Question: Why doesn't Union Square look more like Times Square?

[Dave Coe]

It used to in the 60's and 70's.



https://www.pinterest.com/pin/355925176774967420/

[Dave Coe]

There were proposals for a Mid Market Sign District hyped at SF's Time Square which were voted down. Powell Street South of Union Square still has a lot of Vintage Neon Signs which are gone from Time Square. Union Square needs more of that.

[PixelatedTherapy]

Originally Posted by garyjohnyang

I know looking like Times Square isn't doesn't mean anything, but I noticed that there are a lot of billboards in Union Square, while Times Square in Manhattan is lit up with millions of bright lights and digital ads. Union Square I find, has its fair amount of hustle and bustle, but we still don't have any of those huge megatrons and commercials and lights. Is there anything preventing us from putting up those signs? I don't want Union Square to turn into Times Square but I was just curious as to why that never happened. I remember a few years ago that we voted down a proposition to allow signs on Market Street between 5th and 7th.

Because San Francisco is San Francisco and NYC is NYC.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by PixelatedTherapy

Because San Francisco is San Francisco and NYC is NYC.

Exactly what I was going to say. We like it the way it is. It's SF, not NYC, and we're happy with that. And btw, if Times Square were closed to traffic, and the city built a nice park in the middle of it, maybe with a good, practical parking garage underneath, don't you think it would be a tremendous improvement? Why doesn't Times Square make itself over to look like Union Square in SF?

[Californiaguy2007]

I like San Francisco's Character,and The Weather and Scenery is also much better than NYC in my opinion....San Francisco is also a more Picturesque City as well and the entire Bay Area is also interesting to explore.

[humboldtrat]

Originally Posted by NoMoreSnowForMe

I was just talking about this the other day with another old timer :-) San Francisco used to have amazing neon signs. There was a Hamm's neon giant glass of beer just across the bay bridge. My memory from being a kid, is that there was a bear that climbed up the building to the glass of beer, then the beer overflowed the glass, and the bear would climb up again. When I just researched Google for a photo, no descriptions of the sign mention the bear. Was that another sign somewhere? The beer glass did overflow, as I read on one article, so that part of the memory is right :-)

There were a bunch of huge neon signs back then. I loved seeing those signs when I was a kid.

What happened was, as I recall, there was a huge energy crisis. I believe Nixon was president. The gas prices went through the roof, and the maximum speed limit was reduced from 65 or 70 to 55 mph, all in some effort to conserve gasoline and electricity.

So, the Hamm's Bear and the other beautiful neon/electronic signs were dismantled in order to save electricity and/or be politically correct, or for just random other reasons. Sad. I miss those signs!

The news clipping in this article I found, said the Hamm's Beer sign used enough electricity to light 200 homes. It apparently died a quiet death, without any protest.

What happened to the Hamm’s Brewery sign? - The Big Event

At any rate, there used to be signs, but between the energy crisis in the 1970's and earthquakes and development, etc., etc., they have mostly disappeared.

I remember the Hamm's neon sign on the westside of 101 from the 60s. There was no bear that climbed up the building. The glass (goblet shaped) would fill up and overflow and then it would start all over again. On the eastside of 101, there was a large Planters Mr. Peanut neon sign that covered about 3 floors of a building.

[Dave Coe]

Originally Posted by PixelatedTherapy

Because San Francisco is San Francisco and NYC is NYC.

It doesn't need to be a carbon copy of NYC but rather look to it's own past when Union Square and Market Street were covered in Neon.