Brooklyn Goes to San Francisco, produced in 1956, is a guided tour of mid-1950s San Francisco through the eyes of an authentic Brooklynite.
Narrated by Phil Foster, best know for playing Laverne’s father Frank DeFazio on 1970s sitcom Laverne & Shirley, wisecracks and a classic New York drawl counterpoint panoramas of the Golden Gate City’s beautiful landscape.
San Francisco’s steep inclines, not found in NYC, are roundly derided, while Alcatraz is an impressive penitentiary with “a lifetime guarantee.”
A catalog of memorable San Francisco establishments skim by, The Cow Palace, Leopard Cafe, Sea Horse Restaurant, Sea Cow Cafe, Old Poodle Dog, The Black Cat, The Flying Chicken, Blue Fox Cafe, and the Fly Trap Restaurant.
Or, in this case, push a cable car to get its momentum going, slide down California Street, then jump off and take trip through lively Chinatown, where the telephone operators have their work cut out for them.
There’s Lombard Street, almost as crooked as Wall Street, Knob Hill, Coit Tower, Fisherman’s Wharf with freshly steamed Dungeness crab, Bimbo’s, and seedy nightclubs with the hard sell in North Beach.
