Sometime in the 1920s, giant signs reading "SAN FRANCISCO" with directional arrows were painted on top of many large buildings in San Francisco, especially streetcar barns. Can anyone tell me when and why this was done? I've heard the signs were some sort of navigational aid for early aviators who needed visual landmarks to find local airports.

-- John Martini (jamartini@earthlink.net), August 22, 2001

Answers

John: Look for Charles Smallwood's book "The White Front Cars of San Francisco". He talks about the Market Street Railway's program of painting the directional signs on the carbarn roofs. They pointed to the Marina, which was the site of San Francisco's informal airport before Mills Field.

- Joe Thompson ;0)

-- Joe Thompson (cable_car_guy@hotmail.com), August 23, 2001.