Found Ektachrome slide. Fisherman's Wharf at night, November 1969. Peter Alioto's Italian Specialty House. Hof Brau. Sea Foods. The Sea Captain's Chest. And up top, in blue neon, the two words that sold a restaurant back then: AIR CONDITIONED. I've seen this scene during the day before, but historic slides of this block at night are more rare. Every tube lit. This is what the Wharf looked like when it was loud and red and unembarrassed about wanting your money. Neon on neon, and the hills behind it doing their own light show. Look at the cars. A Yellow Cab, 789, a white Falcon in the foreground. A block of Detroit iron at the curb, and not one of them new. In November 1969 the cars on the Wharf were already somebody's old cars. There were a couple of different Alioto's on the Wharf back then. This one was Peter's. The famous one, Alioto's at stall number 8, started in 1925 when Nunzio Alioto, a Sicilian immigrant, opened a fish stand. His widow Rose built it into the first building ever put up on the Wharf, and the family says she invented cioppino. San Franciscans have been arguing about that claim for 80 years. Alioto's closed in 2020 and never reopened. This past January the city took the famous sign down and tore the building down for a public plaza. A hundred years of family history, replaced by picnic tables. Peter's is gone too. And the Sea Captain's Chest, the nautical gift shop on the corner, did not survive the 70s. Everything lit here is dark now. I have photographed more than 30,000 neon signs in America myself, and I am still out there shooting them. But I do not own a time machine. I cannot go back and photograph the thousands we have already lost. So I find these slides. Somebody stood on Jefferson Street in November 1969 with a camera loaded with Ektachrome and figured an ordinary night was worth one frame. Finding their work is the next best thing. Did you eat at Peter Alioto's? Or drink at the Hof Brau? And when did Peter's close? I cannot find it written down anywhere.

Oct 19, 2026 · 1:43 PM UTC

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Replying to @thomashawk
"Air-conditioned" is a joke on the San Francisco tourists. It should say "Heaters".
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ha! good point.
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Replying to @thomashawk
In high school, I worked as a parking lot attendant for Nunzio Alioto, who owned the lot as well as restaurants at the Wharf. Busy days down there and lots of great times.
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he must have been quite a character! Good times indeed.
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Replying to @thomashawk
Love this! And my grandparents loved eating there and Japantown 🥰
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Glad I got to enjoy a few meals at Alioto's before it shut down. The good old days. :)
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Replying to @thomashawk
Sad what has happened to SF. I know every inch of that area. That pic reminds me of my childhood. Many great meals at Alioto’s & Scoma’s. I used to go to Mass on Pier 45 at the Fisherman’s Chapel then catch BART to the Raiders games on Sunday. Any pics of that chapel?
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will have to look for one of those.
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Replying to @thomashawk
Truly an iconic photo, an almost forgotten time. Some of us still remember. Thanks for the post.
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thanks Richard.
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Replying to @thomashawk
The wharf is a sad place now. boarded up shops and T shirt stores. I bring out of town visitors to North Beach
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The difference between this block with abandoned buildings today and what it was is stark. The contrast is indeed sad. From where we've been to what we've become.
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Replying to @thomashawk
I was there about 5 yrs after this was taken, looks familiar to me.
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I was one.
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Replying to @thomashawk
I very much enjoy seeing the old slides that you share online. Great stuff. Thanks.
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thank you. Many more to come. It's a passion finding them.
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Replying to @thomashawk
I hate to hear about historical and memorable places just disappearing. That photo is a keeper!
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thanks Greg.
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Replying to @thomashawk
We went to the wharf a lot. Fisherman's Grotto #9 was for special occasions, same with #8 Alioto's. Ate often at Peter Aliotos' Hofbrau-closed around 1978-9 as I recall. Also Exposition Grotto, Sabella's, Castagnolas, Francesca's near Hyde St pier, after a swim in the bay.
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Replying to @thomashawk
I've "donned the bib" at Alioto's for the crab but wasn't there a Hof Brau on Market St.?
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Replying to @thomashawk
Alioto's had a long run, and was synonymous with the Wharf.
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Replying to @thomashawk
I like the way we were fast and loose with cultural references! peter alioto's bavarian timbered building identifies both as a hofbrau and italian specialty house. Yes I can bear the dissonance with good food and beer.
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Replying to @thomashawk
When San Francisco was a destination city and a beacon for the west.
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Replying to @thomashawk
Have no idea where this is, but the shot is only missing Deputy Marshal McCloud riding his horse down the street.
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Replying to @thomashawk
Grew up at NorthPoint and Larkin in the ‘70’s. We came down here for the arcades as a kid.
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Replying to @thomashawk
I'd pair this with "Joe Dimaggio has a Cold," if my memory is correct. This was a classic work of "The New Journalism," by Gay Talese. New Journalism, as practiced by he and Tom Wolfe, for example applied novelistic techniques to non-fiction, writers often part of the story.
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Replying to @thomashawk
What would you pay for three days in this scene?
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Replying to @thomashawk
Fisherman’s Wharf: plagued by the unimagined for generations. Such waisted potential.
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