Bay Area photo archives

July 28, 2011 11:55 AM

Let's Go to the Morgue! features images dug up from the San Francisco Chronicle's basement photo archives. Peter Hartlaub got distracted from his parenting blog to find and caption vintage photos of Golden Gate BART and Other Failed Rapid Transit Dreams, Sexy time! Five decades of Bay Area bathing suits, Tourist season in San Francisco, Six decades of roller derby in the Bay Area, When arcades ruled the Bay Area and A journey back to your high school prom.

Other good selections: Pride Parades, Nudists!, Bay Area Snow, and Skid Row. For once, even the comments are worth reading as locals reminisce.

posted by oneirodynia (15 comments total)

*Wondering if the Golden Gate Suicide Barrier will fade into history and join these images*

(Slight derail, but is this getting built?)
posted by Danf at 12:07 PM on July 28, 2011

These are fun photos! It's almost like he needs his own blog. Oh, wait!
posted by Nelson at 12:19 PM on July 28, 2011

Thanks for sharing this onirodynia.

The Gay Pride photos made me sad. I miss a lot of people.

.
posted by Sophie1 at 12:21 PM on July 28, 2011 [2 favorites]

The people in the comments recognizing themselves in prom photos was hilarious.
posted by COD at 12:32 PM on July 28, 2011

I love the cropmarks; that's something else from the past.
posted by entropicamericana at 12:42 PM on July 28, 2011

Classic roller derby, with the Bay Bombers! It seemed like they were on every Saturday when I was a kid. And since we only had a B&W TV, these photos are just as I remember them.
posted by tommasz at 12:49 PM on July 28, 2011

Let's Go to the Morgue!

Worst travel book ever.
posted by nathancaswell at 1:39 PM on July 28, 2011 [3 favorites]

I love the stuff left over from the planning of BART. There's a display of it in one of the buildings at UC Berkeley (O'Brien? It's the one with the concrete canoe.)

(Slight derail, but is this getting built?)

I think it's still officially planned, isn't it? The Chronicle seems to have done a series about suicides and the Golden Gate. (There's probably an FPP on this subject waiting to be written, if it hasn't been already.)
posted by hoyland at 1:42 PM on July 28, 2011

Thank you -- these are awesome!
posted by gingerbeer at 2:11 PM on July 28, 2011

Very keen stuff! I'm amused this is still tucked away under the Parenting section of the site, specifically under The Poop.

Also awesome: this photo from the roller derby post, as Ann Calvello (35) seems to be leaping from the photo. How did the flash leave such an even shadow?
posted by filthy light thief at 2:19 PM on July 28, 2011

filthy light thief, that photo looks retouched, probably dodging and burning with the enlarger in the darkroom.
posted by tommasz at 3:09 PM on July 28, 2011

These are awesome. I wonder what it says about me that I clicked on the BART photos before I clicked on the nudists.
posted by ooga_booga at 3:19 PM on July 28, 2011 [2 favorites]

Things I love:

- old, weird pictures of parks and naked people and arcades, among other things
- failed urban-planning ideas
- the Bay Area
- people dressed in bad pants through the ages

Therefore, this is the greatest blog ever....
posted by heurtebise at 6:31 PM on July 28, 2011 [1 favorite]

BART was supposed to have express trains too, but the lack of funding under Nixon killed it. And I do blame San Mateo County for pulling out-- that's why we have the stupid long BART to San Jose extension being done via the East Bay corridor.
posted by wuwei at 11:25 PM on July 28, 2011

Thank you, the photos looking awesome!
posted by nvsr4u at 10:00 AM on August 26, 2011