BART beginnings

Burrito Justice highlights some work by historian Eric Fischer:

Eric Fischer has let loose with the historo-scanner once again.

1970: A line to see the brand new shiny 24th St BART station (looking south at the SW escalator — the side towards Valencia and 25th).

What a scene! Imagine a brand-new cavern opening up around the corner. Read on for lots more imagery and history.

12 Responses to “BART beginnings”

  1. Hazbeen says:

    Looks like a line at Blue Bottle on any given Saturday morning. So what.

  2. scum says:

    And it only went downhill from there.

  3. Looks like something Albert Speer might have designed.

    • Concrete Jungle says:

      The stairs and escalators are brutalist. Speer would have had some deco-esque roman-looking eagles and sheaves. Brutalism is a big foist. It interesting that it doesn’t carry throughout the station. The red tiles conflict with the brutalist concrete walls. The whole of the thing is mash. BART was poorly conceived in architectural terms. It’s inhuman in many ways, suitable more for pigeons and their shit then anything else.

  4. Jesse says:

    Im interested in that Shoe Cafeteria in the background…

  5. Erik says:

    The beautification plan in question is still working its way through the planning department.

  6. postrideburrito says:

    only 1 tree on Bernal Hill back then…

  7. JP says:

    “the area showN will be handsomely landscaped”…oh well