Videos about old-timey San Francisco
Golden Gate City - San Francisco (from 1939)**
San Francisco hasn't changed much in 80 years. Of course the buildings are in color now but we still have J-walkers and seagulls. This video is a good way to see how our tourist sights used to be before $12.00 guacamole toast.
See the Golden Gate & Bay Bridges, Alcatraz, Market street with Lotta's Fountain, Union Square, the Civic Center, the new Mint, Chinatown, Mission Delores, Golden Gate Park, the Presidio, and Lands End.
San Francisco in 1955
The biggest strides made in this 1955 travelogue of San Francisco and that of the 1939 version is the elimination of the Mid-Atlantic accent by the narrator.
The video revisits points of interest from earlier videos such as the Civic Center, The City bridges and islands of the Bay, Market street, Chinatown, and Golden Gate and adds Telegraph Hill (Before mother nature ruined the view), Fisherman's Wharf, the Marina District, the Cliff House with the SkyTram and PlayLand, Fleishhacker Zoo, Twin Peaks, Cable Cars, Nob Hill, and the crooked (Not the same way as our politicians) Lombard street.
The Cliffhouse SkyTram from 1960
From 1955 to 1966 The Cliff House hosted a Sky Tram to transport its guests from the restaurant to Pt. Lobos which is Spanish for "Nothing else to see". You're gonna really dig this music. Maybe Pete and I ought to do a voice over.
It was operated by George K Whitney who also owned the Cliff House and Playland-at-the-Beach. For .50 cents, up to twenty guests could sit facing West toward the ocean and experience ocean spray from whitecaps knocking against the gondola, views of nude sea lions, and a look at the remains of the Ohioian - a ship wreck from 1936, before disembarking of a waterfall.
Sutro Baths From 1896 to 1966
San Francisco used to be RIDICULOUSLY AWESOME! The Sutro Baths were the perfect icon for that awesomeness. While the ruins are still there today, there are quite a few San Franciscans who remember spending their youth the world's largest indoor pool.
This video covers the history of its builder - Adolf (There were a lot more people named Adolf back then) Sutro, the pools, the boardwalk, the museum, the curios, the ice rink, the railroad, and the fire.
