San Francisco is the epitome of a dream city. Because in contrast to the many faceless metropolises in the USA, the “City by the Bay” could not spread out in all directions, but is surrounded by water on three sides, by the Pacific Ocean and the bay. This geographic constraint favored qualitative rather than quantitative growth compared to Los Angeles, a good 400 miles to the south.
Since the beginning of the gold rush in 1848, the west coast metropolis has had a magical attraction for people. “I left my heart in San Francisco” is the title of a song by Tony Bennett in the early 1960s, a sung declaration of love to the city “high on a hill”.
The differences in height caused by the many hills, which the cable cars seem to overcome effortlessly, also stand for the ups and downs of the city’s history, such as the devastating earthquake in April 1906, when half of the then 400,000 residents became homeless.
Today, rents have become unaffordable due to the boom in the New Economy that has been going on for years in the city and in nearby Silicon Valley, as have the hotel rooms in this city, which is so popular with tourists from all over the world.
The nearly 500-page volume of photographs is intended to depict the multi-faceted development of the city over a period of 170 years “San Francisco – Portrait of a City” which is now on Taschen has appeared. What is special about this work, which is structured according to chronological periods, are the hundreds of recordings that until now have lain dormant in archives and are now being made accessible to the general public for the first time.
Publisher Reuel Golden, the former editor-in-chief of the “British Journal of Photography”, has unearthed countless optical treasures in museums, universities, libraries, galleries and private collections, which also cover the city of beatniks from the summer of love to gay and lesbian Bring movement to life and awaken the longing for a trip to San Francisco. “If you going to San Francisco…” – Music always resonates as you leaf through and dive into this almost endless illustrated book.
You can also click through the following photo series:
– More kitsch is not possible – welcome to the craziest hotel in California, the Madonna Inn
– With these photos, Ansel Adams made Yosemite Valley world famous
– El Capitan: Climb and click your way through the 1000 meter granite wall