BART Paleofuture
Eric Fischer has let loose with the historo-scanner once again.
1970: A line to see the brand new shiny 24th St BART station (looking south at the SW escalator — the side towards Valencia and 25th).
Mmmmm, Shoe Cafeteria!
Kidding. Actually a shoe store.
And 2829 is today’s Foot Locker. (Seriously.)
Note the miniature trees up on Bernal alongside the AT&T microwave antenna.
And here we see a map of BART before the loss of the Geary Line that would have gone to 25th Ave. (This is the part of the post where you get to yell AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGRGGGGGGGRGRGGGGGGHGHHHHHHHH.)
Eric notes that the Marin line that would have come in over the Golden Gate Bridge didn’t actually connect into the rest of the system — you would have had to transfer at Kearny St Station, next to Montgomery.
Here’s a 1961 elevation survey along with aerial shots:
As Eric notes, in the 1961 aerial shots you can see where they were literally destroying the Western Addition.
1978, NE corner plaza. Note the mural (anyone know where that 1970s essay predicting the gentrification of the Mission is?) Also, you can see the very edge of the Smile Awhile sign.
1978: bikes on BART. Eric notes that bikes were only allowed on the last car then.
Reader @srlawton notes bike restrictions were tighter then:
This is pretty much what I look like when I ride BART. (1978, as if you couldn’t tell.)
Burrito Justice 
2 things:
1. GEARY LINE ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGHHHHHH (strangled cry)
2. Dude in the bottom picture just wandered in from the shoot for Sabotage?
This is amazing! Thanks!
I like that it’s the ORIGINAL Shoe Cafeteria. Not to be confused with all the imitators.
As alluded to in the caption under the first photo, I am so glad BART followed through with the “handsome landscaping” at the 24th Street station.
Great post as always…. HDPDV is right: Do not mistake this Shoe Cafeteria for the FAKE ones!
Other awesomeness:
I love that they were keeping track of how many folks were checking out the new stations. 11,000 : Largest number ever to attend!
And cigarette ads on BART! Oh wait, I think I saw an American Spirits ad the other day.
Is that wooden (faux-wooden?) paneling by the doors?
Aerial shot of “redevelopment”: very cool.
Bikes on BART: we’ve come a long way, still a long way to go, but not such a fan of the position of that one on the right, but seems like everyone is more chill, so maybe no biggie…
Merci !
I can’t tell for sure, but it looks like this is before Mission st sidewalks were redone with those deadly, slippery-when-wet tile inlays. Anyone know the “when and why” of those things?