Polk's San Francisco (San Francisco County, Calif.) city directory, 1960, Part 3

Author: R.L. Polk & Co
Publication date: 1953
Publisher: San Francisco, Calif. : R.L. Polk & Co.
Number of Pages: 2848

USA > California > San Francisco County > San Francisco > Polk's San Francisco (San Francisco County, Calif.) city directory, 1960 > Part 3

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

SAN FRANCISCO RETAIL SALES

1940(a)

398,896,000

1954(c)

$1,480,307,000

1945 (a)

850,770,000

1955(c)

1,631,823,000

1948(b)

1,033,188,000

1956(c)

1,696,439,000

1949(c)

1,274,357,000

1957(c)

1,627,386,000

1950(c)

1,351,651,000

1958(c)

1,584,530,000

1953(c)

1,496,841,000

1959(c)

1,724,949,000

(a) California State Chamber of Commerce estimate.

(b) U. S. Census.

SAN FRANCISCO-OAKLAND METROPOLITAN AREA RETAIL TRADE, AS PER 1958 U. S. CENSUS OF BUSINESS

Total

Sales

Payroll

Trade Group

Establishments

($ millions)

Lumber, building, hardware

948

$129.0

15.5

General merchandise

743

425.6

68.1

Food stores

4,167

837.2

64.6

Automotive dealers

1.085

518.9

54.4

Gasoline service stations

2,293

223.4

21.3

Apparel and accessories

1.715

247.6

39.3

Furniture and appliances

1.680

205.7

28.5

Eating and drinking places

5,571

361.2

86.9

Drug and proprietary stores

749

118.2

15.8

Other retail

3,886

271.1

27.2

Non-store retailers

1.048

86.0

11.8

Totals

23,885

$3,423.9

$433.5

Service Establishments

San Francisco insured service units reporting to the

California Department of Employment in 1959 had 52,000 employees and an estimated annual payroll of $220,000,000.

SUMMARY OF PRINCIPAL SERVICE GROUPS-1958 (insured reporting units only)

Fourth Quarter

1958

Employees Dec. 31, 1958

Hotels, motels, rooming houses Personal services

467

$ 5,943

7.110 6,570

Miscellaneous business

services

868

14,572

11,719

Garages and auto repair shops

366

3,399

2.739

Miscellaneous repair services

228

1,133

833

Motion pictures

101

1,580

1,671

Other amusement and recreation services

217

2,665

2.996

Medical and health services

1,395

4,316

4,606

Legal services

574

3,200

2,136

Educational services

527

705

Non-profit membership

731

6,792

5.632

Miscellaneous services

571

7.946

4,511

Totals

6,655

$57,868

51,228

PRINCIPAL SERVICE GROUPS IN SAN FRANCISCO, U. S. CENSUS, 1954

KIND OF BUSINESS IN SAN FRANCISCO

No. of

Establishments

Sales and Receipts ($000)

Payroll Annual ($000) $93,541

Service group, total

7,273

$345,581

Personal services

3,461

57,101

Automobile repair services

and garages

609

26,176

All other selected services

3,203

262,304

Preliminary results of the 1958 Census of Business show that San Francisco has 7,653 service establishments, only 3,217 of which had a payroll. Sales and receipts for all establishments for 1958 totaled $427,000,000, and pay- roll, $123,000,000 for 35,078 employees.

BAY AREA MARKET DEVELOPMENTS Population

The Bay Area, on April 1, 1960, had about 3,592,327 residents, an increase of 34.0% since April 1, 1950. The nine-county Bay Area population is now greater than that of 34 of the 50 states. The growth in this area between 1940 and 1950 exceeded the growth of all but five states- California, New York, Texas, Michigan and Ohio.

Employment

Estimated civilian employment in the San Francisco- Oakland Metropolitan Area (six counties), in 1959 averaged 1,109,200 persons. The manufacturing group employed 204,690, or 18.5% of the total; the service group, 186,900, or 16.8% of the total; retail trade, 173,260, or 15.6%; wholesale trade, 78,480, or 7.1%; transportation and pub- lic utilities, 108,680, or 9.8%; finance, 70,070, or 6.3%; con- struction, 72,100, or 6.5%; government, 192,600, or 17.4%; agriculture, forestry and fishing, 18,740, or 1.7%; the bal- ance, unclassified.

Industrial Development

During 1959 in the Bay Region (nine Bay Area coun- ties plus Sacramento, San Joaquin, Yolo and Santa Cruz), 1,092 industrial projects with outlays of $258,000,000 were reported. Of this number, 827 were expansions with out- lays of $219,000,000, and 265 were new plants with out- lays of $39,000,000.

Trade

Tangible personal property sold at retail through 21,756 outlets in San Francisco during 1958 attained a total of $1,737,000,000 in taxable sales. Sales of food for off- premise consumption and gasoline sales are not included in taxable sales.

Sales of the 9,748 licensed retail outlets during 1958 amounted to $948,800,000, sales of 3,223 personal service establishments amounted to $57,200,000, and sales of 9,047 manufacturing, wholesaling, contracting and miscellaneous outlets amounted to $578,600,000.

Plumbing and electrical supply stores.

1,760

5.878

3,721

Household appliance dealers

159

14,809

Farm implement dealers

1,864

717

Building material yards and stores

313

32,713

without alcoholic beverages

975

45,526

Photographic equipment and supply stores.

8,122

SERVICE GROUP

Units Reporting

Wages

($000)

1,068

5,794

Manufacturing, Wholesaling, Contracting and

Contractors and building materials manu-

and miscellaneous outlets

$ 948,795

organizations

INTRODUCTION

Construction

A record total of $625,000,000 in major construction projects authorized, under way and announced in San Francisco was set for 1959, which topped any previous year in which this information was available.

San Francisco's building boom of 1959 reached its peak in December, when permits authorized pushed the total valuations for twelve months to its first $100,000,000 year. The 11,025 permits authorizing construction totaled $109,900,000, representing a 32% increase over 1958, even though the number of permits was 5% lower than 1958's 11,595 permits.

Real Estate

Although deeds recorded in December slipped 17.4%, the number increased 1.5% for the year compared to the previous year.

A total of 17,000 mortgage and trust deed loans were recorded for the year, a gain of 12.9%. The total of $257,000,000 in real estate loans represented a 13.2% in- crease in valuation over 1958. Loans from insurance com- panies and savings and loan associations rose 44.9 and 42.1%, respectively. Bank loans fell off 11.7% from 1958.

Intercity and Interstate Traffic

Bay Bridge vehicle crossings, 37,967,243, set a new record in 1959, an increase of 5.6% over 1958. Golden Gate Bridge vehicle crossings also set a new record, with 18,193,672, an increase of 8%.

Visitors and Newcomers

Out-of-state autos entering through northern Cali- fornia gateways in 1959 totaled 954,914 cars and 2,472,839 passengers, an increase of 7.5% and 8% respectively. Pros- pective visitors and newcomers' written inquiries to the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce during 1959 totaled 22,119, a gain of 23.3% over 1958.

San Francisco Business Activity for 1959 Reaches "Magic 200"

Business activity in San Francisco hit record highs for 1959 and for the month of December, according to the Chamber Research Department.

The Chamber business activity index-based on de- partment store sales, bank debits, electric energy sales, and freight-car loadings-broke the "Magic 200" mark for the first time in the city's history in registering 207.9 for December, and a new annual high of 167.7.

The unadjusted index for department store sales zoomed to 241.5 for December, an annual average of 134.2 and a gain of 5.3% for the month and 6.3% for the year compared to similar periods in 1958. Bank debits reached a record $54,000,000,000 for the year, an annual gain of 8.3%, and an increase of 4.5% over December of the previous year. Electric energy sales, measured by kilowatt hours sold (excluding street lighting), resulted in an index of 173.4 based on the 1947-49 monthly average-an in- crease of 7.7% over December, 1958, and 3.1% for the year. Freight-car loadings in the San Francisco Switching District were up 5.1% for December, and 0.5% for the year.

Another year of record-smashing in traffic was as- sured at the San Francisco International Airport for planes in-and-out, passengers off-and-on and air mail and air freight. Plane arrivals and departures, as reported by the airport's 13 carriers were up 8.3% for the first 11 months from the previous year. The airport reported a resounding 14.3% increase in the number of passengers for the same period over the previous year.

Air mail poundage gained 10% over 11 months of

1958, air express, 6.9%, and air freight, measured by weight, 18.2%-the latter already in excess of the full year of 1958 by 6,000,000 pounds. Air shipments, reported by the Railway Express Agency, were up 14.5% for the full year.

FINANCE Financial Capital

San Francisco, the financial and insurance capital of the West, is headquarters of the world's largest bank and is one of the nation's most important financial centers. Five of the nation's 50 largest commercial banks are lo- cated in San Francisco. San Francisco banks reported total assets of $18,100,000,000 at the end of 1959.

The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco is the headquarters of the Twelfth Federal Reserve District.

Stock Exchange

The Pacific Coast Stock Exchange-the "Exchange of Destiny"-is second only to New York as a regional se- curity market. It accounts for about 30% of the national regional stock exchange volume.

The San Francisco division, founded in 1882, and the Los Angeles division, founded in 1899, have played im- portant individual roles in pumping the life blood of fi- nance into the dynamic Pacific Coast area to build indus- trial growth, to develop business and to expand agricul- ture.

Consolidation of the two exchanges, amalgamating the West's two chief security markets, was effected in Janu- ary, 1957, after years of planning and study. The creation of a broader market-providing many new opportunities for investors, corporations, security dealers and banks and financial institutions-was the result.

Buying and selling orders are executed immediately, not only in the city of placement, but also on the division floors, even though 400 miles apart, via a special telephone circuit-unduplicated outside the Civil Aeronautics Au- thority.

The Exchange comprises 122 member organizations, including 29 member corporations serving public investors through more than 800 officers in 11 Western states, the Midwest, the East and abroad. There are also 2,000 regis- tered representatives associated with the member firms in West Coast offices and 360 non-member dealers and banks across the nation who function through these firms.

More than 550 common and preferred stocks of com- panies of national, regional and local significance, includ- ing Hawaii, are listed by the Exchange 80 of them ex- clusively.

The most important advantage in trading on the Pa- cific Coast Stock Exchange is the time differential be- tween the Atlantic and Pacific seaboards. Pacific is the only major national securities exchange open from 12:30 P.M. to 2:30 P.M (PST). This time differential makes Pacific Coast the nation's security market after 12:30 P.M. (PST) each market day. National and international events of major importance affecting trading often result in a flow of orders to Pacific Coast Stock Exchange from all over the nation.

Another specific advantage of Pacific is the tax-saving benefit. Customers who executed and sold orders through Pacific in 1958 at the same price as the primary market saved over $520,000 in not having to pay a transfer tax to the State of New York.

San Francisco Savings and Loan Assets

There were 15 savings and loan associations in San Francisco in March, 1960.

From any standpoint, geographically, by total assets, or loans recorded, the recent growth of savings and loan associations in California, the Bay Area, and San Fran-

INTRODUCTION

cisco, has been amazing.

A study of total assets by Bay Area associations and of loans recorded by savings and loan associations in San Francisco shows the following significant increases:

(1). In one year, total assets of 50 state and federal- ly-chartered associations in the Bay Area grew 27% to over $1,350,000,000.

(2). 15 associations headquartered in San Francisco grew 25% in 1959 to over half a billion dollars in assets.

(3). In the city of San Francisco, loans recorded in 1959 by savings and loan associations grew to $68,000,000, a 44.9% increase over 1958's $47,- 000,000, and:

(4). These 1959 loans were up 304% from the 1947-49 average of $16,800,000 recorded in San Francisco.

In San Francisco, eleven of the city's 15 associations has assets topping $10,000,000, and four of these exceeded $50,000,000 in assets at the end of 1959.

Of the 50 in the nine-county Bay Area, 30 had assets of $10,000,000 or more (compared with 26 at the end of 1958), and of these, nine had over $50,000,000 in total as- sets (as against seven in 1958).

Following is a tabulation of loans recorded in the city of San Francisco by savings and loan associations, with an index based on a 1947-49 average-100.

Loans recorded ($ millions)

Index

1947-49 average

$16.841

100.0

1950

20.163

119.7

1951

18.130

107.6

1952

25.309

150.3

1953

28.720

170.5

1954

34.826

206.8

1955

43.819

260.2

1956

32.474

192.8

1957

31.440

186.7

1958

47.006

279.1

1959

68.109

404.4

Total Personal Income Estimate-San Francisco (a)

1940

$ 754,648,000

1955

$2,462,921,000

1947

1.878,030.000

1956

2,592,917,000

1950

2,011.276.000

1957

2,696,933,000

1953

2.273,929,000

1958

2,758,980,000

1954

2,332,799,000

(a) California State Chamber of Commerce-revised.

San Francisco Postal Receipts

1940

$ 9,969.367

1955

$32.486,445

1949

21,214,354

1956

32,614,482

1950

24.183 789

1957

31,768,286

1953

33,860,371

1958

33,668,791

1954

33,317,363

1959

37,441,533

Insurance

San Francisco is the insurance center of the West, and California headquarters of about 57% of the insurance organizations authorized to transact business in California. Represented in San Francisco in the fall of 1958 were 673 insurance carriers, agents and brokers, offering all classes of business, including the major lines, such as life, auto, disability, liability, health, fire, marine, workmen's com- pensation, title, fidelity, security, burglary and theft, and extended coverage. The industry employs 21,500 persons with annual payrolls of about $103,000,000. In addition, San Francisco is the headquarters of some 19 insurance associations. including such prominent names as Board of Fire Underwriters of the Pacific, Pacific Fire Rating Bu- reau, and Insurance Brokers Exchange of California.

Direct premiums written by all insurance groups in California amounted to $2,500,000,000 in 1957, or 12% above the previous year. The direct losses paid, $1,200,- 000,000, were up 14.2%. Life insurance in force totaled $39,700,000,000 in California in 1957, up 14.4% over 1956.

California Direct Premiums Written and Losses Paid- 1957 and Percent Change from 1956

Major Classes

Written

Change 9.5

Losses Paid

Change 11.0

Automobile

215,360,365

17.2

120,222,301

11.2

Liability

446,343,922

17.7

217,888,475 289,542,688

20.3

Disability Fire

378,480,615 121,529,881

5.7

59,966,233

11.9

Workman's Com- pensation

184,782,356

6.1

96,115,297

9.9

Marine-Ocean

21,289,754

21.4

14,134,879

13.4

Marine-Other

37,520,851

-3.4

22,221,705

-13.3

Title

42,965,876

5.2

269,636

-35.8

PUBLIC BUILDINGS

First comes the group in the Civic Center, declared by the Duke of Connaught to be the finest thing of its kind in the world. The group consists: (1) City Hall, of classic design, surmounted by an immense dome, higher than the dome of the Capitol at Washington; cost, $4,- 000,000. (2) Civic Auditorium, seating capacity of 12,000 in the main auditorium, with numerous small halls; cost, $2,000.000. (3) San Francisco Public Library; cost, $1,500,- 000. (4) State Building; cost, $1,000,000. (5) War Memo- rial group of buildings, as a part of Civic Center; cost, $4,- 000.000 consisting of Civic Opera House, American Legion halls, etc. The San Francisco Federal Building cost $3,- 000,000.

Recent additions at the Civic Center include an un- derground garage and exhibit building (Brooks Hall) cost- ing $3,392,000 and $3,711,000 respectively. The State Com- pensation Insurance Building, at $4,179,000, and the State Building Annex were opened in 1959.

The California Palace of the Legion of Honor, in Lin- coln Park, overlooking the Golden Gate, is a replica of the Palace of the Legion of Honor in Paris. It was pre- sented to the City. The structure cost $2,000,000. Other leading public buildings are the U. S. Mint, located at Market St. and Duboce Ave., built in 1937 (now inac- tivated); the Post Office Building, corner of 7th and Mis- sion streets; and the Ferry Building, at the foot of Market St. on the waterfront, built by the State in 1896 at a cost of $1.000,000. The Ferry Building is 659 feet long and 156 feet wide, and is the home of the World Trade Center. This was the first global mart to combine under one roof office and exhibit space, trade libraries and other facilities linked to international trade. The Covarrubias murals, executed for the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposi- tion, and depicting flora, fauna, occupations and culture of peoples of Pacific nations, are now permanently housed here. The Customs House and U. S. Appraiser's Building represents an expenditure of more than $4,000,000. In Golden Gate Park are located the deYoung Memorial Mu- seum, Academy of Sciences, Steinhart Aquarium, Museum of Anthropology, and the Morrison Planetarium. At Kearnv and Washington streets is the Hall of Justice, erected in 1910 at a cost of $1,000,000, containing police courts and the criminal department of the superior court. Currently under construction is the new Hall of Justice at 7th and Bryant streets, to be completed early in 1961 at a cost of $19,475,000. The Golden Gate Bridge, costing $35,000,000, was opened to traffic in May, 1937. and the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, costing $78,000,000, was opened to vehicular traffic Nov. 12, 1936. San Fran- cisco East Bay Terminal (at Mission and 1st streets) is a $2,000,000 structure opened to interurban train service in 1939. The $2,730,000 Rincon Annex Post Office was opened in 1940. (See also "Social Features.")

PARKS AND RECREATION

Generously provided and well distributed are 127 public recreation and park units covering 4,043 acres. The areas in the City account for about one-eighth of the avail- able land area.

About 80 playgrounds and recreation centers are in- dividually supervised. Included in these facilities are out- door and indoor swimming pools, tennis courts, regulation baseball and softball diamonds, golf courses, putting greens, bowling greens, yacht harbor, and a family moun-

Life

$887,535,856

$274,845,503

19.2

17.0

INTRODUCTION

tain camp (200 acres, approximately 180 miles from San Francisco at elevation 4,500 feet.)

Golden Gate Park, notably one of the finest parks in the world, comprising 1,017 acres with many thousand dif- ferent kinds of trees, shrubs and plants, contains an aqua- rium, a museum, the Morrison Planetarium, the Califor- nia Academy of Sciences, the Japanese Tea Garden, and many unusual attractions. The Fleishhacker Playfield, fronting on the Pacific Ocean, contains one of the largest outdoor swimming pools in the world, and the San Fran- cisco 'Zoological Gardens are close by.

SOCIAL FEATURES

Events-The cosmopolitan character of San Francisco is well portrayed by the interesting and diversified events which take place daily. The citizen or visitor will find many educational things of interest, such as lectures, con- certs, readings, recitals, and special exhibits of drawing, painting, sculpture, and other works of art.

Art Galleries-Three public art galleries and several semi-public galleries offer exhibits and collections of na- tional and international fame. The M. H. deYoung Memo- rial Museum, the San Francisco Museum of Art, and the California Palace of the Legion of Honor attract hundreds of thousands of visitors annually.

Library-The main public library is located in the Civic Center. There are 26 branches (one for business), and one bookmobile. This system has over 840,000 vol- umes. In addition to the public libraries, there are nearly 100 private and special libraries, including technical and institutional. There are also numerous circulating li- braries.

Public Buildings-The Civic Auditorium with a seat- ing capacity of 9,136, contains a magnificent organ and is used for conventions and a variety of events. The War Memorial Opera House and the War Memorial Building provide a home for opera, the symphony orchestra, and a permanent war relics museum. San Francisco was the first city of the nation to have a civic opera house. It has a seating capacity of 3,285. The War Memorial Opera House and the War Memorial Building were chosen for the meet- ing places of the United Nations delegates from April 25 to June 26, 1945, to construct the Charter of the United Nations, and in 1955 for the Commemorative Session of the U. N., and for the Japanese Peace Conference in Sep- tember, 1951.

Clubs-There are numerous societies, clubs, lodges, and fraternal groups besides the civic, historical, military, religious, and sporting groups. San Francisco contains many foreign colonies where the daily life and social events familiar to their native countries have been re- established here.

Churches-San Francisco has 485 churches, represent- ing many denominations. The congregations of the churches include people of many nationalities, such as English, German, Italian, French, Spanish, Scandinavian, Russian, and Chinese.

PUBLIC HEALTH

San Francisco public health facilities include a bac- teriological laboratory, a chemical laboratory, consolidated inspection services, the San Francisco Hospital, the La- guna Honda Home for aged indigents, the Hassler Health Farm for convalescent tuberculosis cases, six emergency hospitals, child welfare centers, well-baby clinics, and other health-control facilities scattered throughout the city.

A CITY OF BEAUTY

San Francisco is a city of supreme and exotic beauty, a city of many interesting aspects, and a cultural and

vacation center for those who like to explore. The vaca- tion experts, Californians, Inc., say-"There is the story- book part that is not on the map-the things of the city that guidebooks only hint at-small in area as great cities go, it is America's most cosmopolitan city. Almost sur- rounded by the sea, it's like being on shipboard all the time-there's salt in the ocean breeze, filling you with buoyant energy."

CLIMATE

San Francisco is a clean city with a cool, bracing, equable, open-all-year-around climate. The daily mean maximum temperature is 62.6 degrees. The daily mean minimum temperature is 50.4 degrees. The average daily temperature range is 12.2 degrees.

The hours of fog over San Francisco Bay recorded by the Lighthouse Service averages only 153 per year.

San Francisco is one of a few of nature's air-condi- tioned cities, relatively warm in winter and cool in sum- mer. The long-time record of the Weather Bureau reveals that the sun shines in San Francisco during 66 of every 100 possible hours.

POPULATION TRENDS IN SAN FRANCISCO

While details have not been released on the 1960 Census of population, the preliminary total for San Fran- cisco for April 1, 1960, is 715,609, representing a loss from 1950, of about 7.7%. Final figures are expected to push this up to around 730,000, however. Even though several cities in the Bay Area lost population in the decade, the losses were countered by sizeable gains in the newer, out- lying cities of the metropolitan area. Many of the older areas in the city have become less congested, and in many dwellings the total number of occupants has dwindled. None of the agencies estimating population foresaw the loss, so the new figure came as a surprise, especially since there had been a large increase in school enrollments.

Public and parochial school enrollments climbed nearly 30% from 1950, compared to a total population in- crease of slightly less than 6%. Based on San Francisco Health Department resident birth records, children under five years of age showed a decline of 20% from 1950. Those in the age bracket of 16 through 19-not accounted for in public or parochial schools but included under other colleges or private schools and those gainfully employed- increased 9.57%.

The population total includes military residents living on and off post, but does not count San Francisco-based ship crew members. About 10,000 of these were counted in the 1950 U. S. Census.

Although authorized building permits topped $100,- 000,000 during 1959 in San Francisco, there were less dwelling units available because of a record number of demolitions. Some 2,350 dwelling units were demolished in 1958 and 1959 to implement the Western Addition Re- development Project alone. This, coupled with demolitions paving the way for the Diamond Heights Project and the Southern Freeway, resulted in an actual decrease in dwelling units available for occupancy. The addition of new units authorized with completion scheduled this year, should alleviate the situation.

Passenger automobile registrations, an indicator of population trends in the past, were not considered as a factor in the present compilation because the number of families now owning one or more vehicles has increased significantly.

EDUCATION Fine Facilities for Education and Research

The educational facilities available in San Francisco and the Bay Area cover all fields and are outstanding in the West and in their rank among national institutions.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Polk's San Francisco (San Francisco County, Calif.) city directory, 1960, Part 3

Author: R.L. Polk & Co Publication date: 1953 Publisher: San Francisco, Calif. : R.L. Polk & Co. Number of Pages: 2848

Author: R.L. Polk & Co
Publication date: 1953
Publisher: San Francisco, Calif. : R.L. Polk & Co.
Number of Pages: 2848