SAN FRANCISCO

The Santa Fe launched the San Francisco Chief in June 1954. The new California Express streamliner ran daily between San Francisco, the Bay Area, and Chicago.  Pullman and Chair Car accommodations were featured, plus Dining Cars, Dome and Pullman Lounge cars traveling via Stockton, Fresno, Bakersfield, Flagstaff, Albuquerque, Kansas City, ... Read More »

Prominent big band leader Ernest (Ernie) Heckscher and his dance orchestra performed for years in the Venitian Room at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco. His mellow sounds enlivened debutante cotillions and high school proms in San Francisco for 36 years, from the early 1950s until his retirement in 1986. ... Read More »

Southern Pacific’s deluxe all-Pullman streamliner Lark was the premiere overnight passenger between San Francisco and Los Angeles. A favorite of businessmen and movie stars. The Oakland Lark connected with the Lark at San Jose then via San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara to Southern California along the coast route. The Lark ... Read More »

San Francisco’s Fox Theatre was the largest movie palace west of St Louis. A monument to opulence and glamour long gone. There weren’t enough adjectives to describe the movie theater’s magnificence. It drew crowds from the entire Bay Area with premiere movies and stage shows. Kids on dates from San ... Read More »

See Charles Pierce perform one of his famous Bette Davis impersonations. Performing from San Francisco and Los Angeles to New York as a top nightclub act, Pierce was one of the best female impersonators in American theatre history. Pierce was a star for decades, living in San Francisco, starting in ... Read More »

American President Lines was a leader in providing passenger liner services between California, the Far East and Around The World. San Francisco was the company’s headquarters for years, and Bay Area residents, from San Jose to San Raphael, would see their great ships as they headed to work on ferry ... Read More »

Elvis Presley’s love for Hawaii ran deep, and during his lifetime he visited often sailing to and from San Francisco & Los Angeles on board Matson Lines liner-cruiseships. Whether it was to perform concerts and benefits, film a movie, or just to vacation, the islands would always draw him back. ... Read More »

In the 1957 musical film Pal Joey, Frank Sinatra gets off a Southern Pacific train and then heads across the SF bay to San Francisco,  aboard one of the SP Ferry Boats. Oakland Long Wharf was the western terminus of the Southern Pacific Railroad. From there, ferries carried both commuters ... Read More »

California grand movie palaces escaped the wrecking ball and are thriving throughout the Golden State, including San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Los Angeles, Fresno, Stockton, and many other cities. See them all in our New Video Our New Video: Featuring the 14 California Movie Palaces with theatre organ heard playing: ... Read More »

Southern Pacific’s all-Pullman Lark was the premiere overnight passenger between San Francisco and Los Angeles. A favorite of businessmen and movie stars. The Oakland Lark connected with the Lark at San Jose then via San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara to Southern California along the coast route. The Lark rivaled such ... Read More »

The SS Yale and SS Harvard became known as “white Flyers of the Pacific”! Operating overnight between San Francisco and Los Angeles with day connection sailings to San Diego. The Los Angeles Steamship Company (LASSCO) twin passenger ships made four sailings a week, carrying 565 First Class passengers at an ... Read More »

Other trains may have been more luxurious but none could compare to the California Zephyr in the way of friendly service and breathtaking scenery. From 1949 until 1970, the California Zephyr operated daily during the 1950s and 1960s between Chicago and San Francisco. Over two days and nights, across prairies, through canyons, ... Read More »