32 Stunning Photos Of San Francisco In The 40s And 50s
From Fred Lyon's San Francisco: Portrait of a City 1940 - 1960.
1. Photographer Fred Lyon, a San Francisco native, is now 90 years old.
Fred Lyon
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Fred Lyon
3. According to his online biography: "His nonstop career reaches back to the early 1940s and embraces news, fashion, architecture, advertising, wine and food."
Fred Lyon
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Fred Lyon
5. It goes on to say: "In the golden years of magazine publishing his picture credits were everywhere from Life to Vogue and beyond."
Fred Lyon
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Fred Lyon
7. In the 1940s and 50s most photography was still black and white (colour eclipsed monochrome by the 1960s).
Fred Lyon
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Fred Lyon
9. In an interview earlier this year, he said: "Early on, in the 1940s, I lived in Sausalito and daily crossed the Golden Gate Bridge, a dramatic steel sculpture in a theatrical setting."
Fred Lyon
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Fred Lyon
11. "The bridge, aided by my romantic and naïve world view, launched my lifelong affair with the city it serves."
Fred Lyon
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Fred Lyon
13. Ramekon O'Arwisters, who curated an exhibition of Lyon's photos, told Huffington Post: "Lyon witnessed and photographed the transformation of San Francisco into a center for optimism, posterity, and growth."
Fred Lyon
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Fred Lyon
15. "His black-and-white images of children playing on a makeshift boat and young sailors casually shopping at Fisherman's Wharf explore the idyllic past with hope and confidence."
Fred Lyon
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Fred Lyon
17. In the interview earlier this year, Lyon said: "Of course there are myriad changes."
Fred Lyon
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Fred Lyon
19. "There is still a backbone of wealthy Old Guard, but they are contrasted and challenged by young creatives and techies from Silicon Valley."
Fred Lyon
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Fred Lyon
21. "Still, the look of the landmarks is unchanged, as is the attitude of the people, who have always embraced the frontier view that daily risk is healthy."
Fred Lyon
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Fred Lyon
23. His work has been recognised by the city's former mayor, Willie Brown.
Fred Lyon
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Fred Lyon
25. In a contribution to the book, Brown wrote: "Call them picture postcards with an edge, with an angle, a point of view and some with a message."
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Fred Lyon
27. "Although Fred won't like me to use that word 'message.' He says he looks until he likes what he sees and then he pushes that button."
Fred Lyon
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Fred Lyon
29. "But followers of Fred's long photographic career note that he has been capturing the city's unique, sometimes strange, sometimes loopy, always exciting images for more than 60 years."
Fred Lyon
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Fred Lyon
31. Lyon's book is available here.
Fred Lyon
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Fred Lyon