Skip to main content

tv   [untitled]    December 5, 2011 8:30am-9:00am PST

8:30 am
streets. who got to name the streets in these new sñ what is interestins alphabetical on the sunny side. acadia. it is alphabetical. it ended at hamburg. in world war room in one, people did not like it. they thought it was -- world war i, people did not like it. they thought it was too german. >> there are two in bayview hunters. . there is one that treasure island then there is one out there. -- there are two in bayview hunters poitn. -- point.
8:31 am
>> they said, we will rename all of the streets. they decided to name them after spanish explorers, which was controversial. they compromised. some of the streets are named after an indian place in yosemite. >> they had the number of streets already put in, nice and simple. they wanted to name the other ones, and they wanted to name all of the east-west one's with explorers -- ones with explorers. there was a big complaint about the spanish names. a few of them they kept. these are the park side cottages. as early as 1908, they had a textbook and they said, you can
8:32 am
build as cottage. we will give you the plans. take it away. we think about it later, but they were doing it early. >> this is a placard from one of those cooky cutter homes. we talk about housing today. i have two work days. this is 600927 -- 6927. they put them on the building of that authority could figure out what you were buying. >> you will see these placards. this is 1930. you can see that it was sand, sand, sand. >> there were train tracks that
8:33 am
unloaded in front of us development site. -- in front of this development site. >> these three houses, can you see them? they are still there. people were optimistic. they would buy three lots and say, we will build three two- story houses here and eventually it will fill in. it did, but it was three decades. this is sunset boulevard being put in. there were putting in this big boulevard. it is pointing out a goalie in the middle of the sand. -- a gully in the middle of the sand. >> woody was just given this time. >> i have been wanting one of these for years. i know they were at 5300.
8:34 am
>> the building is still there. >> they were not the most enlightened company. they were strict about not showing homes to minorities. they got in trouble for that. willie brown actually made his name by going and trying to see one of the homes. it was a very political thing. he would walk up with a whole bunch of people in the person showing the home would sneak away. >> even in the teens, there were a lot of neighborhoods that had restrictions against certain groups of people. >> this was in the 1950's. willie mays had trouble buying a house in san francisco. a couple of people would not
8:35 am
show him a house. they had to enlist the mayor and a bunch of people. this is their reservoir. companies would take a block and there would start wrecking houses. there were building two a day -- they were building two with a. the 1930's were the big boom times for the sunset. >> this is a recession. >> these are the homes in west would park. -- in westwood park. >> how did this perform? the composite the assembly -- come's assembly -- composite assembly.
8:36 am
>> they would stucco it. they would put chicken wire on it. >> when i inspect buildings that are being remodeled, i see that the chicken wire mesh is completely gone. >> it is galvanized. the saltwater was enough to rest it out. >> it people think stucco is waterproof -- it is not waterproof. it sucks the water in. you have to water protect it and paint it. >> the above the low medium that was going on -- the bungalow frenzy that was going on, people were building houses at a remarkable rate in the 1930's.
8:37 am
nothing down. you can pay us later. we have to sell this. this is shared in school and the ocean view that it -- this is shariton school and the ocean view dedication. these early neighborhoods, this is 1910, they would have to do a lot of things themselves. the first school was built by the neighbors. the district did not have the money or the interest. when they finally got a school the city built, it took 25 years to get it. this is the dedication. >> they have diagonal sheathing. >> they had an architect in charge. you could get rattlesnakes. some of the great homes in san francisco built before the earthquake had diagonal sheeting. all of the joints had to be cut
8:38 am
at a 45 degree-angle. this had diagonal sheathing. >> much more effective. >> those three buildings are still there in the ocean view. that is the twin peaks tunnel hiding behind that building. that was a big deal for getting a lot of the neighborhoods that we were talking about. anglesite terraces, forest hill, and will side -- ingleside. it would cut the commute time. it made home building and buying a ridiculous proposition. the tunnel would solve the problems. there is the tunnel. 1915, they're building the tunnel.
8:39 am
>> 1920-something. >> they used to decorate the tunnel for christmas. why don't they do that now? >> it obstructs the actual portal. >> west portal went from, maybe it will be ok, and then the cars to over. -- cars took over. >> it kind of looks that way now. this is the ocean view we were talking about. most of that is gone now. >> golden gate heights. >> 1928. that is 16th avenue down there in front of us. lots of sand dunes. houses are starting to take over.
8:40 am
we have a later photo coming up. >> and nuance. it is there because no one wanted to live on 13th avenue. there is no 13th ave. >> there is the sunset reservoir and the sand dunes. they were building houses right on the dunes. that is 28. that is the same view in 1990. >> and the park is there. much better. >> this is westwood park. it used to be called residential park. the idea was that instead of having a bar next door to your house, this would be an exclusive residential community. the street should follow the land. they had curvilinear streets.
8:41 am
they had decorative vases, stairways. the whole idea was someone would come home from work and he should be elevated and think great thoughts. he should not be in the hustle and bustle of the urban environment. there were very restrictive. they tried to say you had to have certain setbacks and you could not use buildings for other than the residents, and you could not be a minority unless you had permission. that was a big problem. >> they are still here. you can see this place. >> i am not positive i know where this is. can you aureate me? >> that is ocean avenue on the bottom left. the center line of that is myrmar ave. what is there that anybody would know?
8:42 am
there are two gates. on the monterey side, there's a beautiful ornamental gate that welcomes people. all bungalows. >> what do you mean by that? >> traditionally, it is all on of little half story -- it is up on a little half story. they are smaller homes. there were supposed to be within reach of the average working man. >> architecturally, the bomb blows -- bungalows were derived from craftsman style and affected by the mission revival. this is a very attractive neighborhood. for years, i would appraise in this neighborhood and think, these homes are lovely.
8:43 am
they have fairly large lots. they are set back. they are attractive treescapes. they were very under-valued. that has not been the case for 10 or more years. >> ingleside was more of a hodgepodge. it developed piecemeal. it was not macro planned in any way. >> this looks like it was over the track, but it is not. >> you will find early reports of people saying it was a dog racing track. >> this is the racing track. this is on the southwest side. >> ingleside terraces. it is the same thing with the residents park.
8:44 am
we will have a giant sundial with a reflecting pond. it has pillars around each end. it has an ionic column. it was supposed to be a commemoration of the panama canal opening. he had these girls dancing at the dedication. he had a baby being pushed in a carriage. the sundial was dedicated at night. it is kind of a strange little thing. it is there and you can go see it. this is another before and after shot that shows it around 1900. this is in the 1950's. they started carving away. that building is still there. it is where the lakeside
8:45 am
district is. i like the rocket. a well-known builder in the area, an admirer of henry ford, the idea of getting this down, having an assembly line, build this in quick-style. this is a 1932 -- i think he built this house. he was a pragmatic businessman. this has spanish colonial revival elements. a few years later, it is streamlined. modern. stylo-crat. it is better than being aristocratic. to sell them, he had to come up with clever names like that. like lafayette.
8:46 am
he went with the popular taste. when the modern architecture started coming in, he was happy because it was less work. >> very little detail. you see detail in brought the city. people took tract homes and tried to individualize them in various ways throughout the cities. here is an example of how they might have done that. >> they had a lot of medallions and reliefs. >> the working class would go out to go swimming in the ocean. the wealthy would stay downtown like in the marines memorial or the elk and they would have
8:47 am
heated saltwater. people wanted to swim in salt water. >> how did the water get there? >> there was a pipe that allowed it to flow all the way down. that pipe rusted out. people went swimming in the saltwater pools and they had different temperatures. >> you could have a cold swim or a warm swim. >> how did they heat this? >> he had a huge boiler. they're still trying to figure out exactly how he sucked in the sea water. he had a pumping system. >> didn't sutro make his initial fortune by being the engineer who figured out how to ventilate the mines at virginia city? >> that is the way he would phrase it.
8:48 am
>> he drained them for water, not for air. >> he got backers for the tunnel. he said, we need this tunnel for safety, for air, for ventilation. he got this tunnel built and he got people to back it. just before it opened, it was proved to be not real helpful. he got out with his money. >> i bring it up as a reference that he had the engineering history, which allowed him to figure out how to do it. >> he was good that creating large, engineering marvels. >> this was one. the largest indoor pool. >> it might have been. it became an ice skating rink. i was there when it was an ice skating rink, probably the year before it was burned down. the mummies were there.
8:49 am
>> he had that victorian style of stuffing everything he could into this place. he had seashells and jaguars and everything he thought might be interesting or educational to people. people would come over to swim, but they could also see a huge tableau of "the last supper." >> right over here is woodward gardens. he started collecting stuff. he invited people over and eventually opened it up to the public. he had a menagerie. >> it was an 1800 thing. >> could any of the people in this room go? >> ice skating. >> ice skating. >> you could see the remains of
8:50 am
the pool. i thought the ice rink was made out of one of the largest pools. >> yes. you can see the ell that goes around. they tried to make it a tropical beach theme. they had a bunch of sand. like you could not go to the beach 40 feet away. >> it did burn down. it seems like it would have been a wonderful resource for the city to purchase it and rebuild it -- >> you could never afford the money to rebuild it. >> there were efforts to try to keep it. someone tried to sell it to the city in the 1950's. they kept it going with the ice skating rink. it closed and it looked bad. people thought we should buy it and keep it. other people wanted to put condos in there. a serious fire started and the
8:51 am
whole place burn down. they still talk about it as a mysterious fire. it could have been an insurance thing. >> hello, gladys. was glad to hear from you and not going to return. will write in a few days. >> that is a bath and the house behind. >> you can see the chimney heating that area. >> a pool opened in the 1920's. they talked about how they were going to keep it, but they never did. -- to heat it, but they never did. >> this is a publicity shot. this was the world's largest public pool.
8:52 am
they had lifeguards in boats. this was a beautiful building. it is boarded up and full of rats and homeless folks. this is a parking lot now. $8 and you can park there. the beach was a big pleasure place. they would go for sunday picnics and stay all day. an amusement park developed to cater to these people. >> i think we have a shot of the fun house. >> she was not in the fun house. she was in a glass thing at the fun house. it was an animatronics robot who went "ha ha ha ha" all day and scared generations of san franciscans out of their wits.
8:53 am
it has a month-to-month lease at fisherman's wharf. >> they moved it to this temporary location at fisherman's wharf. they left an unusual little treasure of the city. >> ingleside terraces, again, i was trying to show off the residence park. a lot of crazy building. for still has one of the great stairways -- forest hill has one of the greats their ways. -- great stairways.
8:54 am
this looked like a ship. they used to decorate fire houses for christmas. >> on the side of this fire house is a wooden tower. the tower was for drying the hoses. after they get water in them, they have to be dried. >> a fire house like this is for sale. if you have $1.3 million, which is really cheap enough for a firehouse -- >> one in the inner sunset was just sold. >> was it? i want to buy a streetcar. i cannot pay my rent. >> there were two of these for pumping water out of the ground. murphy gave a lot of money for it. >> what decided the boundaries
8:55 am
and the location of golden gate park? >> it was a deal that they basically cut in 1868. the up side lands were up for grabs. it was u.s. government land, san francisco land, and then you had these squatters. these were rich men who decided maybe they could make some money. >> you put up a fence and you owned the land. >> it can to a compromise. squatters get some. you have certain military things reserved, government. we will create a public park. everyone donated a certain amount to create golden gate park. they also created smaller parks. there were all part of the deal. >> a lot of people got moved closer to downtown as part of the deal. if you are out in the middle of nowhere land and had a couple of
8:56 am
acres, they would trade you a better acres somewhere else. >> how was it decided to put it where it is? >> it was controversial. people thought they could not put a park there because it was all sand dunes. people were pushing for a large city park in other places. it was a political compromise. >> between lincoln and fulton and the beach. >> you're saying, why did they decide that exact plot? they brought someone from new york to come up with a park plan. they eventually made it a rectangle. they had the panhandle part. the panhandle was the same with as golden gate park, but there was dealmaking going on between park commissioners and they decided they would buy the land and cut off part of the
8:57 am
panhandle. >> the development of lincoln park is interesting. you can see the cemetery. >> on the map, it is a cemetery. >> what happened to that and all of the bodies? >> they decided around the turn of the century the land was too valuable to bury people. where uss is now there were four cemeteries. they moved all of the cemetery's out -- cemeteries out. the heir did not want to move one of the places. there are two people -- two places where people are buried in the city. the other ones were moved out. >> the big scandal of lincoln
8:58 am
park, someone wanted to build the legion of honor out there. she did and she got it done. they had to prepare the land, the golden gate cemetery, so the people they hired did not get rid of any of the bodies. they got rid of the headstones. they built a museum. when the renovated it in the 1990's and started digging ground, nothing but hundreds and hundreds of bodies. >> skeletons. >> skeletons. it was a big scandal. they created a mass grave and moved to the remains. there are pictures. they have thiese skeletons sticking out of the wall. it showed the relative worth. they stopped digging because they would keep finding bodies. >> they are still out there.
8:59 am
there are bodies all over the place. they used to bury people in north beach. they would go up there and very bodies. >> there were removed from many of these cemeteries. there is a slogan that is -- anybody know? "it is great to be alive." >> beats the alternative. >> i was wondering if gary boulevard had always been a major thoroughfare. >> it used to have streetcars on it. they are thinking of bringing them back. the b line and the a line where there until the mid-1950's. we are taking the street cars away, but bart will come out here and everything will be fine. >> downtown, gary ave.