Tribute - John Gorman's vintage San Francisco

Kino · Jul 9, 2025

Ben 4 said:
I wonder why owners removed those fender skirts?

Probably post-war design changes heavily dated large fender skirts and owners took them off to "modernize" the car a bit. The Classic Packard Roadster design was solidly in the 1920's and wasn't changed much until well after WWII.

To me, that's what makes it so attractive, but people do what they do...

Nancy123 · Jul 11, 2025

For those who remember Post #111 with the photographer's studio and art deco columns, the buildings are alive and well at 330 West Portal Ave. in S.F. (Dimitra's now) The columns are painted over making them barely recognizable as the pretty art deco they once were, but the apartment building looks in pretty good shape!

Nancy123 · Jul 11, 2025

I think this is the Carquinez Bridge, East Bay. If any Bay Area native knows for sure, please say so. Even though I grew up in S.F., I didn't spend much time going east. And it's too many cars to i.d.!

Don_ih · Jul 11, 2025

Nancy123 said:
too many cars to i.d.

For some reason, all those cars seem very serious. Like they're frowning.

Nancy123 · Jul 11, 2025

Don_ih said:
For some reason, all those cars seem very serious. Like they're frowning.

Traffic jam? They all look identical to me.

Ben 4 · Jul 11, 2025

Don_ih said:
For some reason, all those cars seem very serious. Like they're frowning.

You're right—at least I can't not see the frowns now!

grahamp · Jul 11, 2025

I don't think it is the Carquinez - the old bridge was a single span, and the grade is about the same at each end. The current Carquinez bridge is two spans, and both are post 2000.

Is it the old Alameda ramp to the Bay Bridge?

koraks · Jul 12, 2025

Nancy123 said:
For those who remember Post #111 with the photographer's studio and art deco columns, the buildings are alive and well at 330 West Portal Ave. in S.F. (Dimitra's now) The columns are painted over making them barely recognizable as the pretty art deco they once were, but the apartment building looks in pretty good shape!

Hey, thanks for the detective work! There's hope still for the columns if someone figures out how to remove the horrible shiny blue paint. The main thing is that so far, people have at least been awake enough to preserve this piece of architecture - cool!

grahamp · Jul 12, 2025

grahamp said:
Is it the old Alameda ramp to the Bay Bridge?

Ooops. Oakland!

Kino · Jul 12, 2025

koraks said:
Hey, thanks for the detective work! There's hope still for the columns if someone figures out how to remove the horrible shiny blue paint. The main thing is that so far, people have at least been awake enough to preserve this piece of architecture - cool!

Unfortunately, in the USA that is often the fate of surviving architecture; slap a coat of paint on it and call it good. I cringe every time I see a grand, brick facade slathered with some cheap paint, which dooms it to eventual efflorescence and destruction...

Nancy123 · Jul 12, 2025

grahamp said:
I don't think it is the Carquinez - the old bridge was a single span, and the grade is about the same at each end. The current Carquinez bridge is two spans, and both are post 2000.

Re: Post #128 -- I finally got it figured out (took a lot of digging). There was one Carquinez Bridge built in 1927. Then another identical looking bridge was built next to it in 1958. The Loma Prieta earthquake (1989) caused some structural damage to them. The 1958 bridge was retrofitted; they built the more modern Alfred Zampa Memorial Bridge next to them; in 2006-2007 they dismantled the 1927 bridge that was between them. So the photo my dad took in the 1940s was the original, single bridge that was torn down. It was hard to find another photo of that steep, sharp angle coming off the bridge because everything was rebuilt differently including that off ramp. So my dad’s photo is more historical than I thought!

grahamp · Jul 13, 2025

Ah! I was around for the 2006-2007 reconstruction, but was not for the re-routing of the southern bridge run. The oldbridge.jpg image makes it all clear.

There's a bit of an irony here - my brother in law had his house in Crockett purchased by the State to allow for some of the newer Interstate 80 access after the Alfred Zampa span was put up.

Traffic level has not changed much!

Nancy123 · Jul 13, 2025

grahamp said:
Traffic level has not changed much!

And that looks like a lot of traffic for 80 years ago. On a side note, National Geographic did a 47-minute show on dismantling the 1927 bridge. It's quite extraordinary to see. You can find it on Youtube if you put in the search "Engineering Fails Bridge Breakdown Mega Structure National Geographic." (Oh, that came out as a link to it!)

Nancy123 · Jul 13, 2025

This just cracks me up. I think these guys made this picture as a joke, but I'm not sure what the joke is. They just look funny trying to figure out.... what?

koraks · Jul 14, 2025

Nancy123 said:
This just cracks me up. I think these guys made this picture as a joke, but I'm not sure what the joke is. They just look funny trying to figure out.... what?

That's a photo of the participants of the Photrio forum during a workshop. We're still pretty much at the same point 70 years ahead.

Don_ih · Jul 14, 2025

That's definitely a bizarre one. An attempt at photography slapstick.

grahamp · Jul 14, 2025

These days the Health and Safety people would be on them about not securing the cables properly... It must be something about the small object in front of the camera.

koraks · Jul 14, 2025

grahamp said:
It must be something about the small object in front of the camera.

Errr...that was a joke, right? I assume that photo doesn't require an explanation. I mean..c'mon...does it?

Nancy123 · Jul 14, 2025

koraks said:
Errr...that was a joke, right? I assume that photo doesn't require an explanation. I mean..c'mon...does it

I keep wondering who's idea it was to take this photo. My dad is one of the characters in it. Believe me, he had a super sense of humor and likely had something to do with the idea. Then again, they could have really been trying to figure something out with the camera and someone snapped the picture because it looked hilarious. Unfortunately, we will never know. But it's a fun "photographer's photo" for sure.

qqphot · Jul 14, 2025

Mick Fagan said:
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.

Even today in San Francisco it's a $65 fine for failing to curb your wheels on an incline of greater than 3%.

Nancy123 · Jul 14, 2025

qqphot said:
Even today in San Francisco it's a $65 fine for failing to curb your wheels on an incline of greater than 3%.

I'm wondering if in the old days people curbed their wheels because it was common sense and good practice or if there was a fine for not doing so. I don't remember! For me it would have been every time I parked because I would have no idea what a 3% incline would be!

Nancy123 · Jul 14, 2025

grahamp said:
It must be something about the small object in front of the camera.

So, it's a pencil with something stuck on the tip. It's possible there really was a focusing problem. I'm going with the theory that the problem was real and someone thought it was a funny scene, perhaps even exaggerated for comic effect.

AnselMortensen · Jul 14, 2025

"Let's make a Cheerio look like a donut!"

koraks · Jul 14, 2025

Holding an object that small, so close to the lens, with limited extension, and nobody looking at the ground glass? Come on, people.

It's a joke. And this joke is on the likes of us - with good reason. We should put this picture at the top of every thread on stop bath, the proper use of wetting agent, the size of brain in relation to development time, stand development and a great number of similar topics. That's is what this is about. And your father, Nancy, understood it perfectly well. I'd wager to say his ability to self-reflect far exceeded that of the average participant in photo forums today.

Nancy123 · Jul 14, 2025

koraks said:
And your father, Nancy, understood it perfectly well.

The upshot: my father had a supreme sense of humor

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