I came across the following pictures which I presume my grandfather had taken, developed, and printed about 1938. These are scans of 8x10 prints:
And finally a detail of something that might help someone identify the source of the problems. "Arrived at ???? ???? 8/26/38" The other thing is the intersection of Stockton and O'Farrell Sts. on the building above.
If you want details of other parts or want me to squint harder at the prints let me know and I will try my best Thanks Birken
Birken, Maybe you already know this, but a "scab" is a non-union worker, often hired during a strike or lockout. It's not considered a polite term. I am not aware of a particular railroad strike in 1938. That's not to say that there wasn't one. The Great Depression caused all sorts of upheaval. Good luck with your search, and thanks for sharing the photos.
Stockton and O'Farrell streets are in San Francisco, about a block from where I work, BUT, that intersection is on an incline, and I am pretty dang sure that it did not have railroad spurs running through it in 1938. Indeed, I just looked up Macy's San Francisco, which is what's at Stockton and O'Farrell, and found out that it used to be called O'Connor Moffat back then, which if you look carefully (!!) is the name that's visible in your OTHER photo! So...what you've got on the side of the building is an advertisement for a department store. Or maybe it is a warehouse for the department store. The actual location is probably somewhere else in San Francisco, likely South of Market, or in the Mission Rock area, where there used to be a lot of rail. There certainly were strikes going on in San Francisco in the thirties. The most well-remembered is the longshoreman's strike.
