by Frank Dunnigan

Public street clocks have long been fixtures of city living. Even when pocket watches, and later wristwatches, became universal (as well as more recent time-keeping devices such as cell phones), there has always been something reassuring about turning a corner in the downtown area and seeing the classic image of a familiar clock face displaying the current time. There are not quite so many of these timepieces today as there were in the past, but they are still welcome sights in our daily lives. This month, we take a look at just a few images from the OpenSFHistory archive, representing past and present clocks across many San Francisco neighborhoods.

Loma Prieta Earthquake damage to the Ferry Building, October 18, 1989. (wnp72.15904; photo by Greg Gaar / Courtesy of a Private Collector)

San Francisco’s grandest public clock, at the Ferry Building tower, reminded passersby of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake for months afterward. Its hands frozen in time, and a bent flagpole, marked the October 17, 1989 temblor—eerily reminiscent of 1906. The Embarcadero Freeway, obstructing views of the Ferry Building since the late 1950s, was damaged by the Loma Prieta quake and was finally torn down in 1991. Read more about setting the time on the Ferry Building clock in this article by local author Anne Evers Hitz.

View west to Powell and Market Streets cable car terminus, September 1, 1957. (wnp25.0099; courtesy of a Private Collector)

Bank of America at 1 Powell Street, built in 1921 and shown here in 1957, added a large clock advertising loans above the building’s entrance circa January 1950. The clock remained in place for many years, but was removed in the 1960s. In more recent times, the ground floor bank branch was converted to use as a retail space and the upper floor offices (where this author once worked for several years as a Claims Adjuster for BankAmerica Travelers Cheques) have been converted to apartments.

City Hall interior, September 12, 1916. (wnp36.01355; photo by Horace Chaffee, SF Department of Public Works / Courtesy of a Private Collector)

The interior of San Francisco’s City Hall has featured an ornate clock opposite the grand staircase since just prior to opening day in this 1916 image.

View northwest across intersection of Mission and 20th Streets, 1940s. (wnp14.1387; courtesy of a Private Collector)

Granat Brothers Jewelers displayed a stained glass-faced clock (far left) at their 20th and Mission Street store in the 1940s. The firm later moved the ornate timepiece to the exterior of their main store at Geary Street and Grant Avenue.

Old St. Mary’s Church, 1945. (wnp27.4883; courtesy of a Private Collector)

Old St. Mary’s Church at California Street and Grant Avenue has long displayed a clock on its steeple with a printed biblical admonition beneath: “Son, observe the time and fly from evil.”

Market and New Montgomery Streets, April 1978. (wnp25.6217; courtesy of a Private Collector)

Bank of America’s Market-New Montgomery Branch, opposite the Palace Hotel, has long displayed this ornate street clock, shown here in 1978—one that is still in place today.

View north from Randall and Mission Streets, circa 1940. (wnp67.0540; Jack Tillmany Collection / Courtesy of a Private Collector)

The Lachmans Home Furnishings billboard, atop the three-story building at center left, was one of the store’s several advertising clocks around San Francisco. It featured a red-jacketed figure and the company’s credit motto, “GIVE TIME,” in this 1940 image taken at Mission Street and Randall Avenue.

Market near Powell Street, September 8, 1982. (wnp32.2719B; photo by Emiliano Echeverria, Emiliano Echeverria Collection / Courtesy of Emiliano Echeverria)

Samuels Jewelers on Market Street proudly displayed this street clock in front of their business since the time of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in 1915, when the firm was located at 895 Market Street adjacent to the Emporium. In 1943, the firm relocated to the north side of Market Street next to the Flood Building, and the clock made the move as well. It is San Francisco Landmark #77, shown here in 1982. Sadly, the Samuels clock has suffered a series of periodic breakdowns and vandalism since before the turn of the millennium. With the Samuels store sold long ago to a conglomerate and the San Francisco location closed, the Flood family—owners of the adjacent Flood Building—now try to keep up maintenance of this historic timepiece. Read more about the business and the history of the clock in this 1998 SFGATE obituary of the store founder’s son, Albert Samuels, Jr.

Ghirardelli Square, May 1977. (wnp25.6840; courtesy of a Private Collector)

Ghirardelli Square, revitalized as a shopping and dining destination in 1964, maintains a public clock in its vintage clock tower, shown here in 1977.

Jack Tar Hotel, 1960s. (wnp25.0320; courtesy of a Private Collector)

The old Jack Tar Hotel on Van Ness Avenue, opened in 1960, featured a poolside clock at left, in which the letters J-A-C-K-T-A-R-H-O-T-E-L were used instead of numerals on the clock’s face. The hotel was demolished in 2013 to make way for the CPMC-Van Ness Medical Center that opened in 2019.