By Travis Jensen

This is a picture of my Grandfather Stanley L. Jensen (left) and Great Uncle Al (right) in downtown San Francisco back in 1942.  The photo was taken on Market Street, between 6th Street and the intersection where Mason and Turk streets meet.  You can see the historic Esquire Theatre in the background, which, according to Tillmany at www.cinemeatreasures.org, “During the war years was a popular first run outlet for Universal's Abbott & Costello comedies, Maria Montez Technicolored Exotica, and the ever popular Universal horror films.”  The theatre was demolished in 1972 to make way for Hallidie Plaza and the new Powell and Market BART Station.  The site is currently home to a Payless Shoe Source.

I found this photo, among others, in a drawer at my grandmother’s house after she passed away in 2001.  Someone had penciled in “Market Street 1942” on the back of the photo.  I’m not sure who took the picture, as my grandparents were not yet married, although they did meet in Alaska while in the service a few years later.  My grandmother was a nurse in the Army.  

My grandfather was temporarily stationed at the Treasure Island Navy Base (just across the Bay Bridge) before being shipped out to the Northern Pacific.

My grandfather died in 1983 when I was only four, so I didn’t get to know him all that well, but according to my grandmother, he spent most of the war in Alaska as part of the Alaskan Highway and Canol (Canadian Oil) Pipeline projects.  The projects were conceived in the early days of the war when the Japanese invaded the Aleutian Islands off the Alaskan coast.  At the time, the possibility of Japanese forces invading Alaska was quite real, as allied forces were suffering defeat after defeat in the Pacific.  

I’m not sure how much action my grandfather saw in the war, if any, as he was an officer in charge of motor pool, meaning if you needed a jeep, tank, fighter plane or other motor vehicle, you had to go through him.  His nickname, although I don’t its derivative, was “Ensign Jensen the Station Sensation.”   I’m guessing he was the guy that made things happen in the Motor Pool department.  

In addition to this photo, I have my grandfather’s Navy identification badge as well as his “Suntan” (or Khaki) visor-framed officers hat.  The hat is soiled and stained with grease, dirt and other muck, a clear sign that it’s spent some time underneath the hood of a few vehicles.  My grandmother gave me both items when I was very young.  I’m guessing first or second grade when, after seeing "Top Gun" in the theatre, I was absolutely obsessed with all things military.  I’ve held on to the items ever since.  That’s the collector in me, and I plan to pass the items down to my two-and-a-half month old son, Stanley Stephen Jensen (named after my Grandfather Stanley L.), once he is old enough to appreciate them.  (Interesting fact: my son was born exactly eight years to the day after my grandmother passed.)

I walk past the exact spot where this photo was taken somewhat regularly.  It’s funny to think that my grandfather and his brother walked the same path nearly 70 years earlier.  I plan on having my wife take a pic of my son and me in the same spot in the next couple of weeks.  The neighborhood, although slightly improved in the last ten years, is a little on the seedy side these days, especially when venturing off Market Street.  

In 1997, I witnessed someone throw a mid-size TV out of a third story window on Turk and Taylor streets, just up the street from where this photo was taken.  The TV struck a passerby in the back.  Remarkably, the individual walked away unscathed and the TV bomber was later arrested.  That’s The City for you.