Industrial San Francisco in the 1970s - Revision history

Ccarlsson: added Stauffers chemical plant photos

2026-02-15T03:35:41Z

added Stauffers chemical plant photos

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:35, 14 February 2026
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	[[Image:Ten Years small 87286100958430M.gif]] Find the book at [https://citylights.com/foundation-books/10-years-that-shook-the-city-sf-68-78/ City Lights]!		[[Image:Ten Years small 87286100958430M.gif]] Find the book at [https://citylights.com/foundation-books/10-years-that-shook-the-city-sf-68-78/ City Lights]!

			<hr>

			[[Image:Stauffer chemical 15th and San Bruno opensfhistory wnp27.5142.jpg\|800px]]

			'''The old factory at 15th and San Bruno was the
			Stauffer Chemical Plant from post-06-earthquake into the late ’70s, when
			it was converted into an office building/ fashion showcase.'''

			''I worked there in the spring and summer of 1974. It was a boric acid refinery. Borax Ore from Death Valley was brought by rail to that site; ramped to the roof; ground up; processed in large room sized tanks of sulfuric acid; dried in 100 foot long rotating drying furnaces; and then shipped back out by boxcar. I made $5.25/hr. It ran 24/7 and never shut down.'' —Dave Brigode, 2025

			[[Image:15th-and-San-Bruno-northerly 20260208 235022327.jpg]]

			'''Same building as the Stauffer Chemical Plant, now Showplace Square facility, restored to its original brick facade, 2026.'''

			''Photo: Chris Carlsson''

			[[Image:Stucco-on-brick-former-stauffers 20260208 234837441.jpg]]

			'''Stucco still on walls from decades ago when it was Stauffers Boric acid refinery.'''

			''Photo: Chris Carlsson, 2026''


	[[category:Ten Years That Shook the City]] [[category:1970s]] [[category:labor]] [[category:Mission]] [[category:SOMA]] [[category:1920s]] [[category:1930s]] [[category:1960s]] [[category:1980s]] [[category:1990s]] [[category:Corporations]]		[[category:Ten Years That Shook the City]] [[category:1970s]] [[category:labor]] [[category:Mission]] [[category:SOMA]] [[category:1920s]] [[category:1930s]] [[category:1960s]] [[category:1980s]] [[category:1990s]] [[category:Corporations]]

Ccarlsson at 05:51, 24 November 2021

2021-11-24T05:51:39Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:51, 23 November 2021
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	''by Jesse Drew, from his essay "San Francisco Labor in the 1970s,'' in the anthology "Ten Years That Shook the City: San Francisco 1968-78" (City Lights Foundation: 2011), edited by Chris Carlsson.''		''by Jesse Drew, from his essay "San Francisco Labor in the 1970s,'' in the anthology "Ten Years That Shook the City: San Francisco 1968-78" (City Lights Foundation: 2011), edited by Chris Carlsson.''

	[[Image:Ten Years small 87286100958430M.gif]] Find the book at [~~http~~://~~www.~~citylights.com/~~book~~/~~?GCOI=87286100958430~~ City Lights]!		[[Image:Ten Years small 87286100958430M.gif]] Find the book at [https://citylights.com/foundation-books/10-years-that-shook-the-city-sf-68-78/ City Lights]!


	[[category:Ten Years That Shook the City]] [[category:1970s]] [[category:labor]] [[category:Mission]] [[category:SOMA]] [[category:1920s]] [[category:1930s]] [[category:1960s]] [[category:1980s]] [[category:1990s]] [[category:Corporations]]		[[category:Ten Years That Shook the City]] [[category:1970s]] [[category:labor]] [[category:Mission]] [[category:SOMA]] [[category:1920s]] [[category:1930s]] [[category:1960s]] [[category:1980s]] [[category:1990s]] [[category:Corporations]]

Ccarlsson: fixed caption

2021-10-06T02:35:24Z

fixed caption

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:35, 5 October 2021
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	[[Image:American Can Company January 11 1929 AAC-6318.jpg]]		[[Image:American Can Company January 11 1929 AAC-6318.jpg]]

	'''[[Live/Work Spaces for Artists: A Historical Perspective\|American Can Company factory]] at ~~Alabama and Mariposa~~, Jan. 11, 1929.'''		'''[[Live/Work Spaces for Artists: A Historical Perspective\|American Can Company factory]] at Florida from 17th, Jan. 11, 1929.'''

	''Photo: San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library''		''Photo: San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library''

Ccarlsson at 06:52, 5 October 2021

2021-10-05T06:52:07Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:52, 4 October 2021
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	''Photo: San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library''		''Photo: San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library''

			[[Image:Hamm's-Brewery-under-renovation-at-Bryant-Street-at-15th-Street---1985.jpg\|800px]]

			'''Hamm's Brewery under renovation, Bryant Street at 15th Street, 1985.'''

			''Photo: courtesy Max Kirkeberg Collection from diva.sfsu.edu''

	[[Image:Rail ars at Bryant and Alameda 1964 AAB-2990.jpg]]		[[Image:Rail ars at Bryant and Alameda 1964 AAB-2990.jpg]]

Ccarlsson at 06:48, 5 October 2021

2021-10-05T06:48:50Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:48, 4 October 2021
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	''Photo: courtesy Max Kirkeberg Collection from diva.sfsu.edu''		''Photo: courtesy Max Kirkeberg Collection from diva.sfsu.edu''

			[[Image:1950-Sanborn-Map Best-Foods-Mariposa-and-Florida Vol-6-Sheet-553 00813 06 1950-9-0553.jpg\|800px]]

			'''Sanborn Fire Insurance map, 1950 edition, showing Best Foods complex on Mariposa and Florida with mysterious underground tunnel.'''

			''Map: San Francisco Public Library digital collections''

	Malt and hops steam from the beer breweries made one’s nose flare, as would the acrid, burnt smell of coffee roasting in the MJB and Hills Bros coffee factories in the South of Market.		Malt and hops steam from the beer breweries made one’s nose flare, as would the acrid, burnt smell of coffee roasting in the MJB and Hills Bros coffee factories in the South of Market.

Ccarlsson: added categories

2021-10-05T06:45:24Z

added categories

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:45, 4 October 2021
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	[[category:Ten Years That Shook the City]] [[category:1970s]] [[category:labor]] [[category:Mission]] [[category:SOMA]]		[[category:Ten Years That Shook the City]] [[category:1970s]] [[category:labor]] [[category:Mission]] [[category:SOMA]] [[category:1920s]] [[category:1930s]] [[category:1960s]] [[category:1980s]] [[category:1990s]] [[category:Corporations]]

Ccarlsson at 06:43, 5 October 2021

2021-10-05T06:43:56Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:43, 4 October 2021
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	San Francisco in 1970 still had a strong traditional blue-collar working class based in construction, transport, warehousing, food production, and manufacturing. It is hard to imagine today, but the Bay Area as a whole was still very much an industrial center, bustling with automobile and truck manufacturing, oil refining, canning, brewing, baking, ship repair, steel and smelting, and more. Large heavy industrial plants included American Can, Peterbilt Truck, Mack Truck, Caterpillar Tractor, International Harvester, Brockway Glass, Owens-Illinois, General Motors, Ford Motors, AAA Shipyards, and assorted iron and steel works.		San Francisco in 1970 still had a strong traditional blue-collar working class based in construction, transport, warehousing, food production, and manufacturing. It is hard to imagine today, but the Bay Area as a whole was still very much an industrial center, bustling with automobile and truck manufacturing, oil refining, canning, brewing, baking, ship repair, steel and smelting, and more. Large heavy industrial plants included American Can, Peterbilt Truck, Mack Truck, Caterpillar Tractor, International Harvester, Brockway Glass, Owens-Illinois, General Motors, Ford Motors, AAA Shipyards, and assorted iron and steel works.

			[[Image:American Can Company January 11 1929 AAC-6318.jpg]]

			'''[[Live/Work Spaces for Artists: A Historical Perspective\|American Can Company factory]] at Alabama and Mariposa, Jan. 11, 1929.'''

			''Photo: San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library''

	[[Image:Hamms Brewery AAC-6474.jpg]]		[[Image:Hamms Brewery AAC-6474.jpg]]

Ccarlsson: added Max Kirkeberg photos

2021-10-05T06:31:02Z

added Max Kirkeberg photos

@@ Line 47: / Line 47: @@
 ''Photo: San Francisco Metropolitan Transportation Authority archives''
-Many sights, sounds, and smells of San Francisco from that decade no longer linger. In the 1970s freight trains still rolled stealthily through the streets of the Mission under cover of darkness, moving finished goods out and raw materials in. One could smell the cloying sweet smell of white bread, as union workers moved tens of thousands of loaves of Kilpatricks Bread from dough to ovens to market on 16th and South Van Ness. On foggy mornings, a thick corrosive mist of vinegar would descend over the vicinity of Best Foods on Florida Street, as union workers bottled mayonnaise and other condiments. Malt and hops steam from the beer breweries made one’s nose flare, as would the acrid, burnt smell of coffee roasting in the MJB and Hills Bros coffee factories in the South of Market.
+[[Image:Hostess-Bakery-on-Bryant-Street,-north-of-15th-Street---2000-.jpg|800px]]
 [[Image:Hills Brothers nd AAC-7041.jpg]]

Lisaruth: changed photo credit to C. R. collection on 4th photo

2016-09-19T05:51:06Z

changed photo credit to C. R. collection on 4th photo

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:51, 18 September 2016
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	'''Bryant and Alameda with #27 streetcar turning, 1930s.'''		'''Bryant and Alameda with #27 streetcar turning, 1930s.'''

	''Photo: ~~Charles Ruiz~~ collection''		''Photo: C. R. collection''

	[[Image:Bryant-Street-Storeroom---October-1928--PC077-78-Bryant-St-PH-Pan.jpg\|720px]]		[[Image:Bryant-Street-Storeroom---October-1928--PC077-78-Bryant-St-PH-Pan.jpg\|720px]]

Ccarlsson: added SFMTA photo

2014-06-07T06:29:18Z

added SFMTA photo

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:29, 6 June 2014
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	[[Image:Bryant-Street-Storeroom---October-1928--PC077-78-Bryant-St-PH-Pan.jpg\|720px]]		[[Image:Bryant-Street-Storeroom---October-1928--PC077-78-Bryant-St-PH-Pan.jpg\|720px]]

	'''Bryant Street MUNI Storeroom which stretches to Alameda and is visible in the two photos above, still in use in 2014, seen here in October 1928.'''		'''Bryant Street MUNI Storeroom which stretches to Alameda (where the small tower indicates the Continental Bakery, home of the Twinkie in later years) and is visible in the two photos above, still in use in 2014, seen here in October 1928.'''

	''Photo: San Francisco Metropolitan Transportation Authority archives''		''Photo: San Francisco Metropolitan Transportation Authority archives''