I was 5 at the time of this film. Grew up near the beach. I would take the streetcar downtown with my mom. From the fog we would burst through the tunnel at Market St.into the sun and a whole other world. There was an assortment of people, winos, bag ladies, legless men selling pencils, and a lot of hustle and bustle.
I remember the legless men selling pencils at Powell and Market. One man used to roll around on a wood platform with wheels. So, I'm not the only one who remember these men. Thanks for the comment!
I remember the blind fellow who would pencils in front of Woolworth's Store....I don't ever remember homeless person ever ...born and raised in San Francisco...🌁🌁🌁☕🍩🌻🌺🌺🌺⛵⛵🌎🌎🌎
My grandmother took me downtown on the bus every Saturday in the late 50's for ballet lessons and there was the legless man, the pencil sellers and a blind fellow at that end of Market Street. We'd have lunch at the Clinton cafeteria where they carved slices from a real turkey for my turkey sandwich.
I lived on 27th and Anza Street as a child. I was born in 1968 so I only remember the abandoned and dilapidated version of this. But my parents used to tell me stories about how they went there on their first dates and all the fun they used to have
I cry along with you. Weekend liberties from ET school werent numerous or long enuf. Great memories of the Planetarium, the museum and Strawberry Lake; and a few visits to "The Port 'O Call" (maybe spelled wrong but its been 65 years). The conditions I see in videos of the city now do not compare to what I remember walking 8+ mi up Market St to the park in 58. How could they have done what they have done.?
I lived on 27 st n church on the late 70s early 80s what wonderful memories: I had a examiner route from Chenery st n 30th all the way to 24th n church st
I wasn't born until 73.. but my childhood memories are a San Francisco like this... below sutro garden, there on the big rock "Playland By the Beach" painted above a big clown face. I knew I was born too late
Ray Lat It’s a little difficult to “ clean” an entire city when I live thousands of miles away and am a CEO, not a cleaning woman! What a sophomoric, inane comment to make. Keep mopping those floors at McDonald’s and good luck with that G.E.D. You need to study humor because you certainly don’t understand it!
So wonderful to see the native San Franciscans remember and cherished their favorite city I visited San Francisco, many times during my childhood, but I wasn't even born there. I hope they know that they are as much part of what San Francisco, was and hopefully San Francisco will once be beautiful again with no homeless encampment and no drugged people. And certainly NO MORE LITTER.
@@conniecrawford5231 ur recording a self reflection of what U are telling Ur inner cellular record what U communicate about ur cells ATP Kreb cycle to keep compressing ur own cellular Software coded Black Mirror to expose ur own record by what U communicate to urself that others learn who U really are Thanks for exposing ur identity Mu ah 💋🌈💜🌋 Let it go Just let it go
I grew up in San Francisco in those days and it truly was magical. Wish I would have known it then, it was such a fragile and fun place to be. It was a clean and healthy place to be back then. goodbye my beautiful city by the bay.
I was fortunate to live in San Francisco, on beautiful Russian Hill, for several years in the early 1970s. Our apartment building was a short walk from the cable car stop, a few blocks before the car headed past the Crookedest Street and then down the hill to Fisherman's Wharf. San Franciso then was just about the same as what you can see in this movie. It was a lovely place, and an exhilarating time to be alive. I lived there from age 19 to 25, so in a way I grew up there, became a man in San Francisco. As long as I have a memory, I will not forget the beauty of the town and the spirit of those heady days. P.S. I never went to the zoo.
I was 8 years old when this was filmed and lived just south of the city. It was lovely back then but the bay was an open sewer. You couldn't swim or fish in it due to the pollution. Along the shore you could smell it. It is far cleaner now. The city has, however, lost that famous bohemian atmosphere.
@@Agent77X It's Nancy Pelosi's district. How can she tell anyone how to run the Country when she can't help her district. She should be forced to fall on the sword.
@@dredned relax dood, we actually have lots of beautiful districts you might try visiting sometime instead of watching filtered propaganda designed to reinforce biases.
WHEN THIS FILM WAS MADE IN 1955, I WAS 10 YEARS OLD and my folks already had taken me to every place in this film. I loved the PLAYLAND, the MUSEUM, JAPANESE GARDENS and the ZOO. I remember almost every trip there when I see this video. Now it feels like part of my childhood has been taken away.
There are so many beautiful things still waiting to be seen and visited in San Francisco! Sure the world of 1955 is gone now but the city survives. When you seek out and enjoy it in 2022, the differences will melt away.
I was nine years old in 1955. Born and raised on 42nd Ave and Ulloa. We could walk to the zoo and the beach. The zoo was free admission back then. Sometimes we could hear the Howler monkeys Howling, or the Peacocks screaching, and the train whistle from our house. A few years later my friends and I could ride our bicycles to G.G. park to see the Aquarium an DeYoung museum, or Playland or Sutros baths (before it burned down) and the Cliff House. A great time to grow up in “The City.”
I loved the narrator's voice. He sounds so 1950s. I really enjoyed this. I'm a 64 year old San Francisco native. Some of the places in this film still look the same like the Civic Center area and the zoo. I rode on that little train in the 60s. Market Street has totally changed. A good percentage of the store fronts are empty. When I was a kid there were at least ten movie theaters on Market Street. They're all gone.
You forgot to inject the homeless, drug addicts, prostitutes in your Civic Center area… SF is a shell of what it once was. Democrats turn everything to shyte
As a native San Franciscan, (still living locally in Marin County), this film is a gem for me! Seeing familiar places I know well to this day, as they were when I was a child; some transformed, (like the Embarcadero), and some completely gone, (like Playland). I'm just so grateful for this!
There was also a Playland on Rockaway Beach in NYC during the Mad Men era. It closed in the 1980s. There were 3 amusement parks in the borough of Queens, NYC. And the only one left is in Coney Island Beach.
This film is a treasure. So many fond memories. So much irreplaceable loss. I understand my father’s lament as he watched the world of his youth disappear forever.
@A Tangerine No, that just shows you how much society has fallen, in terms of eloquence. The more I learn about my genealogy, the more I realize that my Great-Grandfather, born 1900, was the hardest worker of my family, and that trait trickled down each generation. He is of the same generation as your grandfather. If anything you should take away from your perception, is that your grandfather is right, just like you are. Saying one person is wrong, and another person is right, over the same issue, in different consecutive timelines, is asinine. Is is the same problem continuing, over time.
@@cnfuzz Whatever trouble we had in the '90s, specifically the Clinton reign, was nothing compared to what was to come. It was the last decade where Brick & Mortar ruled absolutely, and the World Wide Web was but an optimistic niche curiosity.
I loved the shot of Hwy 101 at Hospital Curve. No traffic! And the shot of the very light traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge. And parking places available on Market Street?! Whoa! :-)
this was a bittersweet trip down the memory lane!! Born and raised .....sigh. If i went back now I know i would spend the whole trip saying"I remember when....."
Karen Cohen I live in San Rafael now. Moved here in 1965. Our rent in Cow Hollow was about to shoot up to $165 dollars a month so Mom bought our house here. The only time I (I’m 65) spend anytime in the City is when my son takes me to a Giants game at AT&T. Otherwise it doesn’t exist for me. I still love it in my memories of the 1950s and 1960s. Nowadays I just want to keep my distance.and admire it from a distance. Remember the Colonial Bakery vans? They followed us up here to Marin. Like an old familiar friend. But then they disappeared along with the milkman and rinsing out milk bottles. Those were the days!
My family lived in San Francisco when I was born, in North Beach and Twin Peaks. how different it is now. Still beautiful, still great, but ALOT more cars and people. there's alot more trees now. Sad that the DeYoung Museum and Steinhart Aquarium were torn down. The new museum doesn't have the same elegance.
Lots of it is still there. Some things have changed.. When the Cable Car is going over Nob Hill, you can see an old Chevron Station, which was across the street from Grace Cathedral, that's now The Masonic.
I was born there in 54, so seeing home is great! Thanks! This film should be restored by the city for historic value. Because the format and quality can more easily be fixed, and made to 4K even and fixes like stilling film jitter and historic still images re-inserted. Lucasfilm or such should do that. They could enhance or re-cast the voiceover and music, running filters for color and contrast, sharpening and image noise reduction. It is worth it for the city to have such a great document. I also have high quality color photos I digitized of the time and print if anyone is interested. Lombard, Masonic, bridges and more all 20" X 20" art prints from 2.5" transparencies. All great memories!
Ken Bob not a tourism film. Advertisement for the Bell & Howell Filmorama camera and lens. Camera companies do this all the time. Obv can’t be depressing, but definitely not a tourism video.
Ah, San Francisco! Immortal and unchanging! This was the San Francisco of my youth (freshman at San Francisco State [in those days] College). The cars are different, but most of SF is the same. It is eternal! I am so lucky to have been born here, lived here and will probably die here (83). The sad note for me is Playland at the beach: so many memories and it is gone forever! Bless you forever San Francisco!
Lombard Street with drum brakes! Those people had guts to do that. I remember Playland in its seedier days, right before the end. No Giants yet...still in NY at the time. Can't say that gorgeous city has changed for the better. Notice the well ordered, well dressed people, even at the zoo? My father always had a sport coat (at least), his cigarette case, lighter, handkerchief, billfold, and gum. Never went out without a hat. I always wear brimmed mens hats, in his honour, and I get compliments from the baseball cap wearers. Can't imagine why folks today don't dress well. We have a responsibility as citizens to better society by behaving and looking proper.
"Can't imagine why folks today don't dress well. We have a responsibility as citizens to better society by behaving and looking proper." My initial reaction to that was... "People need to find their own reasons to dress well." But then, I extrapolated that reasoning to... "Can't imagine why folks don't wear a mask and get vaccinated during a pandemic. We have a responsibility as citizens to prevent the spread of Covid by masking up and vaxxing up." I certainly would not react to that by saying... "People need to find their own reasons to wear a mask and get vaccinated during a pandemic." So should the pandemic of "not dressing well" since the 1960's be compared to the pandemic of Covid-19?
Being a S.F. native, as was my late dad...I was 13 years of age when this film was released. As young as I was, I remember all of these views...truly a beautiful city and era!! Note the traffic! Cars WERE cars back then, not computers on wheels...about as interesting as washing machines...even washers of 1955 were more interesting...and almost everything was MADE IN USA!!!
Folk flocked to Dan Francisco because of its tolerance for diversity. Unlike Los Angeles San Francisco looked like a BIG CITY but clean unlike frightening New York😞
@K I think you're right, K. We are always nostalgic for times before our own. I lived in SF many years ago (1984-1992) and slowly had to give up my hold on the city and let it go. Think of how many hundreds of thousands of people have come and gone from that once-great city!
This was my parent's San Francisco - they loved it, and took us back may times as small kids after they moved to the East Bay. Lovely city, sadly gone.
Every year we visit SF. We fly direct from Amsterdam. I take my bike accesoires with me and hike to The Dutch Mill, from there up to the Golden Gate bridge, Sauselito, take the tunnel and uphill to GG view point. I feel sooo lucky being a human being to enjoy all of this. Its like coming home every year 😊
@@GandlafTheWhite I don't remember that name, so I looked it up. As best I can tell, that was closed long before I was born. (In other words, I'm not THAT old.)
I lived in the City from '84 to '97. It was not as nice as this, but still beautiful and livable. My first apartment was $300 a month for a one bedroom in the Sunset. Crab cocktails and sourdough bread at Fishermans Wharf was 75 cents. By the time I left, it was becoming unaffordable and increasingly dirty. I was back about 3 years ago for a visit. Soul-less, money grubbing, and parts of it look like Calcutta with street beggars and excrement on the sidewalks especially around City Hall area. Broke my heart to see it as it is now. I'm grateful to have experienced at least some of what made San Francisco magical. Thanks for posting this video. Makes me want to step in a time machine and go back to San Francisco of the 60's. Think I'll watch Hitchcock's "Vertigo" again.
John, You nail it! I feel the same way. We got here in 68' it was such a nice time then. This video brings back good memories. Vertigo was Da Bomb! Still is to me. Cheers my Friend!
I was stationed at the old Alameda Naval Air Station (just south of S.F.) on the USS Oriskany in 1975. 18 years old. Used to go to S.F. on liberty. It was a beautiful city back then.
I thought the same thing. Not a whole lot has really changed, but of course, the downtown area would be unrecognizable if someone from 1955 were to appear in 2019.
Wow Aliotos is still there And so is fisherman's grotto what a trip The crab steam pots are still there also I get crab sandwiches from there all the time
So great to see this preserved memory of my distant childhood and the city that always captured and held my imagination. San Francisco was magical in the 50s and 60s. It was terrific playground for a young guy coming to terms with his identity. I haven't been to the city in thirty years and can't imagine what it is like now considering how much Seattle has changed since I first came to the Northwest in 1987. I am pleased to be able to watch this film and remember something long past but fixed in my memory of how life in California was long ago. It was a privilege to be able to live in that time and place. It is easy to see how someone could leave their heart there.
Wow, you are so fortunate. I moved to San Francisco, in 1993 after experiencing hell in Concord. And I never knew how wonderful it was before the homeless took control of everything. I wish it could go back to being beautiful once again. I was born in New York City, in 1965 and by then in 1955, I think my mom was uh, in high school or boarding school, or something. I don't recall It because I wasn't born during that year.
This tour of SF looks a lot like what I'd show people when they visit the city. The palace of fine art, golden gate bridge/park, coit tower, twin peaks, fishermans wharf, twin peaks... Much of the city looks the same. Amazing you can say that about 65 years later. This tells me that by 2085, the city won't look all that different, with all the same key landmarks, but just a bit more modern.
O. H. W.: The SF area has long led the radical march toward socialism in America, and is suffering the inescapable impacts thereof. Sadly no amount of “love or cleaning” will cure what is destroying it from within. It’s a cancer that’s systematically consumed the initiative, determination, and drive of everyday people causing those folks able to escape, to relocate away from the area. This has left only the very rich who are able to insulate themselves from the resultant mayhem and filth on the streets, and of course, those many thousands of the permanent underclass who are living in absolute squalor, or in subsidized areas largely dependent on government assistance. Often these two are the ones who because of their sad conditions, are routinely causing mayhem and contributing to the filth on the streets. If you want to clean up SF, you’ll need to reject socialism, communism, globalism and the like, and begin making people individually accountable as they were in 1955. Return to teaching kids the fundamentals in schools and eliminating all remnants of Socialist philosophy in secondary and higher education while encouraging prayer in the schools again. This won’t be easy given all the many footholds established by Satan there, but its a simple blueprint that will pay dividends. Good luck, and God bless!
Sorry but SF is a city that allows public defacation, public drug consumption and trash in its streets...but their focus is banning vaping. Something that keeps cig butts off the already filthy streets despite what you feel about it. Skewed priorities, just like my city of Los Angeles.
Its no wonder the 50s of america are beloved so much. Everthing is clean and beautiful. No bums roaming thd streets. All the roads are big and new with minimal traffic. Just enough modern conveniences but not a glut of obnoxious advertising and useless techno gadgets. Just the right amount of people not too lonely but plenty of room. Truly a golden age. America in its prime. Hopefully we can return our country to its former glory!!
Post-war, Baby Boomer America might have been the greatest period in our country's history. It's extremely sad to watch this footage and compare it with the city of today. It's like viewing a different planet.
No way the country will ever be the same again. Sure it was far from ideal back then, that's life anywhere, but U.S. cities have declined to such an extent with ever increasing homeless, drug addicts, obesity in the average citizen, lack of civic pride etc., the "golden age" in now forever in the past.
@@omi_god You know you are wrong. If it was simply greed , why is EVERY poor city Deomcrat run. The only big city in CA without a homeless problem is San Diego. Guess the party of the mayor
Vikram Parmar bigger cities make democrats. Bigger cities also happen to make homeless problems. They are not related. San Diego is not big enough to be subject to this effect, elsewhere it would, but it’s location is overshadowed by LA
@@tablo1394 why do bigger cities make democrats? is there a reason that you can think of? ...perhaps the ultra-wealthy in these cities would like to create chaos and poverty, allowing them to keep their upper class status. And what party would be the perfect one to create disasters? Venezuela, soviet Union, China....the list goes on and on....
It’s very interesting. My mom was born in San Francisco in 1951, and she’s not nearly as negative about where it is today as some other of her fellow boomers. My sister and I have both lived in the city from roughly 2002-2018 before moving to the east bay for a slower tempo. While the city has its problems my mother always has a good things to say of her birth city. We have fun family photos of SF from the 1880s to present day. I think that puts it into perspective that change is inevitable, and wishing for “things to go back to the old days” is a futile exercise.
Great perspective. It certainly has its problems, some of which are of the "victim of its own success" variety (e.g., high housing prices because so many people want to love there), but it's still a beautiful, historic, vibrant, creative city.
Nah...it’s one thing to reminisce about the old days...it’s entirely another when liberals managed to completely destroy the culture in less than 3 decades.
@@camwhitman5425Nah! Wrong! It's us liberals who make this city such a desirable place to live. The one point I keep coming back to that morons like you can't seem to get through their thick skulls is, San Francisco remains the number one tourist destination in the world and, the most sought after place to live in the world. So, there's your proof that you haven't a clue sonny.
My first trip to SF was in 1992 when my brother moved there. From the moment I stepped off the plane, I felt that I was ‘home.’ (Note: I’ve lived my whole life in NJ and never felt as at home as I did in SF.) One thing after the next kept me from moving there...and then eventually prices skyrocketed so much that it was no longer within my grasp to move there. My life feels incomplete. It IS a magical place, even though it has changed so much in the 30 years since I first visited. My heart will ALWAYS be in SF. 💖💔 😢🥺🌉🌁
This video made me cry. I'm so fortunate to have grown up here since the 90s and the video highlights so many charming sites still around today. This place will always be Home.
Wow, San Francisco was so much beautiful in this era. I was born in SF in 1965 grew up in North Beach near Fisherman' s Wharf and cable cars. So very fortunate.
Rob G. Actually, no vagrants. They would have been picked up. Mission Street and Folsom Street had plenty of flop houses. Fifty cents a night. Those were the days. Gas was 15 cents a gallon at Chevron and 12 cents a gallon at the Regal gas stations. We were so spoiled.
I was born in San Francisco in 1950, and very well could have been walking down Market St with my mother at the time this film was shot, as I would have been 5 years old and my mother and I used to take the bus downtown from our home near Mission/Valencia frequently and have lunch at the Woolworths lunch counter.. Great to see SF in its heyday.. So damn sad to hear how its gone to seed nowadays...
Rob G. You wouldn't have been running around with the ball cap beard and tee shirt. You would have frightened people. Back then only men running from the law hid behind a beard.
Carmen Peters I agree. They stuck to the area around Market Street, Mission & Folsom Streets. Plenty of $2 a night flophouses so not as many homeless. Nothing like now.
omg - the San Francisco of my childhood. Makes me so sad to see what has happened to it since this beautiful film. The only thing I do not remember is the skytram by the Cliff House. Pretty sure the polar bear is the same one I used to visit, shivering lip and all. Had lunch at the Woolworth's on Powell and Market a few times. Thanks for this walk down memory lane and I would love to have a copy of this film to show my adult kids what I'm talking about when I say I love MY "The City".
My aunt and uncle came out to San Francisco from Pittsburg Pa. and said it was the most beautiful city they have ever seen and they have been around the world.
I was born and raised in Pittsburgh (1953). In 1977 I visited San Francisco and fell in love with this city! Moved here in 1978 and still love it. It's my home.
What a great film! The narration and the music are perfect. All the sights are incredible, and it's so great seeing all those nice 1950s cars. My mother and father lived and worked in SF in the 1950s, and those were the greatest times for living there with all the great jazz music, etc. My father had been born in SF in 1934, a short time after construction had begun on the Golden Gate Bridge. I had relatives who lived there starting before the turn of the 20th century. What an amazing city it was until all the homeless problems and their tents, feces in the streets, etc. I sure hope they can help the homeless people off of the streets and clean up the great city to make it more like it used to be.
I never knew about the Sky Tram" WE lived in DALY City I was two YRS old" then.. Still learning things" 67 now. Born in 52. Born Again in 1980" .GOD BLESS..JOHN 3:16 LOL..Oneday" I'll be looking" About 30" or so FOREVER'😉
And in June or July of 1966, Sutro Bath burned to the ground, and just 6 years later, Playland at the Beach would be closed forever on Labor Day, and later razed & demolished 😫😩😡
I would have loved to have been around in this era. This shows what a magical place it was. Time changes everything and despite some of the challenges it has faced, San Francisco is still one of my favorite cities.
That was a terrible scandal. A real estate shark bought the land and promised an elegant boulevard like the French Riviera. Instead they built some tacky townhouses.
Remember Laughing Sal above the entrance to the Funhouse, and the big wooden slide where an attendant would give you a burlap sack to sit on for the ride down? - Tony Arioli
@K Chinatown was the one geographical region deeded by the city government and private property owners which allowed Chinese people to inherit and inhabit dwellings. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Chinese_Americans_in_San_Francisco
@K The Chinese Historical Society of America has exhibits at 965 Clay Street and online at chsa.org/ . Their new permanent exhibition _Chinese American: Exclusion/Inclusion_ chronicles the complex history of the Chinese in America, from the early days of the China trade to the history of Chinese immigration and the life of Chinese Americans. The exhibit is a recent gift from the Museum of Chinese in America. NBC Bay Area featured CHSA in a four-part episode at chsa.org/2017/01/nbc-features-chsa-in-the-story-of-chinese-american-immigrants-in-the-bay-area/ Paper Sons and Angel Island Immigration Station ua-cam.com/video/Hhc-om3SXKw/v-deo.html ua-cam.com/video/OMVzI4xpPp4/v-deo.html ua-cam.com/video/f_EQY-0ThOM/v-deo.html ua-cam.com/video/ZnpgiUY5ip4/v-deo.html ua-cam.com/video/RtQYhNuIXxQ/v-deo.html ua-cam.com/video/cW6f96SgknY/v-deo.html If you have relatives who were detained at Angel Island Immigration Station, those records are preserved at the National Archives in San Bruno. www.archives.gov/research/chinese-americans/guide The San Francisco History Center on the 6th floor of the SF Main Public Library is a good resource for San Francisco history. sfpl.org/locations/main-library/sf-history-center
And most of the restaurants there had signs advertising "Chop Suey," a Euro-American concoction. The restauranteurs started changing these signs to read "Chinese Cuisine" around 1967.
This is how I remember the city exactly! Born in 1946, my parents bought a new house in the avenues at a cost of $;9,000. They lived there 30 years. My grandmother lived at 623 Castro, and my aunt lived at 629 Clayton (Haight St right below). The bus system was great at 15 cents in a one-way direction. Three transfers were allowed. I use to complain about the waiting time to catch a bus, but now realize what a great system it was and so affordable. Playland & Fleischacker swimming pool and zoo were great bargains too. The pool was 10 cents, the zoo was free, and only 9 cents to get in the Fun House at Playland. We spent all day there. We had to walk, but that was perfectly ok. Traveling inside the city was safe, and there was only one bad area where drunks were, which was Third & Howard (skid row). Such a comparison to then and now.
San Francisco has been my home all my life! I love it here. It’s still beautiful and unique. Some things have changed for the better and some things have changed for the best...but no matter what, it’s definitely still San Francisco!
As a Native San Franciscan…this beautiful film warms the heart. It truly pains my heart to see what has become of The City. I try to avoid going there at all costs. It’s just too painful. I will watch this video again and again.
That screeching was dubbed-in sound effects. Unless you were driving really fast, there was no screeching (just the rattling of driving on bricks). The REAL eye opener was just 2 blocks south - Filbert street. Mid block it abruptly transitions from level to one of the steepest streets in the city. Anything over ~10mph and cars goes airborne. I launched over it several times as a teen in the '60's. I finally got 'wise' about how dangerous that was and stopped doing it. But then, 'Bullet' came out, and we did our best to copy the Steve McQueen stunts. This too was dangerous - but at least you could see what was ahead. In contrast, on Filbert, all you saw was your hood (horizontal), until the car landed on a STEEP downhill. So many copied the McQueen bit that the city installed barriers to prevent us from taking the hard left turn at the bottom of the roller coaster section. I laugh now, just thinking about it.
Oh my gosh, this was truly marvelous! Loved it, thank you for sharing! I have lived in San Francisco since 2015, and I have to admit, back in 1955, it looked like a much more manicured and lovely city ;-)
I moved to SF in 1987 and overall it looked just like that. Clean, clear, friendly and safe and lots of fun. BART was already in operation so there was no trans bay trains any more, but the streets were clean and people were so very friendly. I miss that so very much.
Loved it! I just know I am in there somewhere :). I was 3 years old. My Mom worked at Tarantino's Restaurant at Fisherman's Wharf. I saw part of the neighborhood my Grandparent's lived at on the north side of Golden Gate Park, and I definitely remember Play Land. Thanks for sharing this video.
Yep, Playland was great. I would have liked to have seen this show a picture of the 'Laughing Lady' at the entrance to the 'Fun House'. Alioto's was next to Tarantino's. Alioto was mayor of S.F. for years.
My husband a FilAm, grew up in Sa FRANCISCO. He said that San FRANCISCO was a wonderful place for a minority kids to grow up. No wonder they have so many San FRANCISCO faithful fans. Great video.
Wonderfull film! I worked and lived in SF in 1989-early 90 (survived the 1989 quake at 333 Bush Str.) and absolutely loved the city (lived on North Beach). It's my second best city after Moscow where I was born)
Moscow vs. S.F. What a contrast! I was in the south Bay during the Loma Prieta quake. My parent's house in S.F was modestly damaged. Can you recommend any UA-cam or other videos which highlight Moscow and how it beats S.F.? (long history will be one aspect)
This documentary really jogs one’s memory of a bygone era. It really was a different City back then. The DeYoung Museum, the Steinhardt Aquarium and the Jewish Community Center on California St. all had to be rebuilt from scratch after the earthquake of 1989.
I used to go to camp at the Jewish Community Center, in the late '60s. They offered day camps during the summer... basketball, tye dying, trips to Stinson Beach and Half Moon Bay... had a great time there as a kid.
thank you so much for this! i was born in the early 60's and i remember all those things, especially Playland and the Zoo! i lived near the Presidio off arguello blvd and clement st. i had a wonderful childhood..thank you again..
You are a very lucky man. I have wanted to live there most of my adult life and one thing or another kept me in New Jersey. Now it’s just too expensive and out of my grasp. I am so sad because it truly feels like “home“ when I am there and yet money (well, lack thereof) is standing between me and my dream. I play the lottery in hopes of winning a few million so I can move there. Appreciate every minute because despite all of the negative comments that everyone has, there are still plenty of people would love to live there!
San Francisco as it was in the mid-1950s, and highlights everything from the Cliff House (and the adjacent but long-defunct Sky Tram) to Fisherman’s Wharf - along with Telegraph Hill, City Hall, the Cable Car turnaround, a very squeaky ride down Lombard Street, the SF zoo, Golden Gate Park… and everything in between the (once record-breaking) spans of the Golden Gate and the San Francisco-Oakland Bay bridges.
It's amazing how much somethings still look the same. I grew up on the City, delivered the Chronicle in the morning and the Examiner after school. I used to cut school and catch the bus or walk to Candlestick too watch the Giants.
I used to love the Giants as a kid. My dad took me to my first baseball game at Seals Stadium right after the Giants moved to the City. When this film opens one of the first things I spotted were the stadium lights just to the left of the freeway. Some of the coldest nights of my life were at night games at Candlestick Park. Precious memories.
A fabulous film, bringing back memories of Playland at the Beach, how it was Dairyland atop of Twin Peaks and that the population count hasn't really changed that much. During a typical business day, our population doubles as people come to work, shop and enjoy both the natural wonders and excellent museums and wonders the City has to offer. Thank you!
oh my yes!!!! I was 5 years old, and my mother and I used to take the bus from our home near Mission/Valencia to downtown, and get on the Taraval (I believe it was, or maybe the Judah.. Memory fades after over 60 years) streetcar out to Playland then we'd go to the zoo... Such good times.....
All those old cars make me wanna go back to those days. I was a kid in San Francisco in the Sixties and I remember seeing two Nomads at somebody's house and I thought that was the coolest.
My mom grew up in the city as we locals call it She said San Francisco was wonderful in the 40s and 50s Thank you for a wonderful video Do you have any videos of the St Mary’s park area of San Francisco? That’s where my mom grew up
Play Land was nice and fun until the '60s began and then it gradually became rusty, filthy, gross, and dangerous. Perhaps it never recovered from the loss of its Big Dipper rickety old wooden roller-coaster.
![A Glimpse of San Francisco 1930s in color [60fps,Remastered] w/sound design added](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/-AZvlypStEw/mqdefault.jpg)
I was 5 at the time of this film. Grew up near the beach. I would take the streetcar downtown with my mom. From the fog we would burst through the tunnel at Market St.into the sun and a whole other world. There was an assortment of people, winos, bag ladies, legless men selling pencils, and a lot of hustle and bustle.
I remember the legless men selling pencils at Powell and Market. One man used to roll around on a wood platform with wheels. So, I'm not the only one who remember these men. Thanks for the comment!
I remember the blind fellow who would pencils in front of Woolworth's Store....I don't ever remember homeless person ever ...born and raised in San Francisco...🌁🌁🌁☕🍩🌻🌺🌺🌺⛵⛵🌎🌎🌎
My grandmother took me downtown on the bus every Saturday in the late 50's for ballet lessons and there was the legless man, the pencil sellers and a blind fellow at that end of Market Street. We'd have lunch at the Clinton cafeteria where they carved slices from a real turkey for my turkey sandwich.
I'm crying not because of the music but because how once this city used to be a heavenly place
I lived on 27th and Anza Street as a child. I was born in 1968 so I only remember the abandoned and dilapidated version of this. But my parents used to tell me stories about how they went there on their first dates and all the fun they used to have
Now it's heavenly homeless.
@@fjm1991 ooo neato! Is that some new ride or attraction?
I cry along with you. Weekend liberties from ET school werent numerous or long enuf.
Great memories of the Planetarium, the museum and Strawberry Lake; and a few visits to "The Port 'O Call" (maybe spelled wrong but its been 65 years).
The conditions I see in videos of the city now do not compare to what I remember walking 8+ mi up Market St to the park in 58.
How could they have done what they have done.?
I lived on 27 st n church on the late 70s early 80s what wonderful memories: I had a examiner route from Chenery st n 30th all the way to 24th n church st
For those of us who grew up in San Francisco during this time period, it was a wonderful flash back in time.
My Dad did and my mom in San Mateo, and it was magical.
@@DeanF San Mateo!!!
I wasn't born until 73.. but my childhood memories are a San Francisco like this... below sutro garden, there on the big rock "Playland By the Beach" painted above a big clown face. I knew I was born too late
When San Francisco was truly a beautiful and magical place. It really was like that.
The planks on the piers were crumbling.
Wish it was that nice now, it's just a dump now
@@williampendergast128 Literally... people are "dumping" all over the streets now. Watch where you step!
Its still a beautiful place
Right-wing propaganda. I'd take SF any day over some red state dump.
Ah, the San Francisco I used to love! I wish it was that clean and beautiful now!
Ray Lat It’s a little difficult to “ clean” an entire city when I live thousands of miles away and am a CEO, not a cleaning woman! What a sophomoric, inane comment to make. Keep mopping those floors at McDonald’s and good luck with that G.E.D. You need to study humor because you certainly don’t understand it!
So wonderful to see the native San Franciscans remember and cherished their favorite city I visited San Francisco, many times during my childhood, but I wasn't even born there. I hope they know that they are as much part of what San Francisco, was and hopefully San Francisco will once be beautiful again with no homeless encampment and no drugged people. And certainly NO MORE LITTER.
@@conniecrawford5231 ur recording a self reflection of what U are telling Ur inner cellular record what U communicate about ur cells ATP Kreb cycle to keep compressing ur own cellular Software coded Black Mirror to expose ur own record by what U communicate to urself that others learn who U really are
Thanks for exposing ur identity
Mu ah 💋🌈💜🌋
Let it go
Just let it go
It's the most beautiful city in the country.
It is. Turn off Fox.
I grew up in San Francisco in those days and it truly was magical. Wish I would have known it then, it was such a fragile and fun place to be. It was a clean and healthy place to be back then. goodbye my beautiful city by the bay.
I grew up there during that time too. Even the public schools were pristine, well stocked and the education was first-rate. We were so lucky!
@@SusannahPerri that time has gone forever, unfortunately
too bad ya'll voted Democrat.
@@leoraroman7656 Indeed.
I was there in 1960 while serving in the US Navy remember it very well..then ..sad to see what’s become of it now….
Ah beautiful San Francisco, before the dark times, before the well you know...
I was fortunate to live in San Francisco, on beautiful Russian Hill, for several years in the early 1970s. Our apartment building was a short walk from the cable car stop, a few blocks before the car headed past the Crookedest Street and then down the hill to Fisherman's Wharf.
San Franciso then was just about the same as what you can see in this movie. It was a lovely place, and an exhilarating time to be alive.
I lived there from age 19 to 25, so in a way I grew up there, became a man in San Francisco. As long as I have a memory, I will not forget the beauty of the town and the spirit of those heady days.
P.S. I never went to the zoo.
then came the drugs and ...ya sad very sad
Wonderful
Beautiful
Spectacular
Good ole days
Thank you
I was 8 years old when this was filmed and lived just south of the city. It was lovely back then but the bay was an open sewer. You couldn't swim or fish in it due to the pollution. Along the shore you could smell it. It is far cleaner now. The city has, however, lost that famous bohemian atmosphere.
They cleaned the sewage from the Bay and dumped it in the Tenderloin.
Bay is cleaner, but not so much the sidewalks.
??? The sewage some how made it in land to the streets of San Francisco now! San Francisco now is a lot dirtier for it citizens who walk the streets!
@@Agent77X It's Nancy Pelosi's district. How can she tell anyone how to run the Country when she can't help her district. She should be forced to fall on the sword.
@@dredned relax dood, we actually have lots of beautiful districts you might try visiting sometime instead of watching filtered propaganda designed to reinforce biases.
WHEN THIS FILM WAS MADE IN 1955, I WAS 10 YEARS OLD and my folks already had taken me to every place in this film. I loved the PLAYLAND, the MUSEUM, JAPANESE GARDENS and the ZOO. I remember almost every trip there when I see this video. Now it feels like part of my childhood has been taken away.
Its all still there. except for PlayLand
Surprise, you're no longer a child. It's the memories we keep that are important.
There are so many beautiful things still waiting to be seen and visited in San Francisco! Sure the world of 1955 is gone now but the city survives. When you seek out and enjoy it in 2022, the differences will melt away.
I was nine years old in 1955. Born and raised on 42nd Ave and Ulloa. We could walk to the zoo and the beach. The zoo was free admission back then. Sometimes we could hear the Howler monkeys Howling, or the Peacocks screaching, and the train whistle from our house. A few years later my friends and I could ride our bicycles to G.G. park to see the Aquarium an DeYoung museum, or Playland or Sutros baths (before it burned down) and the Cliff House. A great time to grow up in “The City.”
that time has gone forever, unfortunately
I loved the narrator's voice. He sounds so 1950s. I really enjoyed this. I'm a 64 year old San Francisco native. Some of the places in this film still look the same like the Civic Center area and the zoo. I rode on that little train in the 60s. Market Street has totally changed. A good percentage of the store fronts are empty. When I was a kid there were at least ten movie theaters on Market Street. They're all gone.
that time has gone forever, unfortunately
You forgot to inject the homeless, drug addicts, prostitutes in your Civic Center area… SF is a shell of what it once was. Democrats turn everything to shyte
As a native San Franciscan, (still living locally in Marin County), this film is a gem for me! Seeing familiar places I know well to this day, as they were when I was a child; some transformed, (like the Embarcadero), and some completely gone, (like Playland). I'm just so grateful for this!
There was also a Playland on Rockaway Beach in NYC during the Mad Men era. It closed in the 1980s. There were 3 amusement parks in the borough of Queens, NYC. And the only one left is in Coney Island Beach.
Micheal Landon nailed it when he said drugs would ruin this country.
Could people speak English then? I visited this summer, the Airport info staff could hardly help, and the hotel staff were the same! What happened?
This film is a treasure. So many fond memories. So much irreplaceable loss. I understand my father’s lament as he watched the world of his youth disappear forever.
This is how my generation feels about the '90s-the new '50s. Comfortable, clean, and nice compared to today.
@A Tangerine No, that just shows you how much society has fallen, in terms of eloquence. The more I learn about my genealogy, the more I realize that my Great-Grandfather, born 1900, was the hardest worker of my family, and that trait trickled down each generation. He is of the same generation as your grandfather. If anything you should take away from your perception, is that your grandfather is right, just like you are. Saying one person is wrong, and another person is right, over the same issue, in different consecutive timelines, is asinine. Is is the same problem continuing, over time.
@@Enigmatism415 by the 90s we were in trouble , i think the last great period to be alive was up to late 80s
@@cnfuzz Whatever trouble we had in the '90s, specifically the Clinton reign, was nothing compared to what was to come. It was the last decade where Brick & Mortar ruled absolutely, and the World Wide Web was but an optimistic niche curiosity.
Yea, I remember when you could just jump on a cable car to get to anther part of the city, those days are long gone.
Alcatraz was still in use when this was filmed.
@Donald and Hillary Trump The tour.
When I was 8yrs old in 1957, in Fisherman’s Wharf my Sister & I bought striped round prisoners hats that said “Vacationing at Alcatraz” on the front!
Yes, it was - the the federal government closed it in 1963. -Tony Arioli
Alcatraz was closed in 1963.
@@robertsmith1860 I had T shirts marked 'Alcatraz Swim Team'
I loved the shot of Hwy 101 at Hospital Curve. No traffic! And the shot of the very light traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge. And parking places available on Market Street?! Whoa! :-)
Shooting on Sunday morning will do that.
Man everything looks so peaceful
About the same population now as there was before
How about the two way traffic on the upper span on the bay bridge? The lower span had trains.
And no median guard rail on Hospital Curve.
I was born and raised in Oakland, but my parents met and married in San Francisco!❤️💕
Beautiful
this was a bittersweet trip down the memory lane!! Born and raised .....sigh. If i went back now I know i would spend the whole trip saying"I remember when....."
Karen Cohen I live in San Rafael now. Moved here in 1965. Our rent in Cow Hollow was about to shoot up to $165 dollars a month so Mom bought our house here.
The only time I (I’m 65) spend anytime in the City is when my son takes me to a Giants game at AT&T. Otherwise it doesn’t exist for me. I still love it in my memories of the 1950s and 1960s. Nowadays I just want to keep my distance.and admire it from a distance.
Remember the Colonial Bakery vans? They followed us up here to Marin. Like an old familiar friend. But then they disappeared along with the milkman and rinsing out milk bottles. Those were the days!
Shizue Hicks I grew up in Bret Harte area of San Rafael in the 60s
I remember it also was wonderful there also
My family lived in San Francisco when I was born, in North Beach and Twin Peaks. how different it is now. Still beautiful, still great, but ALOT more cars and people. there's alot more trees now. Sad that the DeYoung Museum and Steinhart Aquarium were torn down. The new museum doesn't have the same elegance.
I'm still here and I do that at least once every day.
Karen Cohen yes SF was very beautiful back then and it is still now
This is like a whole different world than today
XXtheJUMPoffXX It’s shit today!!
@@hectormoran8249 YOU ARE SHIT, BOY.
Lots of it is still there. Some things have changed.. When the Cable Car is going over Nob Hill, you can see an old Chevron Station, which was across the street from Grace Cathedral, that's now The Masonic.
San Francisoc was known as the BEAUTIFUL BIG AMEEICAN CITY. Not New York...ever😞
The World is the same. It's Human Beings that have changed.
I was born there in 54, so seeing home is great! Thanks!
This film should be restored by the city for historic value. Because the format and quality can more easily be fixed, and made to 4K even and fixes like stilling film jitter and historic still images re-inserted. Lucasfilm or such should do that. They could enhance or re-cast the voiceover and music, running filters for color and contrast, sharpening and image noise reduction. It is worth it for the city to have such a great document.
I also have high quality color photos I digitized of the time and print if anyone is interested. Lombard, Masonic, bridges and more all 20" X 20" art prints from 2.5" transparencies. All great memories!
The film is okay the way it is it doesn't need any tampering.
I don’t think the gang running SF is into the past other than possibly history revision.
I was born in San Francisco in 1947. A great city then. Miss those times.
@@dr.migalitoloveless1651 The film is deteriorated. It could stand to be restored.
@@johnhoward3042 Spot on. If anything, they'd prefer this evidence be destroyed.
How awesome the city was then.
Yeah, because you can totally believe a film from the '50s, meant to encourage tourism, will tell you the whole story of how it was back then...lol.
You said it WAS!!!! now it's garbage full of traffic homeless and expensive as FUCK....
@@CesarHernandez-gn4sy san francisco has always, I mean always, had that problem. Well, not right after the place burned down.
Ken Bob not a tourism film. Advertisement for the Bell & Howell Filmorama camera and lens. Camera companies do this all the time. Obv can’t be depressing, but definitely not a tourism video.
Paula Harris Baca now it’s just blue hair and tear gas
Ah, San Francisco! Immortal and unchanging! This was the San Francisco of my youth (freshman at San Francisco State [in those days] College).
The cars are different, but most of SF is the same. It is eternal! I am so lucky to have been born here, lived here and will probably die here (83).
The sad note for me is Playland at the beach: so many memories and it is gone forever! Bless you forever San Francisco!
You hate it, but once you've had it you can't live without it
@@tablo1394 ???????????????????
@@leoinsf When people first move in the city can feel overwelmkng, but once you've been there for a bit it's hard to leave
@@tablo1394 Tablo: I agree completely!! The weather, the location, etc. makes San Francisco completely addictive!
Was William Randolph Hearst from San Francisco?
Lombard Street with drum brakes!
Those people had guts to do that.
I remember Playland in its seedier days, right before the end.
No Giants yet...still in NY at the time. Can't say that gorgeous city has changed for the better. Notice the well ordered, well dressed people, even at the zoo?
My father always had a sport coat (at least), his cigarette case, lighter, handkerchief, billfold, and gum. Never went out without a hat.
I always wear brimmed mens hats, in his honour, and I get compliments from the baseball cap wearers. Can't imagine why folks today don't dress well. We have a responsibility as citizens to better society by behaving and looking proper.
"Can't imagine why folks today don't dress well. We have a responsibility as citizens to better society by behaving and looking proper."
My initial reaction to that was...
"People need to find their own reasons to dress well."
But then, I extrapolated that reasoning to...
"Can't imagine why folks don't wear a mask and get vaccinated during a pandemic. We have a responsibility as citizens to prevent the spread of Covid by masking up and vaxxing up."
I certainly would not react to that by saying...
"People need to find their own reasons to wear a mask and get vaccinated during a pandemic."
So should the pandemic of "not dressing well" since the 1960's be compared to the pandemic of Covid-19?
Probably the best 20 minutes of my spare time...I really enjoyed the video. Almost like a time machine. Thank you.
Being a S.F. native, as was my late dad...I was 13 years of age when this film was released. As young as I was, I remember all of these views...truly a beautiful city and era!! Note the traffic! Cars WERE cars back then, not computers on wheels...about as interesting as washing machines...even washers of 1955 were more interesting...and almost everything was MADE IN USA!!!
So sad. San Francisco is in the news all the time, but non of these wonderful things are ever mentioned.
Folk flocked to Dan Francisco because of its tolerance for diversity. Unlike Los Angeles San Francisco looked like a BIG CITY but clean unlike frightening New York😞
@K I think you're right, K. We are always nostalgic for times before our own. I lived in SF many years ago (1984-1992) and slowly had to give up my hold on the city and let it go. Think of how many hundreds of thousands of people have come and gone from that once-great city!
I was 3 years old in 1955 living in San Francisco with my mom and dad. I miss all of this dearly! Beautiful job!
Sister Diane😃I'm a 1952 baby too!.. ( from Daly city)
.🌹
@@johnmorgan2619 I’ve lived in the Bay Area all my life. My dad lived in Daly City for a time
@@corvettedm1 ... didn't get to D.C.". until I was 5..
.
Went to JEFFERSON HIGH
.
grad"..in 1970..
.
HUGE difference..
Looks like old parts of
S.F"..😳
I was born in SF the year this was filmed. I do miss this beautiful place.
This was my parent's San Francisco - they loved it, and took us back may times as small kids after they moved to the East Bay. Lovely city, sadly gone.
Every year we visit SF. We fly direct from Amsterdam. I take my bike accesoires with me and hike to The Dutch Mill, from there up to the Golden Gate bridge, Sauselito, take the tunnel and uphill to GG view point. I feel sooo lucky being a human being to enjoy all of this. Its like coming home every year 😊
Live in San Francisco now and it’s so cool seeing all these places looking the same even like 70 years ago!
This is gold. I live very close to Play Land, or as it is called now, Safeway.
Safeway...lol
Yep. What I missed seeing here was the 'Fun House' and the 'Laughing Lady' at its entrance.
@@gregparrottlaughing Sally
@@GandlafTheWhite Ah yes. You have a good memory.
@@gregparrott did you go to Topsys Roost?
@@GandlafTheWhite I don't remember that name, so I looked it up. As best I can tell, that was closed long before I was born.
(In other words, I'm not THAT old.)
I lived in the City from '84 to '97. It was not as nice as this, but still beautiful and livable. My first apartment was $300 a month for a one bedroom in the Sunset. Crab cocktails and sourdough bread at Fishermans Wharf was 75 cents. By the time I left, it was becoming unaffordable and increasingly dirty. I was back about 3 years ago for a visit. Soul-less, money grubbing, and parts of it look like Calcutta with street beggars and excrement on the sidewalks especially around City Hall area. Broke my heart to see it as it is now. I'm grateful to have experienced at least some of what made San Francisco magical. Thanks for posting this video. Makes me want to step in a time machine and go back to San Francisco of the 60's. Think I'll watch Hitchcock's "Vertigo" again.
John, You nail it! I feel the same way. We got here in 68' it was such a nice time then. This video brings back good memories. Vertigo was Da Bomb! Still is to me. Cheers my Friend!
Nice!
I grew up near San Francisco. (Born 1954), the City still had most of these scenics.
Sweeet
I was stationed at the old Alameda Naval Air Station (just south of S.F.) on the USS Oriskany in 1975. 18 years old. Used to go to S.F. on liberty. It was a beautiful city back then.
East of...................
@@death2pc East is correct.
Oh Lordy! Those streets are super clean! When people respected themselves and their city.
So much has changed and yet so much has stayed the same !! I left my heart.....
My thoughts; exactly. Mostly the same, but more crowded.
This sums it up perfectly! So much remains the same but yes, more tourists, more Uber’s, more crowded these days. I still love SF.
I thought the same thing. Not a whole lot has really changed, but of course, the downtown area would be unrecognizable if someone from 1955 were to appear in 2019.
It is nice to see pictures of "The City" of my youth. Visiting San Francisco was always a treat back then. That is how I prefer to remember it.
I really enjoyed this glimpse back in time.
Wow Aliotos is still there And so is fisherman's grotto what a trip The crab steam pots are still there also I get crab sandwiches from there all the time
Best Crab Sandwiches bar none.
Aliotos crab is mm mmm the best. Served properly in the restaurant with a glass of chilled white wine and the famous sourdough, is a special treat.
@@bogieboog you got that right. Nothing beats Dungeness crab and sourdough French bread 🦀🥖
I didn't move there until 1963 but that is the city I remember growing up in. Amazing to see the light traffic back then.
So great to see this preserved memory of my distant childhood and the city that always captured and held my imagination. San Francisco was magical in the 50s and 60s. It was terrific playground for a young guy coming to terms with his identity. I haven't been to the city in thirty years and can't imagine what it is like now considering how much Seattle has changed since I first came to the Northwest in 1987. I am pleased to be able to watch this film and remember something long past but fixed in my memory of how life in California was long ago. It was a privilege to be able to live in that time and place. It is easy to see how someone could leave their heart there.
Wow, you are so fortunate. I moved to San Francisco, in 1993 after experiencing hell in Concord. And I never knew how wonderful it was before the homeless took control of everything. I wish it could go back to being beautiful once again. I was born in New York City, in 1965 and by then in 1955, I think my mom was uh, in high school or boarding school, or something. I don't recall It because I wasn't born during that year.
This tour of SF looks a lot like what I'd show people when they visit the city. The palace of fine art, golden gate bridge/park, coit tower, twin peaks, fishermans wharf, twin peaks... Much of the city looks the same. Amazing you can say that about 65 years later. This tells me that by 2085, the city won't look all that different, with all the same key landmarks, but just a bit more modern.
SF native. I love my beautiful city... Just needs a little love and cleaning and planning so everyone can be happy.
O. W. Have you ever stepped in any human feces?
Olivia Who Knows , it's a complete disaster area. Embarrassment to humanity. Deep down you know this is true.
matt6360 with that logic many things are very wrong and shameful
O. H. W.: The SF area has long led the radical march toward socialism in America, and is suffering the inescapable impacts thereof. Sadly no amount of “love or cleaning” will cure what is destroying it from within. It’s a cancer that’s systematically consumed the initiative, determination, and drive of everyday people causing those folks able to escape, to relocate away from the area. This has left only the very rich who are able to insulate themselves from the resultant mayhem and filth on the streets, and of course, those many thousands of the permanent underclass who are living in absolute squalor, or in subsidized areas largely dependent on government assistance. Often these two are the ones who because of their sad conditions, are routinely causing mayhem and contributing to the filth on the streets. If you want to clean up SF, you’ll need to reject socialism, communism, globalism and the like, and begin making people individually accountable as they were in 1955. Return to teaching kids the fundamentals in schools and eliminating all remnants of Socialist philosophy in secondary and higher education while encouraging prayer in the schools again. This won’t be easy given all the many footholds established by Satan there, but its a simple blueprint that will pay dividends. Good luck, and God bless!
Sorry but SF is a city that allows public defacation, public drug consumption and trash in its streets...but their focus is banning vaping. Something that keeps cig butts off the already filthy streets despite what you feel about it. Skewed priorities, just like my city of Los Angeles.
Its no wonder the 50s of america are beloved so much. Everthing is clean and beautiful. No bums roaming thd streets. All the roads are big and new with minimal traffic. Just enough modern conveniences but not a glut of obnoxious advertising and useless techno gadgets. Just the right amount of people not too lonely but plenty of room. Truly a golden age. America in its prime. Hopefully we can return our country to its former glory!!
Post-war, Baby Boomer America might have been the greatest period in our country's history. It's extremely sad to watch this footage and compare it with the city of today. It's like viewing a different planet.
@r3alrand0m So, you live in Sacramento?
No way the country will ever be the same again. Sure it was far from ideal back then, that's life anywhere, but U.S. cities have declined to such an extent with ever increasing homeless, drug addicts, obesity in the average citizen, lack of civic pride etc., the "golden age" in now forever in the past.
@@paullewis2413 that true I'm afraid the golden age is gone forever
Good luck on that one
Before I read the comments, I knew that 90% of them were going to about how shitty it is now. lol
You got that right! They have completely destroyed that City.
That’s because it is!!! Liberals make all poor people poorer, and rich people richer! Just like San Fran and L.A.
@@omi_god You know you are wrong. If it was simply greed , why is EVERY poor city Deomcrat run. The only big city in CA without a homeless problem is San Diego. Guess the party of the mayor
Vikram Parmar bigger cities make democrats. Bigger cities also happen to make homeless problems. They are not related. San Diego is not big enough to be subject to this effect, elsewhere it would, but it’s location is overshadowed by LA
@@tablo1394 why do bigger cities make democrats? is there a reason that you can think of? ...perhaps the ultra-wealthy in these cities would like to create chaos and poverty, allowing them to keep their upper class status. And what party would be the perfect one to create disasters? Venezuela, soviet Union, China....the list goes on and on....
It’s very interesting. My mom was born in San Francisco in 1951, and she’s not nearly as negative about where it is today as some other of her fellow boomers. My sister and I have both lived in the city from roughly 2002-2018 before moving to the east bay for a slower tempo. While the city has its problems my mother always has a good things to say of her birth city. We have fun family photos of SF from the 1880s to present day. I think that puts it into perspective that change is inevitable, and wishing for “things to go back to the old days” is a futile exercise.
You nailed it...I feel the same way as your Mom does about my hometown.
Great perspective. It certainly has its problems, some of which are of the "victim of its own success" variety (e.g., high housing prices because so many people want to love there), but it's still a beautiful, historic, vibrant, creative city.
Nice comment, beautiful picture! Please, don't mind my avatar. 😁
Nah...it’s one thing to reminisce about the old days...it’s entirely another when liberals managed to completely destroy the culture in less than 3 decades.
@@camwhitman5425Nah! Wrong! It's us liberals who make this city such a desirable place to live. The one point I keep coming back to that morons like you can't seem to get through their thick skulls is, San Francisco remains the number one tourist destination in the world and, the most sought after place to live in the world. So, there's your proof that you haven't a clue sonny.
My first trip to SF was in 1992 when my brother moved there. From the moment I stepped off the plane, I felt that I was ‘home.’ (Note: I’ve lived my whole life in NJ and never felt as at home as I did in SF.) One thing after the next kept me from moving there...and then eventually prices skyrocketed so much that it was no longer within my grasp to move there. My life feels incomplete. It IS a magical place, even though it has changed so much in the 30 years since I first visited. My heart will ALWAYS be in SF. 💖💔 😢🥺🌉🌁
This video made me cry. I'm so fortunate to have grown up here since the 90s and the video highlights so many charming sites still around today. This place will always be Home.
Something magical and wonderful lost forever.
I love that there was always parking in 1955!
Wow, San Francisco was so much beautiful in this era. I was born in SF in 1965 grew up in North Beach near Fisherman' s Wharf and cable cars. So very fortunate.
SF looked so good back then. No crackheads. Minimal vagrants and tourists. No techies. I would've loved to here in those times.
Rob G. Actually, no vagrants. They would have been picked up. Mission Street and Folsom Street had plenty of flop houses. Fifty cents a night. Those were the days. Gas was 15 cents a gallon at Chevron and 12 cents a gallon at the Regal gas stations. We were so spoiled.
I was born in San Francisco in 1950, and very well could have been walking down Market St with my mother at the time this film was shot, as I would have been 5 years old and my mother and I used to take the bus downtown from our home near Mission/Valencia frequently and have lunch at the Woolworths lunch counter.. Great to see SF in its heyday.. So damn sad to hear how its gone to seed nowadays...
Rob G. You wouldn't have been running around with the ball cap beard and tee shirt. You would have frightened people. Back then only men running from the law hid behind a beard.
@@shizuehicks7442 BS. There were plenty of wine-os on the street.
Carmen Peters I agree. They stuck to the area around Market Street, Mission & Folsom Streets. Plenty of $2 a night flophouses so not as many homeless. Nothing like now.
omg - the San Francisco of my childhood. Makes me so sad to see what has happened to it since this beautiful film. The only thing I do not remember is the skytram by the Cliff House. Pretty sure the polar bear is the same one I used to visit, shivering lip and all. Had lunch at the Woolworth's on Powell and Market a few times. Thanks for this walk down memory lane and I would love to have a copy of this film to show my adult kids what I'm talking about when I say I love MY "The City".
seriousearthling I remember the Woolworth’s cheesecake,Blue Waltz perfume, the deli counter.
@@donnaaveni Yes! Blue Waltz perfume! Now that's a trip down memory lane.
Woolworth was still open?? My roommate worked the lunch counter. She had so much fun
My aunt and uncle came out to San Francisco from Pittsburg Pa. and said it was the most beautiful city they have ever seen and they have been around the world.
It really was with all the hills and CLEANESS😍
I was born and raised in Pittsburgh (1953). In 1977 I visited San Francisco and fell in love with this city! Moved here in 1978 and still love it. It's my home.
What a great film! The narration and the music are perfect. All the sights are incredible, and it's so great seeing all those nice 1950s cars. My mother and father lived and worked in SF in the 1950s, and those were the greatest times for living there with all the great jazz music, etc. My father had been born in SF in 1934, a short time after construction had begun on the Golden Gate Bridge. I had relatives who lived there starting before the turn of the 20th century. What an amazing city it was until all the homeless problems and their tents, feces in the streets, etc. I sure hope they can help the homeless people off of the streets and clean up the great city to make it more like it used to be.
Even I can see the 1940’s cars driving by too.
The Skytram was from 1955 to 1966. Interesting, I'm a native and never knew that. Took you from the Cliff House to Point Lobos.
That was new to me. I remember Playland well, but not the tram.
@@robert3302 Me too, I showed up in 1966, and I do have some stories...
I never knew about the
Sky Tram"
WE lived in DALY City
I was two YRS old" then..
Still learning things"
67 now. Born in 52.
Born Again in 1980"
.GOD BLESS..JOHN 3:16
LOL..Oneday" I'll be looking"
About 30" or so FOREVER'😉
And in June or July of 1966, Sutro Bath burned to the ground, and just 6 years later, Playland at the Beach would be closed forever on Labor Day, and later razed & demolished 😫😩😡
I so love these old photos! What a joy! Beautiful memories!
I would have loved to have been around in this era. This shows what a magical place it was. Time changes everything and despite some of the challenges it has faced, San Francisco is still one of my favorite cities.
As a child of the '60's, I had the fortune of visiting SF many times. It's still magical to me. Even today!
As kids we were totally upset when they closed down Playland at the Beach
That was a terrible scandal. A real estate shark bought the land and promised an elegant boulevard like the French Riviera. Instead they built some tacky townhouses.
Remember Laughing Sal above the entrance to the Funhouse, and the big wooden slide where an attendant would give you a burlap sack to sit on for the ride down? - Tony Arioli
Loved the outside slide with the burlap sacks you had to sit on.
@@yoncalla44 --- Laughing Sal is at Fisherman's Wharf now.
Penny Arcade is not at Fisherman's Warf, thankfully it was preserved.
I loved hearing about Chinatown: the "Oriental Community!" The trite exotic music and cymbals in the background are priceless.
Ethnic Chinese were prohibited from buying any real estate outside of Chinatown when this film was made. The ordinance was finally repealed in 1960.
@K Chinatown was the one geographical region deeded by the city government and private property owners which allowed Chinese people to inherit and inhabit dwellings. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Chinese_Americans_in_San_Francisco
@K Born, raised, and still live in.
@K The Chinese Historical Society of America has exhibits at 965 Clay Street and online at chsa.org/ . Their new permanent exhibition _Chinese American: Exclusion/Inclusion_ chronicles the complex history of the Chinese in America, from the early days of the China trade to the history of Chinese immigration and the life of Chinese Americans. The exhibit is a recent gift from the Museum of Chinese in America.
NBC Bay Area featured CHSA in a four-part episode at chsa.org/2017/01/nbc-features-chsa-in-the-story-of-chinese-american-immigrants-in-the-bay-area/
Paper Sons and Angel Island Immigration Station
ua-cam.com/video/Hhc-om3SXKw/v-deo.html
ua-cam.com/video/OMVzI4xpPp4/v-deo.html
ua-cam.com/video/f_EQY-0ThOM/v-deo.html
ua-cam.com/video/ZnpgiUY5ip4/v-deo.html
ua-cam.com/video/RtQYhNuIXxQ/v-deo.html
ua-cam.com/video/cW6f96SgknY/v-deo.html
If you have relatives who were detained at Angel Island Immigration Station, those records are preserved at the National Archives in San Bruno. www.archives.gov/research/chinese-americans/guide
The San Francisco History Center on the 6th floor of the SF Main Public Library is a good resource for San Francisco history. sfpl.org/locations/main-library/sf-history-center
And most of the restaurants there had signs advertising "Chop Suey," a Euro-American concoction. The restauranteurs started changing these signs to read "Chinese Cuisine" around 1967.
This is how I remember the city exactly! Born in 1946, my parents bought a new house in the avenues at a cost of $;9,000. They lived there 30 years. My grandmother lived at 623 Castro, and my aunt lived at 629 Clayton (Haight St right below). The bus system was great at 15 cents in a one-way direction. Three transfers were allowed. I use to complain about the waiting time to catch a bus, but now realize what a great system it was and so affordable. Playland & Fleischacker swimming pool and zoo were great bargains too. The pool was 10 cents, the zoo was free, and only 9 cents to get in the Fun House at Playland. We spent all day there. We had to walk, but that was perfectly ok. Traveling inside the city was safe, and there was only one bad area where drunks were, which was Third & Howard (skid row). Such a comparison to then and now.
San Francisco has been my home all my life! I love it here. It’s still beautiful and unique. Some things have changed for the better and some things have changed for the best...but no matter what, it’s definitely still San Francisco!
A beautiful time for California and America. Very different from today.
As a Native San Franciscan…this beautiful film warms the heart. It truly pains my heart to see what has become of The City. I try to avoid going there at all costs. It’s just too painful. I will watch this video again and again.
As a young native, I appreciate this video. Thank you
Love the screeching tires on those slow-moving old jalopies trying to make it down Lombard St.
That screeching was dubbed-in sound effects. Unless you were driving really fast, there was no screeching (just the rattling of driving on bricks). The REAL eye opener was just 2 blocks south - Filbert street. Mid block it abruptly transitions from level to one of the steepest streets in the city.
Anything over ~10mph and cars goes airborne. I launched over it several times as a teen in the '60's. I finally got 'wise' about how dangerous that was and stopped doing it.
But then, 'Bullet' came out, and we did our best to copy the Steve McQueen stunts. This too was dangerous - but at least you could see what was ahead. In contrast, on Filbert, all you saw was your hood (horizontal), until the car landed on a STEEP downhill.
So many copied the McQueen bit that the city installed barriers to prevent us from taking the hard left turn at the bottom of the roller coaster section.
I laugh now, just thinking about it.
Oh my gosh, this was truly marvelous! Loved it, thank you for sharing! I have lived in San Francisco since 2015, and I have to admit, back in 1955, it looked like a much more manicured and lovely city ;-)
What a great film thank you.
I moved to SF in 1987 and overall it looked just like that. Clean, clear, friendly and safe and lots of fun. BART was already in operation so there was no trans bay trains any more, but the streets were clean and people were so very friendly. I miss that so very much.
Wow. SF was once so beautiful and Clean.
America’s most beautiful city!
The world's most beautiful city.
I remember going to playland in the 60's as a kid. We just loved the funhouse.
I drove cab in "The City" for 30+ years. I always told my riders I learned my driving skills at the bumper cars at Playland. Thing is, it's true...
Lived and worked in America in 70’s in LA and loved American- it was amazing and so saddened how it s today!
Loved it! I just know I am in there somewhere :). I was 3 years old. My Mom worked at Tarantino's Restaurant at Fisherman's Wharf. I saw part of the neighborhood my Grandparent's lived at on the north side of Golden Gate Park, and I definitely remember Play Land. Thanks for sharing this video.
Yep, Playland was great. I would have liked to have seen this show a picture of the 'Laughing Lady' at the entrance to the 'Fun House'.
Alioto's was next to Tarantino's. Alioto was mayor of S.F. for years.
I was just there and it's just as beautiful as ever.
Home.....so clean and beautiful. Those days are forever gone.
I wish we had a time machine
My husband a FilAm, grew up in Sa FRANCISCO. He said that San FRANCISCO was a wonderful place for a minority kids to grow up. No wonder they have so many San FRANCISCO faithful fans. Great video.
Wonderfull film! I worked and lived in SF in 1989-early 90 (survived the 1989 quake at 333 Bush Str.) and absolutely loved the city (lived on North Beach). It's my second best city after Moscow where I was born)
Moscow vs. S.F. What a contrast! I was in the south Bay during the Loma Prieta quake. My parent's house in S.F was modestly damaged.
Can you recommend any UA-cam or other videos which highlight Moscow and how it beats S.F.? (long history will be one aspect)
That was ONE year before I was born in. 1965..... That is absolutely incredible . Breathtaking!!!!
This documentary really jogs one’s memory of a bygone era. It really was a different City back then. The DeYoung Museum, the Steinhardt Aquarium and the Jewish Community Center on California St. all had to be rebuilt from scratch after the earthquake of 1989.
Also when admission to the first two you mentioned was free. -Tony Arioli
I used to go to camp at the Jewish Community Center, in the late '60s. They offered day camps during the summer... basketball, tye dying, trips to Stinson Beach and Half Moon Bay... had a great time there as a kid.
I thank you so much for showing how SF was back than. I was born in 63, grew up in the 70’s 80’s before I left for good
Everybody had good clothes on when they were downtown back then. Not today!
To wear good clothes today in the city is akin to putting your hands up and saying "rob me!" -Tony Arioli
@@yoncalla44 Npt true, i wear nice clothes every day and have never been robbed.
I love watching this old video footage of an earlier San Francisco.
Wow!!!!!!! An undeveloped Twin Peaks! Mind blown
And the area to the southeast of it (now called Diamond Heights) was open, except for a couple of radio antennas.
thank you so much for this! i was born in the early 60's and i remember all those things, especially Playland and the Zoo! i lived near the Presidio off arguello blvd and clement st. i had a wonderful childhood..thank you again..
I live here born an raised 1961 an i ain't going anywhere else !!👍😍❤
You are a very lucky man. I have wanted to live there most of my adult life and one thing or another kept me in New Jersey. Now it’s just too expensive and out of my grasp. I am so sad because it truly feels like “home“ when I am there and yet money (well, lack thereof) is standing between me and my dream. I play the lottery in hopes of winning a few million so I can move there. Appreciate every minute because despite all of the negative comments that everyone has, there are still plenty of people would love to live there!
I left my heart.....in San Francisco.....I remember when it was one of the greatest and most beautiful cities in the world.
San Francisco as it was in the mid-1950s, and highlights everything from the Cliff House (and the adjacent but long-defunct Sky Tram) to Fisherman’s Wharf - along with Telegraph Hill, City Hall, the Cable Car turnaround, a very squeaky ride down Lombard Street, the SF zoo, Golden Gate Park… and everything in between the (once record-breaking) spans of the Golden Gate and the San Francisco-Oakland Bay bridges.
@K Is it true that your streets are mass public latrines?
@@badreality2 No - a lot of right-wing propaganda.
@@yoncalla44 That seems like some "shitty" propaganda. lol
It's amazing how much somethings still look the same. I grew up on the City, delivered the Chronicle in the morning and the Examiner after school. I used to cut school and catch the bus or walk to Candlestick too watch the Giants.
Francisco Venegas jr. My grandfather worked for the SF newspaper in charge of circulation back then.
I used to love the Giants as a kid. My dad took me to my first baseball game at Seals Stadium right after the Giants moved to the City. When this film opens one of the first things I spotted were the stadium lights just to the left of the freeway. Some of the coldest nights of my life were at night games at Candlestick Park. Precious memories.
A fabulous film, bringing back memories of Playland at the Beach, how it was Dairyland atop of Twin Peaks and that the population count hasn't really changed that much. During a typical business day, our population doubles as people come to work, shop and enjoy both the natural wonders and excellent museums and wonders the City has to offer. Thank you!
oh my yes!!!! I was 5 years old, and my mother and I used to take the bus from our home near Mission/Valencia to downtown, and get on the Taraval (I believe it was, or maybe the Judah.. Memory fades after over 60 years) streetcar out to Playland then we'd go to the zoo... Such good times.....
@@lvsluggo007 it was the N. Judah.
@@lvsluggo007 The L Taraval streetcar takes you to the zoo. The 5 McAllister electric trolleybus takes you to Playland.
Any kid who lived around that time remembers laughing Sal to this day
She gave me nightmares when I was child..lol
All those old cars make me wanna go back to those days. I was a kid in San Francisco in the Sixties and I remember seeing two Nomads at somebody's house and I thought that was the coolest.
Such a clean classy town in those days! Not anymore!
Very happy people took the time to film life in different eras of our country.
My mom grew up in the city as we locals call it
She said San Francisco was wonderful in the 40s and 50s
Thank you for a wonderful video
Do you have any videos of the St Mary’s park area of San Francisco?
That’s where my mom grew up
I now live in that neighborhood and it is so peaceful and pretty.
My mother was born in Napa in 23 but moved to the City in the 30's sometime. She always loved going back to the city for visits.
Notice the lack of litter on the streets and highways?
I used to go to St Mary's gym.
Have lived in the St. Mary's Park area since 1950. Great neighborhood! Great people!
Man, now this is San Francisco at it's best. Today, of course, the city has been turned into a cesspool.
I wish Play Land was still there. It would be nice to have a good old carnival-style amusement park here in the city. That roller coaster was huge!
Play Land was nice and fun until the '60s began and then it gradually became rusty, filthy, gross, and dangerous. Perhaps it never recovered from the loss of its Big Dipper rickety old wooden roller-coaster.
That Laughing mechanical Clown staring down Playland STILL haunts me😳!
Playland just like POP (Pacific Ocean Park) Long Beach Southern California. So sad.
@@Enigmatism415 I think that the Big Dipper was closed in or around 1956. -Tony Arioli
@@Enigmatism415 Well at least you can still ride 'Big Dipper' in Santa Cruz, and they have the best merry go round that I know of.