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Motion Pictures Let's Go to San Francisco in 1955

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by Jive-Bomber, Jun 7, 2022.

  1. Jive-Bomber
    Joined: Aug 21, 2001
    Posts: 3,754

    Jive-Bomber
    MODERATOR

    Jive-Bomber submitted a new blog post:

    Let's Go to San Francisco in 1955

    [​IMG]

    Continue reading the Original Blog Post
     
  2. 30dodge
    Joined: Jan 3, 2007
    Posts: 498

    30dodge
    Member
    from Pahrump nv

    Appears to be a 1954 New Yorker the :tour guide" is driving.
     
    HEMI32 likes this.
  3. I like watching those. There are several on utube. My moms family lived in the city in the 50"s,and we use to drive over to visit.Im saddened that that city is no longer as well kept as it was back then.Lots of great cars to be seen,and there all still new. Another great car spotting movie is Bullit. McQueen blows by a lot of great cars parked on the street in that chase scene.
     
  4. And people thought traffic was bad back then........:p
     

  5. 19Fordy
    Joined: May 17, 2003
    Posts: 8,025

    19Fordy
    Member

    Looks like lots of folks were buying 1955 Chevy's.
    No foreign cars.
    Those were the days my friend, I thought they'd never end
    but, they did. 2022 could learn a lot from 1955.


    Imagine, WW II ended just 10 years before.
     
    4274SPEED and guthriesmith like this.
  6. 55blacktie
    Joined: Aug 21, 2020
    Posts: 793

    55blacktie

    Thanks for sharing, Jive Bomber. I was born in 1955, lived in East Bay until 1992. When priced out of the housing market, I moved to the Central Valley. I much prefer Bay Area weather (don't like valley heat). California's population has tripled since 1955 (almost 40 million, today).

    I know the 50s had their share of problems, but I think I would prefer the San Francisco of 1955.
     
  7. I concur! ...

    1954-chrysler-new-yorker-deluxe.jpg
    1954-chrysler-new-yorker.jpg
     
  8. 55blacktie
    Joined: Aug 21, 2020
    Posts: 793

    55blacktie

  9. Jesus!!!
    You'd want to be bloody good at hill starts.
    Out of interest, do many cars roll away on those streets? I guess the locals are pretty switched on to what needs to be done when parking.
     
  10. Ryan
    Joined: Jan 2, 1995
    Posts: 21,633

    Ryan
    ADMINISTRATOR
    Staff Member

    Cleaned this thread up a bit fellas... Lets not go down the political rabbit hole... or even start a discussion that might lead there please.
     
  11. DDDenny
    Joined: Feb 6, 2015
    Posts: 19,143

    DDDenny
    Member
    from oregon

    I call dibs on the fittyfive two-ten!
     
  12. jnaki
    Joined: Jan 1, 2015
    Posts: 9,291

    jnaki







    [​IMG]
    This old photo could have been our dad with his Dobbs Fedora hat and the two young brothers. Alioto's Restaurant was one of our mom's favorite places.

    Hello,

    We love San Francisco. My wife and I have been coming to the S.F. Bay Area since the 1966 time periods. Back then, it was a Rock Concert that we could not see in the So Cal region. Or a car show that was going to have something different than the ones we can see in So Cal. Other times, it was just an “up the coastline road trip to do something different with someone you want to spend a lot of time enjoying the lifestyle.

    Being a S.F. Bay area resident for a year and a half during those early college experiences gave me local knowledge when visiting S.F. many years later. There was even a week long stay in Ocean Beach seedy motel when my brother was getting some treatments at the local UCSF Medical Center. That allowed me plenty of time to wander around to see stuff, after I left the Med Center visitations.

    “Cars parked on the streets SF get beat to a pulp, the salt air from the Pacific Ocean eats the chrome right off the bumpers, most garages are the size of a matchbox (if you even have one)”

    “Let’s go back to a simpler time when San Francisco had some really cool cars roaming the streets: 1955. In this lovely little color film you’ll see a Rocket 88 Olds, Studebaker Starlight coupe, plenty of convertibles, ranch wagons, and a brand new Nash Metropolitan.”

    Jnaki

    In 1952, for his last 1949 Buick, family road trip, our dad took us to San Francisco for a week’s long vacation. That included going back over the Yosemite Valley to Highway 395 for the desert/mountain drive back home to Long Beach. Right after the long trip, he traded in the 49 Buick Roadmaster for a new two tone 1953 Buick 4 door sedan, that just came out in the fall.

    Our dad looked right at home with his Dobbs Fedora Hat, driving the black 49 Roadmaster. It was standard procedures for his generation to wear hats and the big sedans made them look appropriate for the times.
    upload_2022-6-19_4-2-6.png We even rode the street trolley, but our mom insisted we sit inside, but our dad hung on a grab rail on the outside steps by himself. Sukiyaki is a wonderful meal when prepared correctly... The Yamato Corporation spread its wings even to So Cal during the heyday of the 50s-60s.

    Steep streets + stop signs on top of any hill called for “Hill Starts,” but many rolled back at 2:30 in the film. Although our Buick sedans were automatic, on the steepest hills, when the brake pedal pressure was removed, the sedan rolled back an instant prior to stepping on the gas pedal. But, the steep hills made a lot of stick shift cars roll back first, in most cases.


    (My wife wanted to buy a 4 speed stick shift car and when we got one, I taught her how to drive it. we practiced it all over So Cal industrial parks during and after hours. There were short sloping stop sign corners where we practiced hill starts. It was done with no one around to make a nervous situation worse. She got better and was pretty confidant about her ability to do hill starts on taller hills we found. Her final exam was to take a week long vacation road trip. Yup, up the Highway One coastal winding road to the San Francisco Bay Area. )

    (San Francisco was a worthy final exam destination. But the worst hill stop was in Morro Bay at an off camber stop sign, located on a right turn, short sloping hill with a line of cars close behind. But confidence provided a fantastic hill start while looking in the rear view mirror)

    At 4:58 in the film, we capped off dinner at the Cliff House on the Coast Highway at the far reaches of the city. Our mom hated parking on that curved Coast Highway, but a parking space is a parking space.

    We did the same in 1966-69 in the El Camino with my wife on our photo journeys. We were fortunate to get one of the parking spaces above the restaurant and did not have to worry about the sharp curve for other late night motorists.

    At 8:54, it could have been our dad’s 49 black 4 door Buick Roadmaster, south of Ocean Beach.
    upload_2022-6-19_4-7-21.png
    One thing we got out of the long road trip, was that our mom loved it tremendously, as she did not have to prep and cook for a family of 4 at any time. Ha! She loved the sights, including the big bay and the rough coastal beaches/waves.

    A 1948-49 Oldsmobile hood ornament?





     

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