Travel thru San Francisco History with OldSF’s Interactive Map

Bay Area historical website OldSF has created an interactive map that makes it easier to see what certain parts of the city looked like, going all the way back to 1850. Just load the map and click on any black circle/section to see a list of photos for that location. A slider located in the upper right-hand section of the site allows you to refine the list of viewable photos. You can look at just photos from a certain year or you can select a range of different years.

Some tech sites have compared the OldSF interactive map to Google Street View. And while there are some similarities, OldSF doesn’t provide the same type of block-by-block, frame-by-frame coverage as Street View. Still, it is an easy way to look at how certain parts of San Francisco have changed over the years.

Images used by OldSF came from the San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection. It’s good to see a modern use for this vintage media. The Bay Area is known for its fostering of new technology. Most of the area’s resources are focused on developing “the next big thing.” But projects like OldSF show that there is still some appreciation for where the city has been, not just where it’s going.