A Modest Proposal — Loop The T-Third
Hey, look, a TBM (Tunnel Boring Machine) — one like this will soon be digging the Central Subway under our fair city:
And here it is in action:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qx_EjMlLgqY
My biggest issue with the Central Subway? That’s there’s not enough of it. Stop at Chinatown? I don’t think so. Here’s a hint on what you do if you have a Tunnel Boring Machine:
DON’T EVER TURN OFF YOUR TUNNEL BORING MACHINE
You’d think this would be obvious, but Carter Rohan, the SFMTA’s former deputy executive director, apparently thought otherwise:
Although Schall offered that San Francisco could keep the new boring machines after the project was finished — for a price — Rohan laughed and said that the city wouldn’t be taking that option.
So sad he resigned a few months after his shortsighted chortle.
Unless we see a change in the SFMTA’s attitude, we are left with no choice but to hijack the tunnel boring machine as it exits its tunnel at Columbus and Union and continue boring tunnels. Don’t tell Muni, but here’s the plan:
- We keep going on Columbus and head west on Chestnut.
- Hang a left on Divisadero with appropriate stations along the way (I was thinking about going down Fillmore, but I go to the Independent way more often these days).
- Continue tunnelling under Divis and meet up with the station at Castro
- Head southeast, with stations at Noe (24th & Church), La Lengua (Mission & Valencia), and Bernal (on Cortland, a Forest Hills type station which would obviously hook up with a future Van Ness subway)
- Emerge at the Alemany Farmer’s Market (might as well make a station there on weekends) and continue to close the T-Third loop at Palou or some other suitable station (ideally which becomes a Caltrain stop)
- Continue on to Hunters Point as that area is developed
(Base map via Stamen.)
Who’s with me? (And when we’re done, how about we run another tunnel down Geary, obviously — then we’d head down from the Richmond to the Sunset, and then cut over through Sunnyside / Mission Terrace / Crocker-Amazon / Excelsior and then meet up with that Van Ness line back under Bernal/Cortland.)
We’ll obviously have to do this in shifts. Anyone have extra hardhats and reflective vests?
Sutro Rises
Peter Hartlaub was kind enough to include me in his article on the”newfound” popularity of our friend Mr. Sutro. The print edition was accompanied by this rather awesome graphic by illustrator Shannon May:
The big question is how do we get this as a poster?
@peterhartlaub also has a great series of Sutro photos in his sfgate blog, including this original design for Sutro:
There were also references to a revolving restaurant (where I’d guess you’d cook your own food by holding it up over your head and it would self-microwave?) but that will require more research.
Miracle Mile, 1954 Style
Look what Mission dweller @fredsharples discovered under his floorboards! A page from a 1954 San Francisco Chronicle:
And a proper, flat scan:
For those new to Mission history, the Miracle Mile was the second biggest shopping and entertainment district after downtown as we can see via the SFPL:
1958:
1949:
While the Miracle Mile lives on above That’s It sign, the suburban flight of the 1960s changed the neighborhood dramatically, from Irish/Italian to Mexican/Central American. Drastic changes were planned for the Mission in the 1960s, including Embarcadero-style redevelopment and highway running down Capp St. Thankfully we dodged those bullets.
The ad is complete with a list of stores which were pretty easy to cross reference with the 1954 city directory, which happens to have a list of street addresses in numerical order. In the interest of history, I pulled out the relevant business listings and glommed them together. I also pulled them out as text with links to street view for future searchability. Note that the current store listing is purely Googled, so let me know in the comments if it has changed or if I got it totally wrong.
| 16th – 20th St (2200 – 2300 block) | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1954 | Address | 2012 |
| Senge’s Clothing | 2232 Mission | next door to Mission Chinese, was Big John’s? |
| Waxman Furniture | 2243 Mission | New Starlight Furniture |
| Gossard’s Lingerie | 2312 Mission | Shama coffee shop / religious book store? |
| Wally’s Appliances | 2345 Mission | Farah Smoke Shop |
| Siegel’s Clothing (for Dad and Lad) | 2366 Mission | still Siegels! |
| 20th – 21st St (2400 block) | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1954 | Address | 2012 |
| Globe Shop | 2490 Mission | Mission Optometry |
| The Majestic Department Store | 2474 Mission | torn down? now Los Portales Medical & Dental Center |
| Juvenile Shope | 2484 Mission | Dentist office |
Things get interesting around 21st, so I pulled out a bunch of consecutive entries and underlined the ones in the ad. This is the block with the New Mission and Crown Theaters.
| 21st – 22nd St (2500 block) | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1954 | Address | 2012 |
| Byron’s Shoes | 2526 Mission | Laszlo |
| Sherman Clay & Co music instruments | 2539 Mission | Evergreen Market |
| Knit Kraft Sportswear | 2544 Mission | boarded up but cool looking buildings between Oasis Vision and New Mission Theater, was “Latin Jewelers” |
| Kay Jewelers | 2548 Mission | closed, was Miz Brown’s Feed Bag which shut down in 2004, see Carl Nolte SFGate article |
| Hale’s Mission Store | 2558 Mission | Giant Value (which once was Value Giant!) The good Herr Doktor has more. |
| Crown Gift Sho | 2591 Mission | Swiss Jewelers |
See also: See’s Candies at 2534 Mission, which is now Foreign Cinema!!
New Mission Market was there:
(Mmmm, I’m hungry for some Supreme Ravioli.)
In fact, you just can see it on the right hand side of this 1957 SFPL photo:
I do love that awesome chicken icon and that font:
More detail and some historical tidbits on the 2500 block in their 2005 Business Improvement Plan.
From 22nd St southward, lots of interesting details, so I broke out the second half of the 2600 block.
| 22nd – 23rd (2600 block) and 24th – 25th (2800) | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1954 | Address | 2012 |
| A.G. Land “The Economizer” | 2601 Mission | US Bank building |
| National Dollar Store ($1 in 1954 is worth $8 today) | 2610 Mission | Anna’s Linens |
| Crescent Jewelers | 2622 Mission | Banco Agricole |
| Scott’s Liquors | 2623 Mission | Ashley’s Collection |
| Grayson’s, Inc. | 2630 Mission | split into Big House and New Mission City |
| Gensler-Lee Jewelery | 2644 Mission | Foxy Lady Boutique |
| Kay’s Ladies Wear | 2656 Mission | Payless Shoes |
| Steinberg Shoes | 2650 Mission | Arik’s |
| Willoh’s Dept Store | 2801 Mission | McDonald’s, though you can see the old building in this shot and in Sanborn. Was there until at least 1971. |
Hey, the Lucky Pork Store was indeed there since 1949!
Um, OK, I guess they liked pork stores back in the day:
And the Mission Masonic Temple is still there, jammed up next door to the Walgreens.
I’m kind of surprised by how many telephone exchange names there were, much more than just MI-Mission (64x-) and VA-Valencia (82x-). I also see UN-Underhill (86x-), HE-Hemlock (43x-) and AT-Atwater (28x-).
A few more interesting addresses I came across in the 1954 directory:
Bruno’s and Big Beef must have been mortal enemies:
Hey, look, some bars! (Wonder if Anchor had anything to do with Anchor Brewing?) Anyway, neither are bars now.
Hey look, a surf bar! I wonder what that could be today? And 2779 Mission sounds really familiar, and is making me hungry for some mysterious reason. What could it be? It’s almost as if it will change to another bar in the 60s, and then start serving burritos a few decades later.
I’ve seen a few Ken’s Flowers signs still around. And this is one of the few Mexican restaurants I saw:
By 1954, the railway through the Mission had been shut down for over a decade, and the property largely sold off. With Railroad Grocery and Fruit, we see some historical naming for a property next to the old Southern Pacific line:
Hmm, I wonder what the 2832 Mission, “under construction,” will become? Ah, it looks to be the current site of today’s Rosamunde! Sausage on the tracks!
OK, definitely hungry now. Comment away!
Eclipse on the cheap
Things I learned from the eclipse:
1) My iPhone took better pictures of the eclipse than my real camera.
Note: other people were very good at taking pictures with real cameras (though taking them at sunset and sunrise probably helped).
2) Covering one’s iPhone telephoto lens with aluminum foil and making an offset pinhole leads to some very interesting visual effects, both of the eclipse and the landscape in general:
3) Internal refraction artefacts are a cool way to watch an eclipse.
I’m not sure if it was the light, but I got some cool Sutro fog shadows:
Sutro, Above It All
Super Duper Moon
Kind of surprised no one noticed the superduper* moon over Bernal the other day.
* Roche limit may not apply. Not all objects are to scale.
Sutrito Moon
Supermoon over Bernal:
Rain: check. Sunshine: rain-check
I was of the understanding that one is legally guaranteed sun and rain in this scenario.
@davely attempted to rectify the situation:
(Either that, or Sutro is very, very angry.)
Criss Cross Clouds
@rrmutt captures another one. The shadows across layers are rather incredible. Who knew grey could be so gorgeous?
General Ed Lee’s Light Brigade
General Ed Lee’s Light Brigade prepares for their charge on the Valley of Noe.
Burrito Justice 