I took a few drives around San Francisco this Mother’s Day weekend enjoying the perfect spring weather. I was thinking about how lucky I am; I can’t anymore, but for at least a half of a century I got to wish my mom a Happy Mother’s Day. As I drove around checking out some new sites, I also stopped at a few places my mom visited long ago.
I visited Corona Heights for the first time ever: I can’t believe that all these years I’ve never been up there!
The views of San Francisco from the top are as stunning today as they were in the 1960’s. (Michael Bry)
Also on Corona Heights is the Randall Museum of Science, Nature and the Arts and its many wildlife exhibits. But seriously, this is a very interesting museum well worth visiting.
Drove over to the Fillmore Street Hill at Vallejo: How did people drive their cars up here before automatic transmissions were invented? (Curbed San Francisco)
Back to familiar ground: My mom got to San Francisco long before I did, and as a pre-World War Two teenager from Grand Forks, North Dakota, one of the first places she wanted to visit was the Cliff House. The vintage image is from the 1950’s. (virginiapicks)
Before they closed it off, I had a chance to locate the spot where my mom, on the left with her cousin Frances, was sitting on the old stone W.P.A entrance to Fleishhacker Zoo.
They’ve fenced the old entrance off now, either to keep people from sneaking into the zoo, or animals from sneaking out.
Some, someday moms at the old Fleishhacker Pool: The girls in the picture from the Shorpy Archives are posing in 1927, two years after the pool opened. I’m standing on top of the pool in the current picture; the pool was filled in and is buried under the San Francisco Zoo parking lot. That’s the entrance to the old pool house on the left in the modern picture, the only thing remaining of Fleishhacker Pool.
That’s my 17 year old mom on the left swimming in Fleishhacker Pool on her first visit to San Francisco. If she looks miserable it’s probably because the water in the pool was rumored to always be cold!
Jackson Street is the northernmost extent of the Powell Street cable car line. From here the cars turn west to go to Mason or Hyde Streets. The vintage picture is the turn in 1914. (SFMTA archives)
From Jackson Street it’s a gradual and relatively easy walk up hill to California Street. From here Powell St. drops down Nob Hill to Market Street. This picture from the early 1960s shows the north view that the tall Sir Francis Drake Hotel in the center used to have. (Vintage Everyday)
This great view from the 1920s shows Powell Street as it drops toward Pine Street before the Sir Francis Drake and the Hilton Hotel, in the center of the modern picture, were built. (SFMTA archives)
As we move closer to Pine Street in the early 70s you can see the construction in progress of the building that would forever block the north view that the Sir Francis Drake Hotel with its legendary Starlight Room on top had. (Lindsaybridge)
I’m past the Sir Francis Drake Hotel now and heading toward Post Street and the St. Francis Hotel. (Vintage Everyday)
Cable cars were easier to catch in 1917 on Powell Street looking north toward Ellis than they are today. Now they rack them up all the way back from Market Street for the riders. (SFMTA archives)
I finished my walk at the Powell Street turntable at Market Street; it looks like a World War Two era picture in the vintage photo. That was a nice spring walk! I felt like turning around and heading back, but Powell Street is a lot more of a climb from this direction. Spring makes me lazy and I wasn’t in the mood for that much exercise.
In 1957 Doubleday and Company published Herb Caen’s guide to San Francisco, aptly titled ‘Herb Caen’s San Francisco’. Very imaginative! It’s deliciously outdated and fun to read with entries like “STEINHART AQUARIUM, open 10 A.M. to 5 P.M. daily, no admission charge. Easily the most popular attraction in the park, the aquarium draws as many as ten thousand visitors a day, all walking around openmouthed in the semidarkness to stare at the openmouthed fish.” John Steinbeck once wrote, “It is very probable that Herb’s city is the one that will be remembered.” However, what interests me most about the book is the map on the inside of the front cover and first page. There is no explanation in the book as to why the route was laid out. In some areas it’s similar to the famous 49 Mile Scenic Drive, although shorter. Oddly, it bypasses some of San Francisco most visited tourist attractions, such as the Golden Gate Bridge, the Cliff House, Twin Peaks, Mission Dolores, and Union Square. The trail starts on Mason Street and ends on Mason Street. I followed the mysterious route over last weekend doing then and nows of photos along the way from OpenSFHistory.org. The OpenSFHistory.org site has one of the best, if not THE best, collection of vintage San Francisco pictures to be found. So let’s get our exercise and follow along on Herb Caen’s 1957 map from Mason Street to Mason Street.
We’re off! We’ll start on the west side of the Mark Hopkins Hotel with these two dapper gentlemen from 1958.
The trail heads down California Street turning north onto Grant Avenue. We’re in 1943 now with these ladies and next to Old St Mary’s Church.
We move past Commercial Street in the 1930’s. Commercial is one of two streets that leads straight to the Ferry Building, the other being Market Street; although, Commercial Street is cut off from reaching the Ferry Building now by the Embarcadero Center.
The route leaves Chinatown and heads northwest along Columbus Avenue. We’ve come forward a little in time to 1971 here at Columbus and Union Street. The 39 Bus is crossing Columbus Ave along Union and heading up to Coit Tower. The 39 line still passes by here and I wanted to get a picture of a coach going by in my photo, but the street is closed off now due to a massive fire that destroyed the building on the southwest corner of the intersection several weeks ago.
This is what’s left of the building now.
Like the 49 Mile Drive, the route heads up Lombard to Coit Tower, seen here in 1962 where Greenwich Street that runs next to Lombard ends. Hey, it’s going to be a long trip, so, I didn’t feel like going all the way to the top, okay?
The trail passes by the Fisherman’s Wharf boat lagoon on Jefferson Street, seen here in 1936. Oh, swell, it’s Mrs. Danvers! (cf. ‘Rebecca’) “Now, sit right back and you’ll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip” Don’t worry, that’s the ‘Lovely Martha’ not the ‘Minnow’. I’ve been out in the Bay on that boat. The building with CONSOLIDATED on it was demolished and was to the right of the little brown chapel in the background.
After leaving Fisherman’s Wharf the map moves over to Bay Street and takes a strange diversion from the 49 Mile Drive and runs south along almost the entire length of Van Ness Avenue to Fell Street. We’re watching President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s motorcade, here on Van Ness near Bay Street, pass by in 1938. Fort Mason is in the background.
At the other end of Van Ness, we’ll turn onto Fell Street. This is Van Ness at Fell after the 1906 Earthquake and Fire. The crumpled City Hall Building is in the background.
We’re heading west on Fell Street, the street that many people take to get to Golden Gate Park. The 49 Mile Drive does not move along any portion of Fell Street. This view is looking east down Fell from Fillmore Street in 1939.
The trail enters Golden Gate Park where we’ll stop and rest at McLaren Lodge like they did here in 1905. Superintendent John McLaren, the mastermind behind Golden Gate Park, lived here for forty seven years.
The route crosses through the park and exits near where Playland-at-the-Beach used to be, and was when the map was drawn. If we were in 1941 at Fulton Street and La Playa, like the vintage photo, we’d be looking at a terrific roller-coaster instead of these condominiums here today.
Now we’re back neck to neck with the 49 Mile Drive in a race south down the Great Highway. We’ll stop here at Ocean Beach near Kirkham in 1916 to look at the sad wreck of the Aberdeen on the beach. High winds caused the ship to capsize and wash ashore here taking all eight of her crew down with her.
Let’s move down the Great Highway to Taraval Street and look back up north three years later in 1919.
We’ll turn east on Sloat Blvd. and stop for awhile as they move an old train into Fleishhacker Zoo, now the San Francisco Zoo, at the old stone Works Progress Administration entrance in 1957. Hmmm, I’m suddenly hungry for a Doggie Diner hamburger.
Now, we’ll move on to Portola Drive and bypass Twin Peaks like Herb Caen’s map did. Hey, I love the view up there but there’s no parking! The old photo is Portola Drive at Twin Peaks Blvd. in 1929. You can see part of the old road that headed up to the top of Twin Peaks on the left.
Sneaking past Twin Peaks and dropping down a few notches will put us on Market Street heading toward Downtown San Francisco. Here we are at Market Street and Duboce Avenue in 1945 near the new, old U.S. Mint. We’re looking back toward Twin Peaks.
We’ve moved to the beginning of Market Street, or, if you were heading in our direction, the end of Market Street. It’s probably a sin for any respectable tour route to leave the Ferry Building out and this 1957 one doesn’t. We’re back in 1962 again, and this is where California Street meets Market. You can see the cable car tracks in the old picture, but not much activity.
We’re in the home stretch now and heading along Pacific Avenue, the heart of the old Barbary Coast. This is the old Engine #1 Fire Station Building seen here in 1917 and still there today.
Well, we’re back on Mason Street at Pacific Avenue in 1960 and looking up Nob Hill to where we started from. I don’t know about you, but I’m tired! I’m not walking up that hill! I’ll take the cable car.
On the western side of Castro Valley Blvd. is the McDonald’s, opened in the 1960’s and still there today, although, the original “Golden Arches” are long gone.
What you’re looking at here was about all there was to Castro Valley Blvd. in the 1930’s; the section between Lake Chabot Road and Stanton Avenue. Some of the buildings in the old photo are still there.
Opened in 1949, the Chabot Theater is still drawing them in today. Watching a film here is like stepping back in time. I sat through a lot of double features here as a kid, when such a novelty existed.
Across the street from Chabot Theater was one of our hangouts in the 70’s, Jenna’s Pizzeria. They had a room with pool tables and a small bar in back of the dining room, and a pretty girl named Sue who made sure your beer pitcher was never empty.
The southeast corner of Castro Valley Blvd. and San Miguel: No, this isn’t a scene from ‘That 70’s Show’.
Directly kitty-corner from the previous picture on the northwest corner of the intersection is this view of a 1976 Bicentennial celebration. On the far left was Winchell’s Donuts, THE place for coffee and donuts in Castro Valley for many years.
Another sad memory when walking along the Blvd. today is the old Daughtrey’s Department Store; closed in the early 1990’s. Across the street at center is the Castro Village, opened in 1948 and a world in itself.
And, of course, Castro Village; designed with the look of an Alpine village, which new developers are sadly getting rid of as much as they can. The toy shop, variety store, and ice cream parlor were “the stuff that dreams are made of” when we were kids. This view is the corner of the Village at Santa Maria and Castro Valley Blvd in the 1970’s and today.
Ah, the old Red Barn Restaurant, our hangout when I was a junior in high school. We usually never had enough money for more than a a coke and a bag of French fries, but we’d sit there for hours and nobody working there minded. It’s now called Norman’s Restaurant.
We’ll end up on the eastern side of the Boulevard and another wonderful memory for me. This building opened up as Value World. They had everything there; a sporting goods section, a snack bar, a grocery store, anything you could want! I remember spending nearly an entire day in the 8th grade walking around Value World with a girl that I had a crush on named Cindy. I’m sure I spent all of my money on her, but I probably didn’t have more than a dollar anyway! It’s now a Rite Aid, and I still think about that day and Cindy every time I go in there.
We’ll start at the Bay Bridge and end up on Twin Peaks. This slide is from 1983. AT&T Park and the San Francisco Giants turned this run down area into one of the most popular places in the City. In fact, people were already heading out to park this morning to watch the Giants play the Los Angeles Dodgers when I took the contemporary picture. The Giants won 4 to 2!
I’m not positive where I took this 1983 picture of the South of Market area, but it was probably on Spear Street between Harrison and Folsom. The pile drivers have long since conquered this area so I had to move down to Folsom to get a reasonable comparison. The white building in the center of the vintage picture is on the corner of Fremont and Mission Streets. This building is to the right of the enormous Sales Force Building in the center of today’s shot and blocked by other buildings now. That’s the Fmbarcadero Freeway stretching across my 1983 picture.
Market Street at New Montgomery with the Palace Hotel on the right: I think I took this one in 1985. The tall Building in the background of both pictures is the old Pacific Bell Building, for many years the tallest building south of Market street.
This is at Bush Street above the Stockton Tunnel looking down toward the Financial District in 1985. The tall building in the center is the Russ Building on Montgomery Street. Just a few yards behind where we’re looking is Burritt Alley where Brigid O’Shaughnessy shot Sam Spade’s partner Miles Archer in ‘The Maltese Falcon’.
This is a zoom in shot up Mason Street and Nob Hill near Ellis in 1985. This used to be a pretty bawdy section of town; I’m surprised I didn’t take more pictures in this area back then! My digital camera doesn’t zoom is as well as my trusty 1980’s Canon Camera did, (I still have it) but I gave it a try. That’s the parking garage on the corner of Mason and O’Farrell on the left.
Market Street west of 10th in 1985: The old Seals Stadium sign on the streetcar gives the vintage picture a nice touch. Gawd, I’m referring to the 80’s as vintage! This was around the time they started running old streetcars along Market Street.
This 1985 slide that I took from Twin Peaks matched up pretty good with a 1960’s picture taken by Michael Bry.
These scenes are from the epilog of the last episode of ‘The Streets of San Francisco’ that Michael Douglas costarred in. In the fifth and final season, Douglas was becoming very successful in Hollywood and decided to leave the series. In a two part episode that opened the season and featured many guest stars including Patty Duke, Inspector Steve Keller (Michael Douglas) decides to retired from the police force after being grievously wounded, (for about the 20th time) to become a teacher. Michael Stone, (Karl Maldin) pulls up at Broadway and Taylor Street to let Keller out where he lives. This is a different address than his Telegraph Hill address shown in all of the previous episodes. Also in the car is his replacement Inspector Dan Robbins played by Robert Hatch.
This scene is looking down Broadway from Taylor Street toward the east entrance to the Broadway Tunnel.
Stone and Keller say their goodbyes. I was getting kind of sad watching this part!
And so Keller wanders off into the sunset, except that he’s heading east. The show was not popular after Douglas left and folded at the end of the season. That’s a Mason Street Line cable car passing by down the street in the three images.
We’ll start on the southwest corner of Mission at 1st Streets. Across from where I’m standing a Walgreen’s Drug Store now occupies the spot in the building where a Foster’s Restaurant once was located.
A short ride on the #1 Muni Line from the previous picture will take you up Sacramento Street to Joice Alley between Powell and Stockton streets in Chinatown. Cable cars don’t climb Nob Hill up Sacramento Street anymore like in the vintage picture from the early 1900’s, but Muni # 1 does, and is about the easiest way to get up Nob Hill.
Half a block up Sacramento from Joice and two blocks left down Powell and you’re at the intersection of Powell and Pine Streets where this picture from the 1950’s was taken. It’s a lot easier walking DOWN Nob Hill! (Americathebeautiful.com)
Powell Street heading south down Nob Hill flattens out at Sutter Street where this 1951 picture looking west along Sutter from Powell was taken. The Hotel Cartwright is still there. (SF Chronicle, SF Gate)
If Bonnie and Clyde would have reached retirement age: (They were jaywalking) This picture is looking west along Mission Street toward 5th Street. The building with the clock in the background is the San Francisco Chronicle Building on the southwest corner of Mission and 5th Streets. (SF Chronicle, SF Gate)
A block and a half back to Powell and you can catch a cable car for a late afternoon lunch at Fisherman’s Wharf, although I took this picture in March. The cable car line at Powell and Market Streets wasn’t long at all on this “helluva” nice spring day today!
Well, the 2018 tax season ends today. I’m thinking of dying my hair to cover up the additional gray that developed since January. The computer system of the Internal Revenue Service Department crashed yesterday, so the tax season was extended to today, April 18th, the one hundred and twelfth anniversary of the 1906 Earthquake and Fire in San Francisco. There’s probably significance here, the IRS shakes up a lot of people too. Now I can get back to doing something that’s more fun than telling people, “I’m sorry, you’re not going to get a refund this year!” and that’s blogging. In honor of the occasion, I headed over to Market Street to do a couple of 1906 Earthquake pictures.
This photo is at Market and Battery Streets looking west. The damaged Call Building and the destroyed Palace Hotel are at the left center. You can still see the rebuilt Palace Hotel and the remodeled Call Building, now called the Central Tower, from here today. (Vintage photo, SF Chronicle)
This is looking east on Market Street near 5th. The Flood Building at Powell and Market Streets is at left center. The Call Building on the right, prominent in the vintage photo, is behind the domed Humboldt Building built after the earthquake. The Ferry Building, seen in the old picture, is blocked out by the white freight truck in my photo. (SF Chronicle)
Recently, I unrolled an old poster that I’ve kept in various closets since Gerald Ford was President. I remember when I bought it long ago I was impressed by the novelty of how all of the buildings in the Downtown San Francisco area had been drawn into it. If you can zoom in on it close there’s a lot of interesting things to see on the difference between San Francisco today and in 1974. At the lower right near the Ferry Building is the Vaillancourt Fountain in Justin Herman Plaza. Notice that only two buildings of the Embarcadero Center had been built then. The Embarcadero Freeway can be seen. Moving along Market Street from the Ferry Building so many new buildings have gone up in Downtown San Francisco since then. The Bank of America Building and the Transamerica Pyramid, the two tallest buildings back then, can be seen. Union Square was mostly covered by grass. The old Belt Line railroad still ran along the Embarcadero to Fisherman’s Wharf. Major tourist attractions like Coit Tower and Lombard Street are easily found, and to the right of Fisherman’s Wharf Pier 43 with the Balclutha docked to it was still there. Pier 39 had not been turned into a tourist attraction yet.
Turk, Mason and Market Streets after the 1906 Earthquake and Fire:
Sutter Street between Powell and Stockton Streets in the early 1950’s:
Grant Avenue at California Street during World War Two with Old St. Mary’s Church on the right:
Downtown San Francisco during the 1906 Earthquake and Fire:
It always amazes me that Charlie Chaplin stumbled down these exact steps on Alice Street in Oakland one hundred and three years ago in his movie short ‘A Night Out’ from 1915.
California and Powell Streets during the 1950’s:
Grant Avenue at Filbert Street in the 1952 movie ‘The Sniper’:
Humphrey Bogart on Hyde Street at Greenwich in the 1947 film ‘Dark Passage’:
The Cliff House from Sutro Heights in 1949: Actually, you can barely see the famous restaurant from here anymore because of the overgrown trees.
Powell Street at O’Farrell Street during the 1950’s:
San Francisco Film Locations Then & Now 