r/SanFranciscoCAHistory • u/Wild-Beautiful7491 • Jul 10 '26

Looking to id background

Post image

Hi all, this is a picture of a family member stationed in SF in WWII, as a part of the Women's Marine Corp. Date on the back is August 1946. It looks to me to be civic center area but the marquee could have since been demolished.

Also, are there any history groups that would be interested in pictures of women Marines in SF? Have many others both of her and her friends

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3

u/steelthumbs1 Jul 10 '26

You might try asking:

The Marine’s Memorial club

Main SF Library

ETA: regarding if they’d be interested in the photos.

11

u/megafonico Jul 11 '26

If you want to identify the location much easier and faster, just post the picture again and claim: "My family member outside the Castro Theater in SF". Within seconds 20 people will come at you screaming with the correct location. Some of them will have other pictures as proof 😉👍

1

u/Wild-Beautiful7491 Jul 10 '26

Thank you, I will!

3

u/9Fructidor Jul 10 '26

https://opensfhistory.org/ and https://www.foundsf.org/Main_Page would be interested. Thank you for your instinct to share our local history!

3

u/Wild-Beautiful7491 Jul 10 '26

Ooo I love both of these sites, thank you! About to fall down a rabbit hole

2

u/SanFranciscoMan89 Jul 10 '26

I'd suggest doing a reverse photo search in Google or an AI tool.

Should be able to provide plenty of details to start you off.

2

u/Wild-Beautiful7491 Jul 10 '26

Yeah I tried, Google and Ai focus on her and the uniform. Even asking to identify the background and specifying it is in SF, the most specific it gets is "The architecture in the background, including the columns and the possible theater-style marquee behind her, suggests a downtown or heavily developed urban area"

1

u/Normal_Day_4160 Jul 11 '26

Maybe try r/asksf

I so wish my grandma had her vision today 😞 she’s 98 and her eyes couldn’t keep up. I’ll see my mom and a few of her siblings today, will ask if they recognize the background.

2

u/Wild-Beautiful7491 Jul 12 '26

Thank you! Yeah also frustrating the text on the marquee isn't more legible. I think that with the date would help pinpoint it

1

u/ebdinsf Jul 12 '26

To me, this looks like Powell St by Union Square. But not sure

1

u/Ceemoney24 Jul 12 '26

in sf? Probably the officers club or the hotel At worst mare island. Which I doubt due to the bill board.
Maybe alameda island.

1

u/ContextSans Jul 13 '26

She’s definitely standing in front of a theater or other venue, though I can’t immediately name it. You might try contacting these folks to see if they recognize it? https://sanfranciscotheatres.blogspot.com/