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  #1  
Old Posted Jun 9, 2012, 9:19 PM
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Photos of SF from the 40's and 50's?

As many know, NYC has countless large grand photo's and sweeping panoramic views of Manhattan from almost all points in it's history.

SF on the other hand would seem to have a sad lack of such images. Thus far in my own search, most of my findings are pictures of the people from these time periods, street views at best.

As such, I would deeply wish to know if others have knowledge of or access to shots of SF city during the 40's and 50's.
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Old Posted Jun 9, 2012, 9:45 PM
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These probably don't help you in your search, as they are all much earlier than you are looking for, but you might have interest in these galleries nonetheless.

1906 color photos of post quake San Francisco
http://www.retronaut.co/2011/03/san-...906-in-colour/

An incredible zoomable 1878 panorama of San Francisco converted into hi def...this one is AMAZING...you can put it to full screen and zoom in and imagine what it felt like to live there at the time
http://www.retronaut.co/2011/06/san-...s-spite-fence/

San Francisco in 1855
http://www.retronaut.co/2011/12/san-...co-album-1855/
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  #3  
Old Posted Jun 9, 2012, 11:20 PM
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Wow San Francisco was already a very large city by 1855...had no idea! That 1878 panorama is AMAZING.
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  #4  
Old Posted Jun 11, 2012, 3:51 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by simms3_redux View Post
Wow San Francisco was already a very large city by 1855...had no idea!
Yeah it was pretty sizable, with around 40,000 residents in 1855. It's hard to believe that just 10 years earlier, the city had fewer than 1,000 residents (and jumped from 1,000 to 25,000 in the single year from 1848 to 1849).
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Old Posted Jun 11, 2012, 6:56 PM
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Yeah it was pretty sizable, with around 40,000 residents in 1855. It's hard to believe that just 10 years earlier, the city had fewer than 1,000 residents (and jumped from 1,000 to 25,000 in the single year from 1848 to 1849).
Yeah, the discovery of gold will do that for a city. SF's population increased from 200 to 36,000 in 6 years (1846 to 1852).
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Old Posted Aug 27, 2012, 10:25 PM
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Really? Nobody remembers this epic photo thread I compiled? :p

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=173735
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  #7  
Old Posted Jun 10, 2012, 12:42 AM
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Some of those pics I have seen, some I have not.

As a fan of San Francisco in ALL of its time periods, I thank you for those that are new to me. I am however a fan much more of Art Deco in it's golden age.
As has been said, images of NYC in its golden age are quite common, for which I am very thankful.

Seeing images of SF in it's golden age as well, full of Classical, Gothic, and Art Deco towers would warm this Curmudgeons heart.
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"God damn modern architect's and their Brtualism, and 'realism' and damn concrete boxes. Why I remember back when buildings had STYLE back when you would have real ARTISTS working away both inside and out!
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  #8  
Old Posted Jun 10, 2012, 8:07 AM
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  #9  
Old Posted Jun 10, 2012, 10:38 AM
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AH! Thank you so very much, far more then I was expecting. Not exactly what I wanted, but whom ever gets exactly what they want?

Those photos are quite amazing, and I deeply appreciate them.
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"God damn modern architect's and their Brtualism, and 'realism' and damn concrete boxes. Why I remember back when buildings had STYLE back when you would have real ARTISTS working away both inside and out!
"Um, aren't you like barely 30?"
"Thats not the point you damn whipper snapper!"
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  #10  
Old Posted Jun 10, 2012, 11:03 AM
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Originally Posted by Tyler Xyroadia View Post
AH! Thank you so very much, far more then I was expecting. Not exactly what I wanted, but whom ever gets exactly what they want?

Those photos are quite amazing, and I deeply appreciate them.
You're welcome. It's a start, at least.

The photo I posted is actually quite interesting since it contains the Montgomery Block, which became the site of the Transamerica Pyramid.
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“Most planning of the past fifteen years has been based upon three destructive fallacies: the cataclysmic insists upon tearing everything down in order to design from an absolutely clean slate; the automotive would plan for the free passage of the automobile at the expense of all other values; the suburban dislikes the city anyway and would just as soon destroy its density and strew it across the countryside.” Vince Scully
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  #11  
Old Posted Jun 11, 2012, 12:16 PM
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Wishing to post an update of sorts to this.

Last night I discovered something which went beyond my expectations. While looking at Modern SF on Google Earth I, quite by accident, discovered a feature called 'historical view'. The screen seemed to go Black and White and I was not sure quite what I was looking at until I noticed a date in the lower corner. It read '1936'

I did a double take and began to zoom in on what turned out to be a patchwork of hundreds of photos that, sure enough, did seem to be from the 1930's time period.

More to my surprise, many of the photos, especially of downtown SF, were not just clear, but 'Sharp' as if I were looking at modern high def photos.

What thrilled me even more was the realization that many historical buildings that I know to still be around today looked "new". Indeed if you look at some of the most grand neo classical and gothic works of SF, they have a grunged weathered look to them, even in the most high quality photos. But these, many looked almost "fake" as the buildings seemed so clean, it was a true and delightful shock.

At this point I would invite others to see what I have seen, if only to let me know I did not hallucinate the whole thing and these images are in fact genuine.
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"God damn modern architect's and their Brtualism, and 'realism' and damn concrete boxes. Why I remember back when buildings had STYLE back when you would have real ARTISTS working away both inside and out!
"Um, aren't you like barely 30?"
"Thats not the point you damn whipper snapper!"
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  #12  
Old Posted Aug 27, 2012, 11:07 PM
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^Thanks for the reminder! I love that thread and just spent the last 30 minutes going back over it.
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