Castro Street, 1948, street cars were used as primary modes of transportation up and down the street. They were discontinued at the end of that year and replaced with busses. The #24 MUNI line now partially operates on that same route.
Many of our long-term Biscuit followers know we're fans of finding great pictures that tell the story of our neighborhood though the ages.
Images provide a visual narrative of what it was like to live, work and pursue the American dream from within the ever evolving confines of our little piece of heaven.
Recently we unearthed a treasure trove of pix while trolling the web for content of Castro specific interest.
It's a Facebook page called, Lost San Francisco, chronicling the City and all its neighborhoods primarily between the years of 1865 and 1985.
This well researched page provides a City history lesson using stories and pictures unearthing the evolution of not only the Castro, but, the City as a whole.
It's a pre-digital era timeline of our town's growing pains. How each new wave of immigrants pulled it in new directions and affected it's architecture. How the new wealthy who'd made it big in business showed off their bling in homes and downtown edifices named in their honor. And how, no matter what human endeavor may occur, Mother Nature occasionally took her pound of flesh out of the City's, 7 by 7 mile, landscape.
We perused the length of the page's history and have poached some great images that help piece the historic puzzle together of our neighborhood and City.
1927: Castro and 18th Street. New sewer lines installed.1860: Duboce Triangle. The 'Wild West' was still a part of SF life. Acres given to cattle to keep the City fed.1952/2013 Bi Rite Market: Everyone's fave market to grab grub to picnic in Dolores Park on the border of Castro. Opened by 3 WWII Army pals it's served it's community faithfully ever since.
You can't tell the story of the neighborhood or the City without including a nod to the 1906 Earthquake which reshaped the face of it forever. This photo is a rare find. A color shot , perhaps one of three in existence, of the City from Upper Market, above Van Ness and Market, looking toward the decimated downtown.
At the foot of the neighborhood, Market/Duboce and Market/Laguna, where in 1880, the City expanded Market Street toward the 'new' neighborhoods of Duboce Triangle/Castro, the devastation was immense. Nearly 3 decades of hard work and progress was wiped out in one fell swoop by the Quake. Survivors fled the fire storms of downtown and battled block by block along side the exhausted SFFD to contain the fire from eating what remained.
The same scorched area, Duboce and Market, gateway to the Castro, 1951
1951: Duboce & Market. Many of the buildings you see here are still recognizable today.
For those Biscuit readers on Facebook we hope you 'like' Lost San Francisco's page and support their honorable and impassioned effort to keep our history alive and a part of our present.
Recently we unearthed a treasure trove of pix while trolling the web for content of Castro specific interest.
It's a Facebook page called, Lost San Francisco, chronicling the City and all its neighborhoods primarily between the years of 1865 and 1985.
This well researched page provides a City history lesson using stories and pictures unearthing the evolution of not only the Castro, but, the City as a whole.
It's a pre-digital era timeline of our town's growing pains. How each new wave of immigrants pulled it in new directions and affected it's architecture. How the new wealthy who'd made it big in business showed off their bling in homes and downtown edifices named in their honor. And how, no matter what human endeavor may occur, Mother Nature occasionally took her pound of flesh out of the City's, 7 by 7 mile, landscape.
We perused the length of the page's history and have poached some great images that help piece the historic puzzle together of our neighborhood and City.
At the foot of the neighborhood, Market/Duboce and Market/Laguna, where in 1880, the City expanded Market Street toward the 'new' neighborhoods of Duboce Triangle/Castro, the devastation was immense. Nearly 3 decades of hard work and progress was wiped out in one fell swoop by the Quake. Survivors fled the fire storms of downtown and battled block by block along side the exhausted SFFD to contain the fire from eating what remained.
