This Old Chevy on Lombard Street Is Pure San Francisco Nostalgia

Look at SF’s Coit Tower looking all kinds of cute in the background!

I find it increasingly hard to envision a San Francisco that wasn’t defined by tech companies, sky-high rents, and the presence of wildfire smoke (the latter of which, thankfully, hasn’t been as severe this year). Times when the city’s innate bohemian, free-wheeling spirit coincided with affordability. The days when you could make an earnest wage and comfortably rent a two-bedroom-one-bathroom domicile in Nob Hill — for $250 a month. Alas: Windows into a San Francisco that didn’t include the City failing thousands of unhoused people and pee-soaked sidewalks are fleeting, brief flashbacks that never mirror the present moment.

But when I yearn to see San Francisco framed in gentler years, I turn to Reddit. And a recently uploaded image that threw me back to the city circa 1959 made my eyes wide with delight.

The above picture uploaded by u/morganmonroe81 shows what appears to be a 1959 Chevy Impala combing down Lombard Street. Aside from the gorgeous blue sky, what’s also noteworthy in the background is just how clear Coit Tower appears. Why? The trees — a mix of native and invasive species — pictured are some 60 years younger than they are now; time has allowed them to glow up and get hella thick.

One commenter pointed out something perfectly encapsulates the historic still: “Different cars, same buildings.”

Now if we can just see those same rent prices — or at least that semblance of affordability — back.


Leave a Reply