What’s the famous line: The hottest summer I ever spent was an autumn in San Francisco? ... Something like that.

With June Gloom, Frost of July and Fogust behind us, and Labor Day signaling the start of the San Francisco summer, it felt like the right time to head to The Chronicle’s musty, temperature-controlled archive to hunt for long-buried Ocean Beach photos from the 1930s to the 1960s.

Dig deep into Chronicle Vault Like what you’re reading? Subscribe to the Chronicle Vault newsletter, and get classic archive stories in your inbox twice a week. Read hundreds of historical stories, see thousands of archive photos and sort through 153 years of classic Chronicle front pages at SFChronicle.com/vault.

Read More

The search spread across decades of photo negative packs, but it didn’t specifically target the summer months. In fact, upon sorting through the stacks of negatives, a pattern presented itself: The images showed San Franciscans flocking to Ocean Beach in September and October, predominantly, with other shoots in April and May. The occasional pack focused on rare warm winter days, in January, February and March. June, July and August? Not so much.

One of the fun finds from the combing of the archive shows a long and long-gone pier stretching into the ocean near the Cliff House. This was the Lurline Pier, which started at Balboa Street and was built in 1892 to extend a pipeline to the Lurline Baths in the Tenderloin. Around 1920, the Olympic Club bought the pipeline. Water was pumped to the Elks Club, Western Women’s Club, Concordia Club and the St. Francis Hotel. The Steinhart Aquarium also got its salt water from the pipeline until it created its own source in 1962.

Water from the pipeline fed several fire hydrants, Olympic Club spokesman John Hacklet told The Chronicle. “It was the principal auxiliary firefighting system. One of their hydrants was between every pair of city hydrants.”

A deeper look into the background of a February 1943 wintertime beach photo led to a story about gasoline rationing during World War II. The Chronicle speculated that cars driven to the beach during that hot spell used gasoline that had been saved, not for a rainy day but for a sunny day.

Ocean Beach didn’t change much over the second half of the 20th century, so photos from the 1930s look strikingly similar to photos from the 1960s. What gives away the era is the fashion. Women’s beachwear, in particular, went through a transformation.

No matter the era, San Francisco beach weather starts after Labor Day, and you’re as likely to see crowds in February as in Fogust.

More from Chronicle Vault

•A classic tourist trap: Do you remember the Sky Tram? We dug up classic photos of this attracton near the Cliff House from the 1950s.

•Watch your wallet: Ah, the Beach Chalet. Here’s how the Golden Gate Park institution went from gleaming eatery to Army headquarters to dangerous dive bar to renovated restaurant.

•Take a swim: Learn about Aquatic Park’s beginnings; it should come as no surprise that, like most San Francisco landmarks, this spot has a quirky history.

•More guts than brains: Need some dinner party chatter? Here are the biggest Golden Gate Bridge stunts from the 1970s and ’80s. If these happened today, oh-em-gee ...

•From above: See 48 rediscovered photos of the Bay Area shot from above during a 1975 ride on the Goodyear Blimp.

From the Archive is a weekly column by Bill Van Niekerken, the library director of The Chronicle, exploring the depths of the newspaper’s archive. It’s part of Chronicle Vault, a twice-weekly newsletter highlighting more than 150 years of San Francisco stories. It is edited by Tim O’Rourke, The Chronicle’s assistant managing editor and executive producer of SFChronicle.com. Sign up for the newsletter here and follow Chronicle Vault on Instagram. Contact Bill at bvanniekerken@sfchronicle.com and Tim at torourke@sfchronicle.com.