Obsessed: Fred Lyon's San Francisco

Infinite thanks to Troy over at Caliber for posting about the photography of Fred Lyon. The first shot took my breath away and I've been going over the slideshows again and again! While Fred Lyon continues to take pictures, his work of San Francisco in the 1940s & 1950s are just being published in a book called Fred Lyon: San Francisco Then.

Even after just a few images you can see that Fred Lyon is the Brassaï of San Francisco. These show the working class, artisan roots of the city, and also hint at the luxurious lives lived uphill in glamorous apartments. It feels like these should be looked at while listening to Jack Kerouac's recording of October in the Railroad Earth. For me, they are reminiscent of my Mom and Grandparents, knowing that they were a part of it. I especially love the handful of pictures of the flower vendors along Union Square - those stalls used to be everywhere and now there's only a few left. Take a look to get a surreal, stunning look back at San Francisco in another time.

All images by Fred Lyon.