An ordinary day in San Francisco in 1956


When I saw this image of San Francisco in 1956, on the Duke University site, of Portal Avenue looking east towards 15th, I was struck by how wonderfully ordinary everything looked. And after looking at the Google Street View I was pleased to see how wonderfully ordinary it still looks.

Like most people who have never lived in the City by the Bay, my view of it is very narrow. Let's see, there are those little cable cars climbing halfway to stars, the Golden Gate Bridge, Haight-Ashbury, Victorian mansions in rows, that sort of thing. Oh yeah, and that very steep switchback road (I forget the name, but you know the one I mean).

There was a California feel to this image, but not Los Angeles, so when my number one history adventuring researcher (who prefers to remain anonymous) thought that it was Oakland, I agreed. When he got the exact address, however, I was surprised to find that it was in San Francisco. For those of you who are familiar with the area, this is just east of the 1, and north of Sloat Boulevard.


Those taller buildings are still there, still looking about the same, and the buildings in the foreground, although modernized, are similar. The cars driving on the trolley tracks caught my eye, so I checked to see if the tracks are still there, which they are. And cars still drive on them. Back in the day you just watched where you were going, and it looks like it's still true.


I can't quite read what it says over the awnings on the left, but my best guess is that it was a restaurant. There's a dry cleaners, and plenty of real estate being sold. That's always been true in the Bay Area! By the way, there's Allan F. Mori's place, which was at 360 W. Portal Avenue.


I just love the classic fifties cars, which of course would have been so ordinary at the time that no one would have really even looked at them. Me, I'd be walking around admiring the chrome!


I just love looking at the Duke images, which capture ordinary life because all that the photos were taken for was to record the billboards. Advertising, like real estate, has always been big business! The 1st choice choice for sandwiches, Kilpatrick's bread!


Thank you for spending an ordinary day with me in San Francisco in 1956!




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