The City by the Golden Gate and Some of its World-Famed Sight-Seeing Spots

Interesting mid-century pictorial map of San Francisco published 100 years after the Gold Rush as advertising material for a local bank.

Designed to promote one of California’s oldest banks and the city in which it was founded, this lovely map depicts the city when much of its suburban area was sparsely developed. Farmer’s markets, the Cow Palace, shrimp fisheries and the stockyards all allude to the former agricultural abundance of the region. However, international shipping, banking and swanky hotels show the cosmopolitan side as well. While most of the locations depicted in the illustrations can still be visited today, Seal Stadium and Fleishhacker Pool are two examples of landmarks that could not survive the test of time.

The publisher, Crocker First National Bank, was established from Woolworth National Bank by Charles Crocker, one of the Big Four of the Central Pacific Railroad, in 1870. It was acquired by Wells Fargo in 1986 and was allegedly the inspiration for the evil bank of Ethel in the Dilbert comic strip. The author of Dilbert, Scott Adams, worked at the bank for a few years in the late 70’s/early 80’s.