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San Francisco, 1939. "International truck and Reliance trailer on Dolores Street." At left, the tower of Mission High School. 8x10 inch nitrate negative, late of the Marilyn Blaisdell and Wyland Stanley collections. View full size.
When I lived in San Jose for a bit, it was on a street that had these types of palms, planted around 1928. They grow tall and thin, but the folks planting them didn't realize that at the time apparently. They look weirdly out of proportion now to me, when I see them as saplings!
And yes they just keep getting taller.
The square turrets across Dolores from Mission HS is now the Dolores Park Church and the twin steeples no longer crown it.
This aerial photo from 1938 shows the roof of the church:
That guy has to win the award for the best-dressed truck driver of 1939.
Is it just my tired old eyes, or is the driver of the truck wearing a suit and tie?
The high school's beautiful mission-inspired tower is about 12 years old here. Many funeral processions traveled this road south to the cemeteries just outside city limits in the town of Colma. The scene became very dramatic whenever a hearse carrying a deceased member of the Hell's Angels led a long line of Harleys headed south.
Over on the right I count eight long-wire radio antennas. The War-clouds over Europe were darkening at a frightening pace and shortwave reception for the US populace was the CNN of the era. Friends and Family over here wanted to know how Friends and Family over there were coping.
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