One of the strongest images of living in San Francisco in the 70s and 80s, working and taking classes, is standing on a street corner waiting for a Muni bus, it could be late at night, a cold, windy, wet street absolutely empty, and lights appear in the distance high up on a vehicle, it gets closer and it’s not your bus, it’s a Chronicle truck, the only other vehicle out there, delivering bundles of newspapers.

Or it’s a lonely Sunday, gray sky, gray air, wan pale yellow oblique sunlight, any time of the year barely reaching the earth. There’s a cold, bitter wind blowing right through your jacket, your jeans, waiting on the street corner, grit blowing in your eyes, a bus distantly chugging along taking forever to get to you.

Valencia St. SF between 22-23 C. 1982 Photo by Gregory Kerwin

The difference between that San Francisco and today is that it was so depopulated, there was nobody there, nobody on the street. On a quiet Sunday you really could go block after block, head into that bitter wind, grit in your eyes, and not see another soul. Maybe a bundled-up babushka with a little wire rolling basket taking laundry or groceries home, working slowly up the concrete sidewalk.

The other big difference was trees: No trees. There were no trees on the streets.

2013 Valencia Street: Trees
Photo 2013 Gregory Kerwin