The 1960 Iowa Highway 30 film was a hit, so CC reader Jeremy sent me a link to this driving tour of San Francisco in 1955. It’s not all roads and cars–although you’ll probably never see so many ’55 Chevys in one place–but if you’d like to go back to a time when the cable cars ran mostly empty and the folks riding it were dressed very differently, hit the play button. I first visited SF in 1971, and physically, it hadn’t changed that much from 1955, especially places like Fisherman’s Wharf. But the cultural changes in those 15 years were disproportionately huge.
If You’re Going To San Francisco….In 1955 – A Driving Tour In Cinemascope
– Posted on September 17, 2013
Its been a while since I’ve seen it, but doesn’t Jimmy Stewart provide a tour of San Francisco in a ’56 DeSoto? Maybe it’s all on a back lot. It’s been a while.
Yes, he starred with Kim Novak in “Vertigo,” one of my all-time favorite movies.
Beautiful city then, beautiful city now. Interestingly, at the beginning of the show, there was sign that said San Francisco population 775,357 which isn’t too different from today’s 812,826, but sure looked less crowded. Tourists from all over the world?
These days, if one mentioned San Francisco in heartland, most God-fearing folks would tell you that SF isn’t real America, sinful and whatever. Needless to say, most of those folks can’t even think of being able to afford to live in SF where studio condo starts around $400k.
Interesting that few foreign cars in this film, where’r the MG T series sports cars? In fact few cars with tail fins.
Keep in mind that 1955 is pre-hippie, pre-beatnik, pre-rock and roll, and pretty much pre-tailfin. What we call the 50’s was just starting to gather momentum at that point. Kerouac, Ginsberg and City Light Books were still all in the future. Radical behavior? Short hair and listening to jazz.
You are right Syke. That was before anyone leaving their hearts, the thought of having flower in one’s hair was still a decade away. I suppose in ’55, one needn’t worry who’s coming for dinner either.
One day I would like to drive the 49 scenic miles in a ’50s or ’60s vintage convertible with torquey engine and an eye-candy with flower in her hair.
The population of the metro area has increased considerably over that time. (The magnitude of growth varies depending upon the definition that you prefer to use.) It would appear that most of the several million locals are trying to park there at the same time.
but sure looked less crowded
I pass through SF a few times a year, and have never, ever seen SF as uncrowded as this. There always seemed to be some parking everywhere the camera went, and crossing the Golden Gate in daylight with only a handful of cars in sight would be miraculous today.
Not bad, but for a nice 1972 tour, watch Ryan O’Neal and Barbra Streisand in “What’s Up Doc?” for a still-hilarious romp!
or Bullitt.
+1 Pullin the DVD out now!
The ’55 Chevys start appearing in droves toward the end!
Several notable observations:
1. Freeways don’t have center dividers.
2. Center lines are always white — and double-striped only on major roads.
3. Cars cross right in front of the approaching cable cars.
4. Left lane campers existed back then — note the beginning of the tunnel scene.
5. Man exits miniature railroad in zoo with cigarette — no doubt you can’t smoke at all in the zoo today.
5. People seem to look older than they do today — is it because of the hairstyles (women), fedoras (men), and dowdy clothes (both)?
6. No one appears obese.
7. We really do dress like slobs now (me included)!
Apparently ’55 was before fast food turned folks into fat asses.
Not so coincidentally, McD’s got its start in 1955!
In those days, people wanted to be seen as mature adults. A person in his or her late 20s or early 30s, who dressed and acted like an unmarried 19-year-old, would have been looked down upon by everyone else.
People did dress up when they left the house. This continued into the 1960s. I recently looked at some old home movies that my brother had transferred to a DVD. On one segment, my parents and I visited Washington, D.C., to see the cherry blossoms in the spring of 1965. My mother is dressed in her Jackie Kennedy suit, and my father is wearing a coat and tie. At all of three years old, I’m dressed in a little sport coat and button-down shirt. Everyone else is dressed in the same way. This is just to see the cherry blossoms. Today, everyone would be wearing jeans, t-shirts (or maybe a polo shirt) and even sweat pants.
Regarding obesity – I’ve read that food was actually more expensive in the 1950s, in inflation-adjusted terms, than it is today. So people couldn’t afford to overeat. Plus, eating out was a rare event, even among middle-class people.
So true, Geeber. All through into even my high school years, we ‘dressed up’ when we flew. NEVER would we be allowed to wear jeans and a t-shirt on a flight!
I wonder if vegetables and fruits are more expensive today. But chicken, and fast food are cheaper today than the ’50s. I think whatever make us fat and unhealthy are cheaper today than the ’50s, whatever makes us healthy are not.
If poultry is cheaper relative to wages now, it’s probably due to the industrial revolution in American chicken-farming that brought on a trade conflict with Europe in the ’60s, culminating in the punitive Chicken Tax upon imported commercial vehicles.
Free-Range is a reaction to this agricultural “Fordism.”
http://archive.org/search.php?query=ford%20AND%20collection%3Aprelinger
Have fun with this…..
Tons of old Ford videos.
Youtube is a great source of vintage car shots. Here’s someone’s 1971 shots of a vacation to Vancouver, luckily he seems more interested in the cars than anything else! Took me a while to ID the make of that coupe the subject is loading stuff into at the beginning.
A story about the “freeway revolt” could be an interesting follow-up to this article.
Short version: During the 50’s, there were plans to criss-cross the city with an extensve freeway network. But as a result of public outcry, most of what was planned was never built. Offhand, it’s probably the only major US city that doesn’t have some sort of expressway that traverses the center of town.
http://foundsf.org/index.php?title=The_Freeway_Revolt
I guess you could make an argument for the Embarcadero Freeway, part of which was knocked down in the 1989 earthquake, now completely gone. It was pretty ugly.
The Embarcadero freeway was so ugly that it was order to be destroyed by our Lord. Thy was mad that haters built a double decker highway to block the beautiful bay view.
DC avoided having I-95 go right through the city. There’s I-395 and I-295, but these only pass through its periphery, including a tunnel under the US Capitol area. I-95 traffic is diverted onto the infamous Beltway.
I finally got the chance to visit the city in the summer of 2003. These sights look familiar…although the city was much more crowded when we visited. I believe that the Embarcadero is now more tourist-oriented than it was then.
I was born in “The City” – we moved to less foggy San Rafael in July of 1960. My Dad worked in the City and, obviously, always spent a lot of time in town. I noticed lots of Pontiacs in this film, and interestingly, Van Ness Avenue doesn’t look all that different from way back then.