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-   -   Vintage San Francisco photos (great thread!) (https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=173735)

destroycreate Sep 21, 2009 12:23 PM

Vintage San Francisco photos (great thread!)
 
Hey everybody, well I've just painstakingly gone through about 1,700 images of photographs by famous Americana photographer Charles W. Cushman, through the time period of the late 1940's to late 1960's. I chose what I thought were the best and most relevant pictures.

I'm a bit of a San Franciscophile, always have been, so I actually had fun during the process of putting this thread together, and I hope you guys enjoy as well! He's taken pictures of many different American cities throughout this time period so I really recommend you check out this website (where I've taken the pictures from):

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/cushman/index.jsp

Enjoy!

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P01881.jpg

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P01889.jpg

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P01903.jpg

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P01904.jpg

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P01913.jpg

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P01906.jpg

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P01915.jpg

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P05847.jpg

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P05874.jpg

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P05891.jpg

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P05882.jpg

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P05906.jpg

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P05924.jpg

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P06509.jpg

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P06517.jpg

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P06508.jpg

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P06516.jpg

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P07153.jpg

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P07496.jpg

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P07658.jpg

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P07661.jpg

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P07656.jpg

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P07706.jpg

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P07983.jpg

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P08308.jpg

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P08485.jpg

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P08957.jpg

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P08959.jpg

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P09135.jpg

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P09203.jpg

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P10819.jpg

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P10829.jpg

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P10965.jpg

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P11716.jpg

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P12512.jpg

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P12532.jpg

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P12638.jpg

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P12644.jpg

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P12668.jpg

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P13764.jpg

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P13798.jpg

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P13793.jpg

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P14810.jpg

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P14829.jpg

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P14851.jpg

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P15472.jpg

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P15474.jpg

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P15476.jpg

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P15566.jpg

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P15560.jpg

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P15568.jpg

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P15558.jpg

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P15514.jpg

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P15597.jpg

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P15615.jpg

Sulley Sep 21, 2009 1:32 PM

Incredible. I have been having a craving to make it to SF lately.

OhioGuy Sep 21, 2009 1:51 PM

Wow. Probably one of the more enjoyable photo threads I've ever seen on SSP. The time period of these photos make them all the more interesting. Thanks for taking the time to post this thread!

destroycreate Sep 21, 2009 3:44 PM

By the way, this is LaJollaCA here....it's been a long time, I haven't been able to post on this forum in probably about 4 years (although I've been browsing of course).

I want to emphasize that I'm really sorry for my incredibly immature behavior years ago. I'm so much different now, and I promise I'm here to focus on urban photography and city dicussions, not euro-political debates regarding immigration.

I've really missed being around here, and I'll be posting many more threads like this one :)

Raraavis Sep 21, 2009 4:38 PM

Amazing. San Francisco is one of my favorite cities. I have been there at least a dozen times in the last 15 years. These pictures are familiar but completely foreign at the same time.

To see all of the now ultra-expensive gorgeously renovated houses as old slightly run down housing stock is jarring. I love the early hippie shots, the clothing worn legitimately at that time, but now it is so cliché it is more recognizable as a costume than something someone would legitimately wear. San Francisco is so unique and with such a unique history there is perhaps no city it is more enjoyable to look at these kind of pictures of.

sopas ej Sep 21, 2009 5:25 PM

Great photos! I go to San Francisco like 3 or 4 times a year, often for long weekends.

The photos from the 1950s makes me think of the movie "Vertigo." And the 1960s shots with the 60s cars makes me think of that Zodiac Killer period.

I really like the shots of the run-down, decrepit 1915 Palace of Fine Arts being demolished; you can really see by its construction that it really was meant to be only temporary, but I guess people loved it so much that they demolished it and recreated it in reinforced concrete. I had never before seen pictures of the temporary structure being demolished.

peanut gallery Sep 21, 2009 5:26 PM

Great find! You can see a lot of change just within the time period of these shots, from the older ones at the beginning of the thread to the newer ones toward the end.

BTinSF Sep 21, 2009 5:31 PM

Pictures like this are among the best responses to the "good old days" crowd. Just look at the condition of the houses and other buildings pictured in these photos and compare with today (today they've just about all been renovated and are worth plenty). In the photos even the commercial buildings in Chinatown and elsewhere look like wrecks whereas today they are well-maintained.

And the pics take a little of the nostalgia out of ideas about 60's Haight-Ashbury too.

They even suggest reason for hope for cities that are currently in the condition San Francisco was then--you know the ones (they get regularly trashed here).

sopas ej Sep 21, 2009 5:38 PM

:previous:

Well yeah, people seem to forget that just like most American cities, San Francisco also went through a period of post-war urban decay and urban renewal projects.

The shot of the brand-spanking new Embarcadero Freeway also intrigues me. It was obviously an eyesore but sometimes I'll have nostalgia for "things that aren't there anymore," even the eyesores.

DTLA Sep 21, 2009 10:52 PM

Does anybody know if those deserted buildings were all from one neighborhood, and if so, which one?

BTinSF Sep 22, 2009 12:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DTLA (Post 4467366)
Does anybody know if those deserted buildings were all from one neighborhood, and if so, which one?

There aren't many photos of buildings that actually appear deserted, but of the buildings in severe disrepair I don't think they are in the same hood.

I think this would be Telegraph Hill:

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P01913.jpg

This could be almost anywhere but it looks most to me like maybe Potrero Hill:

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P06509.jpg

From what looks like the Pacific Bell Building in the distance to the left (which is on New Montgomery St in SOMA) , I'm going to guess this is also Potrero Hill:

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P06508.jpg

Could that be Dolores Park to the left? If so, this would be in the Mission on Church St.

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P10819.jpg

I can't see any clues to where this might be:

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P11716.jpg

sopas ej Sep 22, 2009 3:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BTinSF (Post 4467505)
Could that be Dolores Park to the left? If so, this would be in the Mission on Church St.

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P10819.jpg

Actually, to me that looks like the old mansion they used in "Vertigo," on Eddy and Gough, where James Stewart follows Kim Novak as "Madeleine," to discover that she's renting a room there-- or so he thinks. I think the house was torn down not too long after the movie was filmed (1958).

BTinSF Sep 22, 2009 7:25 AM

Eddy & Gough is 2 blocks from my window (on Franklin between Golden Gate and Turk). It sure ain't there now.

CiNYC Nov 8, 2009 8:16 PM

What an awesome find, thanks!

From the website:

South side of Union St. between Montgomery and Calhoun. Telegraph Hill.
http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P01913.jpg

Atop Potrero. Row of houses on east side of De Haro St. the 1000 block between 22nd + 23rd Sts.
http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P06509.jpg

NE corner, 21st & Church.
http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P06508.jpg

Old Fortmann mansion on Gough at Eddy, 1959
http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P10819.jpg

East up O'Farrell from Buchanan (Western Addition, 1960)
http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P11716.jpg

A couple more interesting shots:

Old frame house at SW corner, Franklin + Jackson. Razed in May 1954.
http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P06539.jpg

View from west side of San Bruno Ave. toward blown-up house at 2531
http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P09093.jpg

High house on south shoulder of Telegraph Hill
http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P09202.jpg

Views east by north from O'Farrell between Buchanan and Laguna
http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/coll...ull/P15811.jpg

downtownpdx Dec 11, 2009 4:31 AM

That was a great set of photos -- I want more! They really capture the look and feel of the city through those decades.

jcchii Dec 12, 2009 3:16 AM

fascinating

Coldrsx Dec 13, 2009 5:51 PM

amazing... but can someone tell me why they were tearing down that beautiful domed structure.

peanut gallery Dec 14, 2009 5:46 PM

That's the Palace of Fine Arts. It was built for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition and was rebuilt in the 60s as the original structure was never intended (thus not built to the standards required) to be a permanent structure. Here's a more recent photo of it:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...laceofarts.jpg
Source.

ColDayMan Dec 14, 2009 8:43 PM

Impressive!

flight_from_kamakura Dec 29, 2009 4:58 PM

it's painful to think of how many glorious old mansions were demolished during the 1950s and 1960s.


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