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(More customer reviews)It's remarkable how the view of many corners and streets of San Francisco have been preserved, despite the city's growth and the intervention of natural disasters. In "San Francisco Then and Now," we are treated to dozens of photos and stories about how the city looked in previous years, some reaching back to the late 1800s, and what it looks like today.
This book is clearly a labor of love; no doubt many, many hours were spent collecting old and new photos for comparison purposes. What the photos show is the life and growth of a city built on tough terrain. If you don't already know San Francisco is one seriously hilly environment, you'll certainly know it after viewing just a few photos. Architectural creativity is definitely on display.Some of the photos:
Chinatown at the corner of Grant Avenue and California Street looks very much the same, with primarily tenants changing; The Bing Chong Importing Co. has turned into a food court but otherwise, the street looks virtually unchanged.
Clay Street to Nob Hill, shown in an 1872 photo, was the site of the world's first cable-car line today, the cable line is gone but still, several of the buildings and trees create the same look, though the street is now one-way, downhill.
The famously crooked Lombard Street, shown first in a 1922 photo as its many twists and turns, to accommodate drivers trying to negotiate the steep decline, were being installed. The authors note that it's not the city's crookedest street, saying that recongition belongs to Vermont Street but is not on the tourist map.
Other photos show views from the Marina District, Crissy Field, Powell Street turnaround, Palace Hotel, and Steamboat Point, the latter once a thriving shipping area. A 2007 photo shows dozens of tiny boats holding people hoping to catch Barry Bonds' record-setting home run.
Not all of the older photos are dated. There's a marvelous packaging of two photos showing the the steep rise of Market Street in the Castro district, with a theater sign showing clearing in both, traffic passing by, and many of the buildings looking quite similar in both. The older one I can only guesstimate, based on car models and, best of all, names of the movies on the theater marquee. Both "Hold Back the Dawn" and "The Lady Has Plans" are shown on the marquee in the old photo, indicating that the picture is from about 1942; in the newer photo, Kate Winslet's name shows prominently, in "The Reader," dating it to 2008.
Still, this is a wonderful book for tourists and city residents alike who enjoy knowing what the city looked like and how it grew to what it is today. Well done, thoughtful and entertaining.
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Home to social revolutions of every kind, a vibrant counterculture, and the crookedest street in the world, San Francisco is a city like no other—and always has been. This compact edition of San Francisco Then and Now looks back at the intriguing architecture and design of this extraordinary city, highlighting the differences between its picturesque past appearance and its no less fascinating present.There's the Barbary Coast, once a district of song and dance and scandal, but is now a sedately beautiful street. The Golden Gate Theatre, which was once home to vaudeville classics, continues the theatrical tradition with the latest Broadway hits. And the ornate Palace Hotel, was and still is home of the city's finest luxury.San Francisco Then and Now also highlights the changes that the city's various earthquakes have brought, showing how some of the Bay Area's most iconic sights quite literally rose from the ashes of its earlier landmarks.So whether you've never set foot in the Haight-Ashbury or whether you're an expert at jumping on and off cable cars, San Francisco Then and Now is the perfect introduction to this amazing city—and its equally amazing history.
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