Gateway to San Francisco: A 1939 Perspective

thus the name of a black queen of fiction has come four centuries later to signify sunshine and flowers and all the fruits of the earth Majestic mountains fertile valleys broad highways and matchless Views shimmering Lakes fed by melting snows the busy ports of San Francisco and Los angas flaming sunsets on the broad beaches of the Pacific gay and fragrant flower stands do the streets of the city that is sometimes called the Paris of the West the city's steepest Hills are scaled by dogged little cable cars which must be coaxed into reverse by a turntable and attendance [Music] and so to Chinatown where ancient east and modern West serenely blend a city within a city Chinatown offers auring Oriental bazaars maintains its own civil courts and a Chinese branch Bank staffed entirely by women [Music] [Music] San Francisco is renowned not only for its waterborne Commerce but for its Seafoods much of which is supplied by hearty Neapolitan men and boats whose Haven is picturesque Fisherman's War [Music] dedicated to Sport and pleasure are the graceful craft that sail in and out of Yacht Harbor bordering the spacious residential section known as the marina [Music] farther down the bay herds of seals Sun themselves on the famous seal rocks near the entrance to the Golden Gate to link Oakland with San Francisco required 77 million and 12 miles of bridge but in November 1936 the city that knows how did [Music] it just 6 months later San Francisco unveiled an even greater feat of engineering the bridge that couldn't be built the bridge that spans the Golden Gate the opening of this bridge was celebrated by the most brilliant Fiesta the West has ever seen thousands of visitors converged upon the city joining the 2 million people of the San Francisco Bay area in a 7-Day Carnival that revived memories of the days of 49 [Music] representatives from Canada and Mexico looked on as the Golden Gate Bridge the final Link in a continuous Highway between their countries was dedicated to the Public's use [Music] pageantry by day and By Night the Army and Navy uniting with the Far West in celebrating the city's Triumph a [Music] a [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] to the building of these Bridges and the forward March of the Far Western States during the past decade is dedicated the 1939 Exposition a $50 million pageant of the Pacific mounted upon a dazzling man-made Island in San Francisco Bay here the world will find education opportunity entertainment and the boundless Hospitality of California and of San Francisco the city that knows how [Music]