San Francisco, California
Monday, January 4, 1937.
The New Year is still young, but those who over-indulged have recovered from their hangovers by now. Happy Days may not quite be Here Again, but things are looking up. Unemployment is down (only 7 million out of work nationwide), the stock market is up (DJIA 182.95 and rising), and it looks like the country is coming out of the depression.
The Bay Bridge opened to traffic last November. Besides 3 lanes motor vehicle traffic each way on the upper deck, the bridge also carries trucks, buses and passenger trains on the lower deck. Ferry traffic is already declining, but civic leaders predict that ferry travel is so comfortable and convenient that the ferry companies will not lack business. City transit connections from the Ferry Building are better than those from the new Transit Terminal, so maybe they're right.
The Golden Gate Bridge is nearing completion and will be open to traffic by summer.
To complement the two largest bridges in the world, San Francisco is also building the largest artificial island in the world. The treacherous shoals north of Yerba Buena Island have been filled in to create a 400-acre island. Treasure Island will host the Golden Gate International Exposition in 1939, then become San Francisco International Air Terminal. Construction is already started for the Exposition City.
Science will create the world of the future, filled with wonderful and amazing things. "Popular Science" and "Popular Mechanics" articles show futuristic vehicles like flying cars or hydroplanes, present new developments in radio that you can build, and wonder why it's taking so long to get a practical television. Maybe you've read Doc Smith's "Skylark" and "Lensman" stories in "Amazing Stories" or (more down-to-earth wonders) browsed "Doc Savage Magazine". Even if you don't read the scientifiction pulps, you've certainly seen at least a few chapters of "Flash Gordon", "Phantom Empire" or "Undersea Kingdom". And if you're too sophisticated to pay attention to any of that claptrap, maybe you've been paying attention to the news that Nicola Tesla is ready to sell his 'death beam' machine to the Soviet Union?
Big movies last year included "The Great Ziegfeld" (William Powell and Myrna Loy) and "San Francisco" (Clark Gable and Jeanette MacDonald). New star Humphrey Bogart played 'Bugs' Fenner in "Bullets or Ballots".
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