Why Was San Francisco Called “Baghdad by the Bay” in the 1950s? | WYL Ep. 183 | Carl Nolte

Speaker: Carl Nolte, Award-Winning journalist, Reporter at the San Francisco Chronicle since 1961

San Francisco in the ‘50s had four newspapers, five cable car lines and dozens of restaurants where you could buy dinner for almost nothing. The Seals were the team to beat, the Beats ruled upper Grant Street, ladies wore hats and gloves when they shopped around Union Square. Everybody was younger, smarter, and better looking than they are today. A Muni trip cost 5 cents and Herb Caen called “The City”, “Baghdad by the Bay”. It was San Francisco in the 1950s. You should have been there. And, even if you were, you can revisit those wondrous days at this Wednesday Yachting Luncheon, when award-winning journalist and fourth-generation San Franciscan, Carl Nolte tells the tale.