Tribute - John Gorman's vintage San Francisco

Nancy123 · Friday at 4:26 PM

It's always interesting to see what the passage of time can do. This block looked so much nicer 80 years ago, 1562 California Street, San Francisco, taken in 1945. Golden Gate Undertakers is now Nob Hill Mall. Betty's Cafe is now Cordon Bleu, a Vietnamese restaurant (!) And back then, there was no graffiti. (Color photo is a screenshot from Google Earth.)

koraks · Friday at 4:32 PM

I love these "then and now" comparisons; thanks for tracking that one down @Nancy123!

Ben 4 · Friday at 5:04 PM

Nancy123 said:
It's always interesting to see what the passage of time can do. This block looked so much nicer 80 years ago, 1562 California Street, San Francisco, taken in 1945. Golden Gate Undertakers is now Nob Hill Mall. Betty's Cafe is now Cordon Bleu, a Vietnamese restaurant (!) And back then, there was no graffiti. (Color photo is a screenshot from Google Earth.)

Nice contrast. Some interesting details: the two 1930s cars in front have what appear to be fabric-covered roof sections—like early sunroofs! I never knew that. And I like the small art deco canopy suspended over the door between the California Bargain Spot and the California Music House (coming soon!).

Nancy123 · Friday at 6:36 PM

koraks said:
I love these "then and now" comparisons; thanks for tracking that one down @Nancy123!

I love them, too. Google Earth and Google Search come in handy for this.

Nancy123 · Friday at 9:14 PM

Nancy123 said:
It's always interesting to see what the passage of time can do. This block looked so much nicer 80 years ago, 1562 California Street, San Francisco, taken in 1945. Golden Gate Undertakers is now Nob Hill Mall. Betty's Cafe is now Cordon Bleu, a Vietnamese restaurant (!) And back then, there was no graffiti. (Color photo is a screenshot from Google Earth.)

For the car people, from my car friend: "The black car is a 1935 Ford, the next car is probably a '36 Chrysler, the next car a '41 Buick and the last car is a '31Pontiac."

AnselMortensen · Friday at 9:22 PM

This is a great thread.
Thank you for posting these great photos!

MattKing · Friday at 9:46 PM

Nancy123 said:
Betty's Cafe is now Cordon Bleu, a Vietnamese restaurant (!)

Might be a reflection of the ~100 years of colonial rule that the French imposed on Vietnam.

Nancy123 · Friday at 10:16 PM

AnselMortensen said:
This is a great thread.
Thank you for posting these great photos!

It's great fun for me with an appreciative audience like this

Mick Fagan · 2025-06-28T05:28:07-0400

All four of those parked cars, have their steering wheels facing the kerb. Signs of the handbrake of yesterday and the handbrake of today. My grandfather in the early 1950's would turn the wheels in, put it in reverse and finally pull the handbrake on. Run away cars was a real thing on steep hills.

Don_ih · 2025-06-28T05:49:56-0400

Mick Fagan said:
My grandfather in the early 1950's would turn the wheels in, put it in reverse and finally pull the handbrake on.

That's how I was taught to park. I haven't used the handbrake since then, though. But if I lived in a city of hills like San Francisco, I probably would.

I like looking at the architectural changes across those time periods. There's not much significant change between these two photos, actually - it would take minimal effort to make the facade look original.

If you go to Google Street View, you can click through almost 20 years of captures of this little stretch of road. It's almost like watching something decay.

Nancy123 · 2025-06-28T13:26:53-0400

Don_ih said:
If you go to Google Street View, you can click through almost 20 years of captures of this little stretch of road. It's almost like watching something decay.

Don, that's fantastic. I didn't realize Street View was so much better than G. Earth for this. It's way better and will be lots of fun. Thanks for the tip!

Nancy123 · 2025-06-28T13:28:17-0400

MattKing said:
Might be a reflection of the ~100 years of colonial rule that the French imposed on Vietnam.

Makes perfect sense!

Nancy123 · 2025-06-28T14:04:43-0400

I didn't know what that Lumiere theater was all about but I found this on cinematreasures.org:

Another of San Francisco’s select art-house cinemas, built in 1974 by Mel Novikoff of Castro Theatre and Surf Theatre fame. It opened January 24, 1975 with “Lenny Bruce Performance Film” & Kenneth Anger’s “Scorpio Rising” & Jack Kerouac’s “Pull My Daisy”. It was taken over by Landmark Theatres in 1991. Seating was provided in the two screens for 100 & 250. It underwent extensive renovations and reopened as a triple screen theatre on December 16, 1983. It was renovated in 2003. The Lumiere Theatre was closed on September 23, 2012 with Francois Cluzet in “The Intouchables”. By 2022 it was in retail use as a clothing store.

Nancy123 · 2025-06-28T16:30:52-0400

Found this in the archives, want to give this hero some recognition today.
On the 4x5 negative sleeve: "Lt. Col. James P.S. Devereux at Oakland (Calif.) airport; was Wake Island commander when war broke out; captured by Japs when the island fell and remained prisoner of Japs until end of war. Pic taken when he first returned to U.S. Sept. 21, 1945."
He's also on Wikipedia.

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