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Oakland circa 1953 and another vehicular misadventure, this time starring the bike that couldn't quite dodge a Dodge. Cameos by two Cadillacs. View full size.
Railroad crossing is plausible, you can see the overhead trolley wires as well as the tracks. Now I'm confused as to which way we're looking. It's only been fifty plus years since I was at that intersection.
I remember them as markers for pedestrian crossings. We appear to be at the intersection of Telegraph and Grand, looking down Telegraph with Grand as the cross street. The Key System ran down Telegraph, no tracks on Grand:
It was probably about this time that the Hi-Fi Drive-In on U.S. 101 in downtown Petaluma, California put up their "19¢ Hamburgers" sign, the "19¢" in huge, neon-and-bulbs-illuminated letters. It was my first lesson in the realities of economics when at some point in the 1960s the "Hamburgers" under the "19¢" was changed to "Fries."
Those 19 cent hamburgers would be nice in this day of low wages and tight budgets.
I remember seeing those "X" signs used to indicate to drivers that a pedestrian crosswalk was located below.
That seems rather high for 1953, especially since they didn't have to go far to get the meat.
I don't know exactly how those old lane markers (X) are operated, but there are still some of them in use here in the Atlanta area.
[I believe the hanging "X" signs relate to the rail tracks that appear to be running along the cross street. -tterrace]
X marks the spot!
Thanks to the Google Street View Time Machine:
You just don't see signs like that anymore.
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