Gorgeous Black & White Pics Of San Francisco Like You’ve Never Seen It Before

With all of the high-rise condos and new eateries going up left and right, it’s sometimes hard to remember what San Francisco looked like a few months ago — let alone decades. Well, thanks to photographer Fred Lyon's new tome, San Francisco: Portrait of a City 1940-1960, we can gaze at gorgeous, vintage city scenes of yesteryear and fantasize about what it might have been like to live in S.F. back in the day. You know — long before glowing screens and Teslas filled the streets.

Now 89-years-old, Lyon is a fourth-generation San Francisco native whose photos have appeared everywhere from LIFE toVogue, but it's his work from this particular era that he recalls most fondly. "For a young photographer, it was an intoxicating time," he has said. "The bay, the bridges, and the city, with its steep hills, fog, and cable cars, were a delicious kaleidoscope parading before my lens. Curiosity and passion for the impressionism of nature drove me on, barely ever letting my camera cool."

Ready to turn back the clock in a flash? We dare you not to be inspired.