guest post by Todd Lappin (Telstar Logistics)
Yesterday a friend sent me a link to an amazing gallery of vintage color photos of San Francisco from the Cushman Collection at Indiana University. (PROCRASTINATION WARNING: Do not click this link unless you have at least an hour to burn.)
About 30 minutes into my procrastination, I stumbled across the photo above, which shows the corner of South Van Ness Avenue at Army (Cesar Chavez) Street in San Francisco as it looked in 1953. Since I happened to be just a few blocks from that spot when I saw the photo, I wandered outside to reshoot it. Behold, the same view, on August 12, 2008:
The most impressive thing is how *little* the view has changed, overall. Gas used to cost 25 cents a gallon but now it goes for $4.17. Otherwise, the streetscape and development on Bernal Hill look much as they did 50 years ago. My favorite detail is the Golden Gate Cleaners, visible at center left. The shop is still there, and with the same neon signage. Like a bug in amber.
Anyhow, there’s plenty more goodness like this in the Cushman Collection’s San Francisco archive, so just write of the next 60 minutes and enjoy some local time-travel:
The Cushman Collection’s vintage San Francisco color photo archive
See Previously:
- The Bullitt San Francisco Chase Scene Geocoded & Mapped
photos, top, the Cushman collection, below, Telstar Logistics
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
This is brilliant. I love the two pics, but I'm seriously stoked about the link. Being a US history teacher in this town means so many great resources. I will enjoy staying up past my bedtime with this site. Thanks Scott. Now go back to watching The Wire.
Actually you have Todd to thank for this guest post and the discovery of the amazing photo collection.
Excellent post. Also wish you hadn’t added that link, but I’ll definitely be checking it out when I get a chance!
Insanely great, Todd … those before and after shots made me do a (literal) double take! That would have been cool enough on its own, but Cushman’s collection is an absolute treasure.
i bet the rent has changed quite a bit.
And the trees on top of the bald hill!
Great find! The real coup is to find old pictures of your own neighborhood — to help in that, I geocoded the images that had street addresses associated with them. Here's a map: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&ms...
Enjoy!
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