San Francisco Then and Now®

Archive photographs of San Francisco's dramatic past have been matched with specially commissioned color photos to reveal the past and present of this most alluring city.


San Francisco Then and Now pairs photographs over a century old with specially commissioned views of the same scenes as they exist today.


San Francisco is home to some of America’s most intriguing architecture and design, including the iconic Golden Gate Bridge, the bustling Fisherman’s Wharf and Pier 39, the ornate Chinatown, and the mysterious prison on Alcatraz Island, which housed legendary inmates such as gangster Al Capone, “Machine Gun” Kelly, and Robert Stroud, also known as the “Birdman of Alcatraz.”  


The book alows you to visit Coit Tower and Lombard Street—the “crookedest street in the world”—on Telegraph Hill, hop on one of the famous streetcars and travel through eclectic neighborhoods where Victorian sophistication is juxtaposed with modern elements. Stop by the Mission District, which was once home to the Ohlone Indians and Spanish missionaries, and is now full of artists and hipsters.


San Francisco has seen the dawn of many countercultural movements. In the 1950s and 1960s, it was home to Beat poets and writers such as Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac, as well as Lawrence Ferlinghetti, founder of the landmark City Lights Bookstore. San Francisco has also seen the birth of social trends that influenced the nation: antiwar protests, the sexual revolution, and the fight for women’s rights. Beat, counterculture, and gay and lesbian movements have thrived in such storied neighborhoods as North Beach, Haight-Ashbury, and the Castro. 


Sites include: Golden Gate Bridge, Palace of Fine Arts, Alcatraz, Fisherman's Wharf, Lombard Street, Coit Tower, Chinatown, Nob Hill, Ferry Building, Bay Bridge, Lotta's Fountain, Union Square, Candlestick Point, Alamo Square, Castro District, Twin Peaks, Haight-Ashbury, Cliff House, Ocean Beach.