California - San Francisco, UFO Over the Bridge at Night

UFO over San Francisco
Oakland By Bridge

Photo: Karl Cohen 1987

California - San Francisco, Palace of Fine Arts, Exploratorium and Bridge

San Francisco
The majestic Palace of Fine Arts, and the Exploratorium, with the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance.
Photo by Bernard Andre

2015

California - San Francisco Hill and Alcatraz Island

Cable Car, San Francisco Hill and Alcatraz Island
A typical San Francisco scene.  The Cable Car climbing the steep Hyde Street Hill.  Alcatraz and the San Francisco Bay in the background.

Color by John H. Atkinson, Jr
1978

California - San Francisco Earthquake of 1906

San Francisco
In the early morning of April 18, 1906 San Francisco was struck by one of the largest earthquakes recorded in North America.

This is a reproduction postcard from 2009.

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The sender writes:

My grandmother experienced the 1906 quake and fire.  She slept in Golden Gate Park with her family.

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In the aftermath of the earthquake, an estimated 75,000 citizens simply left San Francisco. The remaining homeless population of 250,000 established makeshift camps in park areas and amidst the burnt-out ruins of city buildings. As fires burned across the eastern side of the city, refugees migrated west towards Golden Gate Park and the Presidio seeking food and shelter. Eventually, the Army would house 20,000 refugees in military-style tent camps.

California - San Francisco - Multiview

San Francisco Highlights

Photos by Ken Glaser, Jr.
Top Right Photo: Sandor Balatoni
2009

California - San Francisco, Golden Gate

Triumphal Arch, Golden Gate
International Exposition
San Francisco

Triumphal Arch between the Court of Reflection and the Court of the Flowers at the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition on Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay.

California - San Francisco with Full Moon

San Francisco

Moon over San Francisco.  The victorians on Alamo Square are illuminated by a twilight glow.

Photo by Ken Glaser, Jr.

California - San Francisco, Chinatown, Then and Now

Chinatown
Then and Now

San Francisco, California
2010

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San Francisco's Chinatown is the oldest Chinatown in North America and one of "the largest Chinese communities outside Asia".  Since its establishment in the 1840s, it has been highly important and influential in the history and culture of ethnic Chinese immigrants to the United States and North America.

Chinatown is, by no means, a chintzy tourist trap. In fact, it is a living, breathing, and thriving enclave that continues to retain its own customs, languages, places of worship, social clubs, and identity. Popularly known as a "city-within-a-city", it has developed its own government, traditions, over 300 restaurants, and as many shops. There are two hospitals, numerous parks and squares, a post office and other infrastructure. Visitors easily become immersed in a microcosmic Asian world, filled with herbal shops, temples, pagoda roofs and dragon parades. 

California - San Francisco, Alcatraz Island

Alcatraz Island

San Francisco Bay

Western Shore, US Penitentiary Alcatraz, ca. 1950

During the island's years as a federal prison (1934 - 1963), many escapees headed for its rocky western shoreline, from which they would launch themselves toward the glittering lights of San Francisco, and freedom.  

This postcard is postmarked in 2014 and has an ink stamp on the back from Alcatraz featuring a pelican with the words, 'Alcatraz is Spanish for "pelican".  

(see the photo below)

California - San Francisco - Golden Gate Bridge in 3D

Golden Gate Bridge in Fog
Golden Gate Bridge at Sunrise

The Golden Gate Bridge - an engineering marvel - is visible from many locations in the Golden Gate National Parks.  These dramatic views were taken from the Marin Headlands.

This is a 3-D postcard.
2014

California - San Francisco, Golden Gate Bridge

San Francisco
A carpet of fragrant flowers combine with the majestic Golden gate Bridge to create a breathtaking scene.
1988

California - San Francisco, Chinatown

Chinatown
San Francisco
At the intersection of California Street and Grant Avenue, a cable car heads toward the financial district with Chinatown in the background.
1988

California - San Francisco, Oakland Bay Bridge

San Francisco - Oakland Bay Bridge

Designed and constructed by the Dept. of Public Works of the State of California, this magnificent structure was completed in 1937.  It spans the broad waters of East and West Bay and is 8 miles in length from the ends of the east and west approaches.  Its double decks feature a 6 lane automobile highway on the upper, and three truck lanes and two interurban tracks on the lower. 

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San Francisco - Oakland Bay Bridge

This mammoth 8 mile long giant spans San Francisco Bay between San Francisco and Oakland.  Built at a total cost of $97,000,000, it is a double deck structure with six traffic lanes for automobiles on the upper level, and three truck lanes and two interurban tracks on the deck below.

California - San Francisco, Golden Gate Bridge

Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, California

The Golden Gate Bridge, main San Francisco approach from the Presidio, was designed by Joseph B. Strauss and completed in May 1937 at a cost of $35,500,000.  The huge web-like span, is illuminated by night with strings of yellow sodium vapor lights and links northern California to the peninsula of San Francisco.  

California - San Francisco, Fisherman's Warf

Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco, California

The embarking and landing point of the city's many fisherman is located on Taylor St. at the Embarcadero.  The wharf seethes with activity  - fishermen and their gear, dealers, the shell fish stands, with their big iron caldrons where freshly caught crabs are boiled,  and the neighboring seafood restaurants.

California - San Francisco, Cable Car in 3-D

San Francisco
Cable Car

Mighty California Street Cable Car

Illustration by J. She
2013

California - San Francisco, Alcatraz in 3-D

Alcatraz
The Rock
San Francisco

Visit Alcatraz Island By Boat. For The Adventurous, Swim.

Illustration by J. She

This  is a 3-D postcard is postmarked.
2013

California - San Francisco Cable Car Turntable

San Francisco
Cable car turntable at Powell and Market Streets.

Photo by Ken Glaser Jr. 1987
postmarked in 2013

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The San Francisco cable car system is the world's last manually operated cable car system. An icon of San Francisco, California, the cable car system forms part of the intermodal urban transport network operated by the San Francisco Municipal Railway. Of the twenty-three lines established between 1873 and 1890, three remain (one of which combines parts of two earlier lines): two routes from downtown near Union Square to Fisherman's Wharf, and a third route along California Street. While the cable cars are used to a certain extent by commuters, the vast majority of their 7 million annual passengers are tourists. The cable cars are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

To reverse travel direction, the single-ended cable cars require manually operated turntables to rotate the car around. There are three outdoor turntables to do this: at Market & Powell Streets (shown above), Taylor & Bay Streets, and Hyde & Beach Streets, with a fourth one located inside the car barn on Washington and Jackson Streets.

California - Golden Gate Bridge, Did You Know?

Did you know?
The construction of the Gold Gate Bridge began on January 5, 1933.  The bridge opened to pedestrian traffic four and one half years later on May 27, 1937.  It opened with a grand celebration and vehicles were allowed on the roadway the following day.  The cost of building the bridge was 35.5 million dollars.  It is constructed with two towers, 746 feet (227m) tall, from which two main cables, 36 1/2 inches (.92) in diameter, are strung. At 50 foot intervals steel rope hangs from the two cables to support the concrete roadway and sidewalks below.  The Golden Gate Bridge is a connection link in U.S. Highway 101 stretching from Mexico to Canada along the Pacific Coast.  The bridge connects the City and County of San Francisco to the south and Marin County and other California destinations to the north.

Facts and Statistics
Total length of bridge 8,981 ft (2,737m)
Length of suspended structure 6,450 ft (1,966m)
Length of main span 4,200 ft (1,280m)
Width of Bridge 90 ft (27.4m)
Clearance above mean high water 220 ft (67m)
Height of towers 746 ft (227m)
Length of one cable 7,650 ft (2,330m)
Diameter of main cables 36 3/8" (.92m)
Number of wires in each cable 27,572
Number of strands in each cable 61

Photo by Ken Glaser, Jr.
2013

California - San Francisco, Farimont Hotel, The Tonga Restaurant

Fairmont Hotel, San Francisco

The Tonga - A bit of paradise in San Francisco.  Exotic drinks and fine Chinese cuisine.  Tropical rainstorms fall every hour on the island, as the dance band floats across the lagoon.
1977