San Francisco

Year Published: 1957

Creator: Ernest Kleinberg

Complete Record: 1950’s San Francisco color photograph, history, landmarks, Chinese New Year, fishing boats on the Bay and more. Misty light in the dawn over San Francisco Bay and the Golden Gate Bridge. Trains and ships entering the port. A freighter ship conductor talks on his phone and a voice talks back through a speaker. He pulls under the Bay Bridge into the harbor with nice shots of Ferry Building, Piers, Telegraph Hill, and Russian Hill. Ship blows its horn and steam gushes out. Fancy villa in the Marina, modest home in Potrero Hill, homes with views and on hills in San Francisco. Telegraph Hill and Coit Tower. Back in the wharf, the freighter ship conductor is talking on his phone again. Lots of shots of fog and mist settling in over the bay and rolling into the city. Back to our conductor friend and his freighter ship: he has been enveloped in a thick fog and blows his fog horn/ whistle. A historical story begins in the narration about the discovery of San Francisco Bay. Cannons fire and the Spanish flag is raised. Then the Mexican flag is hanging, and finally the American flag blowing in the wind. Dim shot of Mission Dolores. Now back to the fog and boats and piers. River where gold mining was done. Sutters Mill, statue of James W. Marshall who discovered gold. Old mills and mines in the Sierra Nevadas and Comstock. Virginia City, Nevada looking like a ghost town. Piper’s Opera House. Spinning roulette wheel with no one around. Rustic wooden mining town, wooden church, graveyard with tombstones. View of San Francisco from Sausalito area. Cars and cable cars rushing around hills. A postman walks down steps. Baby crawls up steep steps. Overheat shot of large crowd of people crossing street at intersection. Overheat shot of cable car turnaround at Powell Street. People walking on steep sidewalks and hills. POV shot of car racing through city streets. Buildings and architecture on hills. Cable car conductor ringing his bell, sailors hanging on cable car. Clothes hanging on a line. Signs from ethnic eateries and restaurants. Little Italy. Marina area with sail boats and fishing vessels. Fisherman at work in San Francisco Bay, throwing his net in the water, pulling up crab traps. Now unloading his catch back near the wharf. Fisherman’s Wharf with cook throwing crabs into boiling water. People buying things at a crab stand. Cooks making meat, cheese, pasta, and bread. People dining in an Italian restaurant. Old men playing some bowling type ball game, maybe bocce ball. Giant cruise ship embarking from harbor. Naval ship entering San Francisco Bay under the Golden Gate Bridge. Homecoming for the soldiers. Commuters riding a train. Giant cargo ships along waterfront in San Francisco. Ships being unloaded and loaded with wheat, grain, bananas, coconuts, frozen fish, bales of hay, beef, bamboo, live brown bears, sports cars, plutonium in barrels, cinnamon, spices. All manner of ropes and cables, hook and winches to perform this import/export duty. A customs agent inspecting cinnamon sticks. Silk being rolled up, weighed and checked at a customs office. Chinese tea being tested by health inspectors. Coffee in large sacks being tested. Coffee importers roasting, weighing, and tasting coffee samples. Large shipyard with building and repairing taking place. Naval shipyard with huge crane lifting equipment and supplies and men loading onto ships. Industrial plants around San Francisco Bay, oil refineries, C&H sugar plant, smoke stacks, steel mill with sparks flying about, train carrying goods, wheels spinning. San Francisco stock exchange building. Shot of busy car-filled street panning up to skyscrapers above. Chinatown getting ready for Chinese New Year. Sidewalk produce markets with exotic delicacies. Storekeepers hanging strands of dollar bills. Peach blossoms. Housewife in kitchen preparing a dinner for Chinese New Year. Large family dinner around a table with lots of yummy Chinese food. Mother dresses her children with traditional silk garments. Woman praying at a large altar and lighting candles. Firecrackers exploding in the street in Chinatown. Musicians playing drums, dragons dancing around, flags being waved, parade in the streets. Chinese New Year celebrations. Tradition involving dancing dragons. More fireworks. More Chinese New Year parade footage from Chinatown in San Francisco. The parade ends and two costumed lions dance and pretend fight. Large strands of money rain down on the crowd below. Sunset over the Bay and the Golden Gate Bridge. Neon nightclub signs montage. In a hall where an accordion starts to play. A man and a woman in formal dress sing in German operatically to a crowd accompanied by an accordion. A waitress serves drinks to people sitting around at tables. Couple continuing their opera singing performance. Musician playing accordion. Crowd goes crazy with applause when they finish. A large Germanic band with trumpets, trombones and tubas plays traditional music and people with traditional folk costumes dance and swing around. Freighter ship leaves from the pier and conductor spins his wheel. Ship heads out toward Golden Gate bridge.