Cushman Photo Collection of Marin

sportsfan919 · Status: Offline

RE: Cushman Photo Collection of Marin

JasonLewis · Status: Offline

Sportsfan, thanks for sharing the Cushman links. I hadn't seen those photos in a while. They're terrific. And, Paul, as usual, thanks so much for sharing such great photos.

Paul Penna · Status: Offline

sportsfan919 wrote:

Construction of the Richmond/San Rafael Bridge. May be the only remaining color photographs of the construction of the bridge. I never knew that when it was under construction, it had a reddish color to it.

Here's one my brother took from the ferry on Nov. 30, 1955:

(Click here for a larger version)

Other bridge and ferry shots from that day are in this thread here in the MarinNostalgia forum.

The red was the undercoat on the steel girders as manufactured. We have a distant shot of it on this page of my Larkspur web site.

The Cushman site is wonderful; makes me wish we'd taken a lot more photos back then.

-- Edited by Paul Penna at 18:46, 2008-06-23

santarosie · Status: Offline

Wow, thanks for sharing the website. There are some awesome photos of Marin and elsewhere. I spent about two hours just looking at the photos...and bookmarked it to go back later.

sportsfan919 · Status: Offline

If you haven't already, all fans of this website should check out the Charles Cushman Photo Collection online. He was an eccentric amateur photographer who saw America and took photos unlike any other in the 50s & 60s, documenting the rapidly changing landscape. He lived in San Francisco for awhile, so he has rolls and rolls of color film of Marin County in the 1950s like never seen before.

Some that stood out to me:

The Mission San Rafael. Yet, unlike many standard present day and historical photos of the landmark, he moved his camera two blocks south and captures "A Street" in the foreground like it will never be seen again, with a classic two-tone bright red car cruising 4th street in brilliant Kodachrome. I immediately thought this is what "Back to the Future" would have looked like if it was shot in San Rafael instead of "Hill Valley". Ironically, the photo was taken on November 6, 1955- exactly one day after "Marty" went back in time in the movie:
click here for Mission Photo

101 Looking North at the top of Puerto Suello Hill. How strikingly simple the 4 lane highway 101 is before it was upgraded to freeway status, as well as what was to become Terra Linda in the distance. What happened to that motel and building in the middle of the picture? And why did he choose to pull over and take this picture at this exact spot:
Click here for Hwy 101

Construction of the Richmond/San Rafael Bridge. May be the only remaining color photographs of the construction of the bridge. I never knew that when it was under construction, it had a reddish color to it:
Click here for Richmond Bridge

New Suburb in the Making. Is this Santa Venetia or Terra Linda?
Click here for Suburb

And one thing that will never change (hopefully) in Marin:
Sky

When you have some free time to burn, it's a fascinating collection to browse through... not only of Marin, but of the Bay Area and entire United States.