Looking south in 1955 from the northwest corner in the previous picture; I was happy with the way this one turned out because I wasn’t sure that I was going to be able to get a good line up. (opensfhistory.org)

  

This might have been a good match up with the circa 1960 photo, except that I’m looking west from the east side of Taylor Street, and the photographer in the vintage picture was looking east from the west side. Also, passengers are not allowed to board the cable cars while they’re on any of the three turntables anymore. (opensfhistory.org)

  

Looking south across the Bay and Taylor Streets intersection toward Nob Hill in 1963: (opensfhistory.org)

  

Jack Lemmon races his Thunderbird south past a turning cable car during the wild car ride scene from the 1964 comedy film ‘Good Neighbor Sam”. There are a number of reasons why this scene could not be filmed today, but mainly because of the metal queue line up rail that surrounds three sides of the turntable. The Shell Gas Station on the left is gone now, but the 76 Service Station on the right is still there. In fact, I was able to get air into a flat tire on my ebike from there long enough to get back to the BART Station in 2021.

  

Looking toward the northeast corner of the intersection in 1973. The sign from the 76 Station mentioned in the last photo set is visible past the rear entrance of the cable cars in both pictures. That fellow with the long hair on the left is seen in different locations in a number of the opensfhistory.org pictures taken at this time, and I think he was a grip man! No, not grip lady. After taking my pictures yesterday, I took a lonely walk around the block missing Cost Plus Imports.

 

 

Lately, there has been a rash of fake Facebook pages posting AI generated then and now images and moving films that are ridiculously inaccurate to the point of being stupid. In addition to this, they have lifted pictures from websites, including mine, and posted them on their junk pages, watermarked with their logo suggesting that they have either created the images or own them. This isn’t just stupid, it’s nefarious. The people who create these fake pages are not historians, photographers or artists, they’re just culprits trying to inflate their popularity on Facebook for ulterior motives. However, now and then you do find a Facebook page posting interesting vintage San Francisco photos with accurate descriptions. They don’t always name the source of the pictures, but I’m guilty of that sometimes too. ‘San Francisco City Guides – Free Walking Tours’ is one of those pages. This group is just trying to promote their business in an honest way, and I wish them luck. I took a walk along Market Street yesterday taking a few updated comparison pictures of some of the old photos they’ve posted on their page. I’ll leave the history notes short because City Guides has covered most of that on their posts. (Thumbnail images)

  

Market Street at Spear in the 1940s: The Southern Pacific Building is on the right, the Ferry Building in the center, and the Terminal Hotel on the left. I wonder if the Terminal Hotel’s slogan was, “When you stay with us, you’ll never want to leave.”

 

The Embarcadero Freeway going up: I wasn’t there to see that, but I saw it coming down.

  

Lotta’s Fountain, shortly after the 1906 Earthquake and Fire: The original Palace Hotel had burned down, and is not in the background of the vintage picture. The hotel was rebuilt in 1909.

  

The green Pacific Building at Market Street and Fourth Street: Since the COVID 19 Pandemic this has become one of the most popular intersections in San Francisco.

   

The entrance to the Emporium Department Store: In 2006 Bloomingdale’s took over the department store, and you can still make out their sign above the entrance. The entire complex is closed now.

  

The old Hibernia Bank Building, where McAllister and Jones Streets come into Market Street. Built in 1892, the Hibernia Building came through the 1906 Earthquake and Fire with relatively slight damage.

 

 

The title is in reference to the pictures I took because they’re about as close to the locations of the vintage pictures as I could match. These are now and thens rather than then and nows because I took the pictures first, and then looked for vintage pictures afterwards that would come close to the locations of my photos. It’s kind of a private scavenger hunt I like to do sometimes, and it wouldn’t be possible to find reasonable facsimiles to match my pictures without opensfhistory.org. Last Sunday, about the only place in the Bay Area to get some relief from the warm weather was San Francisco, so I took another visit to Chinatown to take some pictures with my cellphone, and tried to match them up with vintage pictures when I got back to the office. (Thumbnail images)

  

I got off the Metro Central Subway at Washington Street, and turned into Ross Alley, seen in 1910 in the vintage picture.

  

Coming out of Ross Alley at Jackson Street, I took a picture looking east toward the Bay Bridge, barely visible in the 1960 photo.

  

I headed down Jackson Street, turned left at Grant Ave, and walked down to Broadway, passing the old Mandarin Theater Building, seen from the opposite side in 1934.

  

When you get to Broadway you’re leaving Chinatown, so I turned around and headed back south. I took a picture looking south at Grant Avenue and Jackson Street, and found a picture at the same intersection, but taken from the opposite side of Grant Avenue  in 1960.

    

I cut back through Ross Alley, heading south this time. This might have been a perfect match up to the vintage picture taken inside Ross Alley, except that I was looking south and the photographer in 1890 was looking north.

  

I exited Ross Alley at Washington Street, and moved uphill a few yards to Old Chinatown Lane, seen in another picture from 1960.

   

Doubling back down to Grant Avenue, I proceeded south, and took one last photo looking east down California Street from Grant. There are many pictures at this intersection from opensfhistoey.org, but this vintage picture, taken after the 1906 Earthquake and Fire in 1906, was the closest to where I was standing.

 

 

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)