Oldest San Francisco by Alec Scott features stories of the institutions that helped make San Francisco the place it is today, a forward-looking city with a strong sense of its past.
Published by Reedy.
Unless otherwise noted, photos by & copyright of author.
Jungle Gym: Rain Forest in a dome at the California Academy of Sciences (circa 1853), the oldest scientific institution west of the Mississippi.
Breaking Away: Old racing jerseys and gear at American Cyclery (1941)
White Knight: Fritz Maytag and the crew who helped keep alive Anchor Brewing, opened in 1896.
Don't Let the Sun go Down on Me: The Art Institute of San Francisco, founded in 1871, now threatened with closure.
Ship Shape: Inside the Balclutha, a square-rigger built in Glasgow in 1886.
Costumed Competitors: Raising fists at the end of Bay to Breakers -- one of the nation's oldest road races, it was first run in 1912.
Our Daily Bread: Founded in 1849, San Francisco's oldest bakery, Boudin, here delivers some of its signature sourdough – delivery men would often impale loaves on nails left protruding from customer doors for that purpose. (Image courtesy of Boudin.)
To the Lighthouse: El Faro, one of two SF restaurants to lay claim to inventing and popularizing the Mission Burrito -- in the 1960s. (The other is Tacqueria La Cumbre.)
Brideshead, Revisited: Founded in 1939, Cable Car Clothiers is an anglophile gentleman's dream shop.
Horseless Carriage: A mode of transportation introduced in San Francisco in 1873, cable cars soon spread elsewhere -- and were preserved here after only after a vociferous local campaign to save them.
Founded in 1849, North America's oldest Chinatown had to fight to keep its central location after the 1906 quake.
Paperback Writers: The first bookstore in the US to specialize in soft-covers, City Lights came to international attention when it fought the proposed ban on a poem it published, Allen Ginsberg's Howl.
Ferry Building: Once one of the busiest transit hubs in the world, the building has become a temple to food, and, again, after a few years lying fallow, a port of call for ships ferrying commuters across the Bay.
Chocolate City: Lyle Ghirardelli, at work in the 1920s, when he served as president of the family's chocolate firm -- it was founded in 1852, by Domingo, whose bust looks on. (Credit: Bancroft Library, Courtesy of Sidney Lawrence.)
To the Manor Born: The Haas-Lilienthal mansion, built in 1886, came through the 1906 quake, but only just — the resulting fires stopped just a block away.
Ahead of its Time: Designed by Willis Polk, the 1918 Hallidie Building has one of the first glass curtain walls of any North American office block.
Matinée Idol: The marquee of the city's oldest cinema, The Roxie, founded in 1913.
Tea Garden: Golden Gate Park is home to the oldest public Japanese garden in America, first opened for a World's Fair in 1894.
Spiraling Out: Founded in 1854, the Mechanics' Institute is the oldest members' library in the city, as well as the host of one of the oldest, most distinguished chess clubs in the nation.
Our Lady of the Sorrows: The city's oldest extant building, Mission Dolores, built in 1791, features in the quintessential San Francisco film, Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo.
Breakfast at Shreve's: The city's oldest jeweler Shreve & Co. (founded in 1852) reportedly helped inspire local author Dashiell Hammett to write the San Francisco-set thriller, The Maltese Falcon. (Photo Courtesy: Shreve & Co.)
Motel, California: This 1937 art-deco motor inn, not far from Ocean Beach, has hosted generations of visitors.
The Sea, the Sea: Founded in 1862, the Olympic Club has long hosted cold-water swims in the frigid Bay (Reproduced with permission from the San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library.)
Inner Sanctum: The Dome of Congregation Sherith Israel, the oldest synagogue in the city. It was founded, with its longtime fellow traveler, the Temple Emanu-El, in 1849.
Old Sport: The city's oldest private school, Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory, was founded in 1852, and is the merger of a boys' and girls' school, both of them run by Catholic orders. (Photo: Courtesy of Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory School.)
Garden Court: The main dining area of the city's oldest hotel, The Palace, opened in 1875.
Wherever I Lay My Hat: Old hatbox collection at Paul's Hat Works, started in 1918.
Pro Patria Mori: The military cemetery in the Presidio. Founded by the Spanish in 1776, taken over by the Mexicans and then the Americans, it became in the 1990s, a mixed-use public park.
Neon Lights: The city's oldest restaurant, Tadich Grill, founded in 1849, helped introduce mesquite grilling to America.
Hoop Dreams: Before turning pro, one of basketball's all-time greats, Bill Russell played for the city's oldest university, the University of San Francisco, founded by Jesuits in 1855. (Photo, Courtesy of USF.)