The buildings in the D Street at 4th Street photos are still there expect the one on the right, which was destroyed in the fire. Part of the foundation survives in the underground parking area. The fire was between D and E streets.

It's definitely 5th and B, looking west. We checked in at the library again this morning, and the 1954 phone book shows Bob Coman's Super Service at 5th & B as a Union 76 gas station and also advertising Gates tires - the only Gates tires location listed. On-site inspection (i.e. we went there) shows that only one building in the photo is still there, the one on 5th up the street from the station (behind the parking meter and 76 sign). In 1954 it gave the address as 1230 Fifth, the location of Burns Florist; today it's Union Bank, and has parking on the roof. Most convincing, though, is that on the east wall there are visible remnants of those eaved, green-roofed extensions, like the one behind the parking meter. Kudos to my sister Rosemary for spotting that.



According to the City Directory, on this side of the street, starting at the corner, there was:

1121 Fifth: Marin Travel Service

1117 Fifth: KTIM

1115 Fifth: an office building with 2 professional tenants and the Marin Co. Surveyor

Then the San Rafael City hall



Across the street in this block:

1120 Fifth: Elks Club

1114 Fifth: American Auto Assn

1104 Fifth: St. Raphael's Rectory



So the Hudson is probably parked in front of 1121 or 1117. It's interesting that the 1115 building held both the county surveyor and civil engineer John C. Oglesby, who served at both engineer and surveyor for the city of Larkspur, where we lived. We may have stopped there to do some business related to the property. There's also a possibility that my brother was stopping in at KTIM; sometime during his senior year, they broadcast a radio play that he and other Marin Catholic students produced. I believe it was recorded at the studio, and he wound up with a tape of it. We didn't belong to the AAA, we never traveled anywhere and nobody was an Elk.



Thanks to everybody who offered suggestions and participated in this escapade!



Below is the shot again, leveled this time and this link to the big, but not straightened, version.

Looking more closely at the reflection in the car you can distinctly see a red curb. I assumed that the building reflected was directly behind the tree and meter which you can also see reflected. So it almost looks like you're looking across another road fronting the building seen in the reflection, which keeps making me think of the old School Administration building on 3rd & E. There's also clearly the shadow of a building falling directly in front of the car, which would have had to have abutted the sidewalk just past the alley, behind the camera.



But again, the terrain just doesn't match that location at all. The only match I can see is still the 5th & B intersection. It does look like there's a berm behind the garage in the picture, but that could be leveled in a couple of hours.



BTW, don't you wonder what kind of mileage that car got?

I like Dewey's idea but I still think parking meters were not that far out.



The Dr.'s spot at 4th & F is a bldg. (Dharma Trading) that I think predates 1957.



A block down at 4th & G is a much older (30's) gas station that's still there in the form of Hana Restaurant. You can still get a lube job, but the service bay is a wine bar !



I'm going with Rosemary who is acting like an observer (aren't you sitting in the back seat ?!?)



I'll go look, but the slope looks steeper than it is and also the bldg. there now, I think also pre-dates 1957

I have a feeling it's 4th and F st. It looks like the liquor store in the background, and Jack Hunt's ? car dealership.

About the reflection. I'm still stuck on the open space between the Hudson and the next street (or lane or whatever it is.



Is this a whole block or a park like strep, or center divider of some sort ?

rick;237 wrote: At this point I'm wondering if this photo was actually shot in San Rafael. I'm looking at the reflection in the car. There is a building that stretches for what looks like a city block. There seems to be a line of roll up doors down the entire length. I don't recognize this location at all.

Did any other Marin towns have parking meters in 1954?

Here's what the corrected image looks like, to get a better idea of the angle of the hillside.

If you look at the full size version on Shorpy, you can see that what looks like a hill is just some trees or bushes, or at least the leafless branches of same. Those and other tree branches appear reddish as a byproduct of the heavy color correction done on this now-very purple Ektachrome transparency.



But also - d'oh! - right above the Hudson's roof is a sign partially obscured by a pole, located on or adjacent to the station lot. And it seems to be about tires: "G__S" above and "GA_ES T__ES" below. Why I didn't pay attention to this before is beyond me. More old directory checking is in order. Boy.

Thanks - I think that pretty much rules out 2nd & Lincoln, so 5th & B is probably it. There's a faux-old building at the southeast corner now - I wonder what was there when we parked the Hudson in front of it. There has to be a reason we were there - conducting business at some kind of establishment, I presume. These were the days, of course, when you could always find a parking spot right in front of the place you were going to!

I figured the one in front of the car was a driveway; notice how the pavement surface rises along the curb, as if it were sloping up to meet the sidewalk, and also the gutter continues across.

I'm pretty sure it was taken in the later morning in the fall, which means we're probably facing west.



I can't bring up any readable detail on the truck from the hi-res scan, unfortunately.

Is there anyway to find out what name is on the door of that truck on the right?

Hello,Dewey I like the ariel photos.Do you have any more?