How To Celebrate A 100th Birthday

Last week I wrote about reaching my seventy-first birthday mark. That might not be a big deal, since in the U.S. there are about 77 million baby boomers; those who were born between 1946 to 1964, and the number of those who are over 65 is growing. How about those who are living to the age of 100? Online I found out that “Nationwide, the centurial population has grown 65.8 percent over the past three decades and according to 2010 Census Bureau data there were 53,364 centenarians.” That means that they were born at the time when San Francisco’s East and West parts were connected after the completion of the West Portal Tunnel. It opened in 1918. I found out about it by chance after visiting my favorite branch of the San Francisco Public Library, on West Portal. There I learned that on Saturday, February 3^rd there will be an Open House with different performances from 1-5 pm to mark the tunnel’s 100^th event.

The tunnel not only connected two parts of the city, but also created a shopping district along West Portal Avenue, which serves a number of the neighborhoods, which seemed to sprout as a result of the tunnel’s proximity. One of them is called Monterey Heights. This is where we bought our house in 1984. It was built in 1928 and has the charm of old homes, like other buildings in the adjacent neighborhoods, like St. Francis Wood and Forest Hill. During the centennial celebration in the library, there will be a display of historical photographs of the area, courtesy of MUNI.

You do not have to be a history buff to appreciate the way things once were. It is part of San Francisco’s illustrious history. In the book “San Francisco’s West Portal Neighborhoods”, from the Images of America series written by Richard Brandi, I found out that Adolph Sutro who made money during the Silver Rush, and after being a politician and philanthropist, served as the 24^th mayor of San Francisco from 1895 and 1897. In 1880, he bought Rancho San Miguel, which was the name of the area. After his death, the eastern portions were sold for development in 1909. It was the vision of the city engineer Michael O’ Shaughnessy to build a tunnel through Twin Peaks, to provide streetcar service to the new developing area. The book contains many photographs (which can be found in the San Francisco History Center of the Public Library). It was especially interesting to see images of West Portal Avenue, which still has the same original buildings with different tenants. We eat at the local restaurants, visit stores and watch movies in the movie theatre, which opened in 1926. The question crossed my mind – will it look the same after next one hundred years?

P.S. Through the years I’ve photographed many wonderful people who work here, like these four who seem to be very happy to encounter me.

Do Not Keep Me As A Secret!
Smile And Please SHARE It With A Friend!

Cheers,