Ambulances on 1970's Streets of San Francisco TV Show

Randy Loy

PCS Member
Recently I picked up the first season DVD set of the old Streets of San Francisco TV series starring Karl Malden and Michael Douglas. I watched the series as a kid and don't think I've seen an episode of it in a couple of decades. So I was a bit startled to see that when an ambulance was called for in a scene they would use a step-van style ambulance with a canvas stretcher and no ambulance cot as one might expect.

The step vans were equipped with a sliding tray-like device that appeared to be padded and seemed to be on rollers. The ambulance attendants would carry the injured person to the ambulance on the stretcher, which was simply two poles and canvas, then hoist the patient onto the tray device which would then be pushed into the ambulance on its rollers. Not a Ferno cot it sight!

Does anyone know if this was an accurate portrayal of ambulance service in San Francisco in the early 1970's? I've watched two episodes so far and both featured a step-van ambulance with a canvas stretcher.
 
Those ones were International harvester Metros,you will note San Francisco department of public health ambulance,or as we called them city ambulances,I am sure there were private firms who ran more traditional cars,but just imagine the adreniline rush racing one of them through the streets there,holy-crap-shoot-batman hang on.hope this helps.
 
Those ones were International harvester Metros,you will note San Francisco department of public health ambulance,or as we called them city ambulances,I am sure there were private firms who ran more traditional cars,but just imagine the adreniline rush racing one of them through the streets there,holy-crap-shoot-batman hang on.hope this helps.

Imagine getting thrown around in the back of one trying to do CPR.
 
San Francisco Ambulances

I worked for Federal Ambulance Service in San Francisco in 1973-74 ...and we had mostly Superior hightops and a couple of MM's thrown in for good measure.
It was a running joke about the "Cities" ambulance service....with their WW2 stretchers......a LOT of the time the City of San Francisco would call us to transport the patient because the patient or patients family did not want the service of the city...it was really antiquated.....and they wanted a more "modern" service.......
Same thing applied when it came to cpr cases.....
Alot of the time the Internationals were used by the SFPD as a "Paddy wagon" when when their own Paddy wagons were down or they needed additional units.......
I remember one time when it was "Fleet" week and there were always very large groups of sailors in North Beach which is where the Condor Club was and Topless dancing was featured by Carol Doda....it was all new then...that coupled with seedy bars and sex shops.....
We get a call for "bar fight " with numerous victims.......when we arrived
there is the SF "Ambulance" with 4 situps in the back and we say "Ok you guys have it under control ?" The driver responds " Ohh no those are just some drunks we are transporting for the PD"....."we can still take a patient or 2 " "If you guys can take a couple it would be much appreciated".......
So happened pretty regularly.....PaddyWagon/ambulance combination !!
I remember the owners of Federal and Mercy-Peninsula tried to get the city to turn over the service to them BUT the city refused and said that they give "adequate" servce and value.......
Ahhhhhhhh the 70's.......
 
Wow, Streets of San Francisco, I watched it often. The Seventies, what a wonderful decade! International Metros, very cool! Topless dancers, well allrightythen! This is my idea of a good post!
 
North Beach which is where the Condor Club was and Topless dancing was featured by Carol Doda....it was all new then...

I remember the area well. I drove ambulance for the Army back in the late 60's. It was a mid 60's Pontiac Bonneville military ambulance. I was stationed in Oakland Overseas Replacement Station, an Army facility where troops were sent over and received back from Vietnam. We had a number of troops who "injured" themselves in an attempt to not be sent over. We would treat them as best we could in the dispensery and then transport them to Letterman General Hospital in the Presidio. We had to drive down Broadway where all the clubs were. The barkers would yell to us that if we would pull the rig over in front of the club we could have free beer. Never did that but we would run the siren to get the people to move out of our way. We were not suppose to do that but figured, "What can they do to us? Send us to Vietnam?" Well, the answer to that was a big resounding YES. One of the barkers from the Condor club did run out and give us some postcards from the club which had Carol Doda on the front. I took it with me and that card hung on the wall of my hooch the entire tour of duty. Still have it.
Ambulance in San Francisco was a unique experience. What were they thinking? Turning that rig over to some young Army medics, heading to Vietnam, with nothing to lose ... right when the movie Bullitt came out, if you get my drift.
 
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I think I even heard a few stories about the "Medics" from Oakland heading to Letterman......

Unfortunatley,Letterman is GONE......victim of the wrecking ball....

However the Condor Club is still there...and OPEN !!
With a big brass plate saying its where "Topless Dancing" originated...
There used to be a portion of the sidewalk that had Carol Dodas breasts set in concrete,much like Graumans Chinese theatre has movie stars hand and feet imprints........

But they tore that out in the early 90's due to a bunch of "uppity women" who did not like it......:stop:.but there still is Big Als,The Grapevine, and Finnochios....
There are still barkers on Fridays and Saturday nights......and you can get a meatball on sourdough and sit at the park and watch the tourists get ripped off........cheap fun in the CITY......
 
I think I even heard a few stories about the "Medics" from Oakland heading to Letterman......
That would be us :gun2:

Unfortunately,Letterman is GONE......victim of the wrecking ball...
So is the Oakland overseas Replacement Station.

The other ambulances that we had we called the "crackerboxes". I do not remember the maker but basically a truck cab & frame and a box setup on the back. I only dove them a couple of times and did not like them since they had a governor set at 55 mph and were not nealy as comfortable as the Pontiacs. Left those for the guys with less rank.
 
Wow, so they DID exist!

I think Wayne is right. As I recall they were indeed marked as public health service ambulances. When I get a chance I'll have to put a DVD in the machine and double check but from everything I'm reading here the ambulances I've seen on the show were right on the money as far as being historically accurate. Wow!

Funny that y'all brought up the club barkers. Of the two episodes I've watched so far, one of them actually features a scene where Karl Malden's character, Lieutenant Mike Stone, is following a lead by questioning a barker who is plying his trade outside a club and inviting guys into the club to watch the girls dance. I guess the show was fairly true to life! :071:
 
Didn't some other city run ambulances, such as Detroit, Chicago and New York also use "step" or "Metro" vans as ambulances in the 60's and 70's?
 
Mike, I know that New York City operated step-van ambulances in the '70's.

And don't forget that, here in Maryland, the Heartmobile was one of the first cardiac care ambulances, based at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring. It was operated by the American Heart Association, with nurses from Holy Cross and drivers from Wheaton Rescue Squad. And it was a Chevy Step-Van.

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(By the way, this vehicle was the first I became interested in collecting antique ambulances. I saw this many years after it's retirement being used as a vegitable stand. It was called "ARTMO" Vegitables, having had the other letters painted out. I thought it was a terrible shame that the Heartmobile had been destroyed in that way. Eventually, it disappeared and I never saw it again.)
 
And don't forget that, here in Maryland, the Heartmobile was one of the first cardiac care ambulances, based at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring. It was operated by the American Heart Association, with nurses from Holy Cross and drivers from Wheaton Rescue Squad. And it was a Chevy Step-Van.

Note the unusual siren location.
 
Steve, I remember that unit! I saw it when it was fairly new at some kind of fire/safety expo up in Baltimore. I remember everyone saying that it was cutting edge and that was probably the future of how most ambulaves would be. i guess with all the larger truck based box ambulances we have today, it wasn't far off the mark.
 
Didn't some other city run ambulances, such as Detroit, Chicago and New York also use "step" or "Metro" vans as ambulances in the 60's and 70's?
Detroit Ems first units were Springfield IH Type 1 Modular Ambulances (pickup truck chassais with a box on the rear) they had Strobe Tunnel Lights on the box and a Twinsonic on the cab. The Privates use Cadillacs etc

Russ
 
Detroit

Prior to the Detroit Fire EMS being established in 1972, Detroit Police provided the ambulance service to the citizens of Detroit by utilizing station-wagons or what Detroit called "Auto Patrols", but everyone else mostly called the paddy wagons. The "Auto Patrols" were panel trucks.
 
A long way from home

As I was checking out the ad for the Metro ambulance, I realize it says Sheffield / Wheelock on the side - two Vermont towns next to each other, about 40 minutes from me. I was thinking, is it possible that there are two other towns in the US named Sheffield and Wheelock close enough to have shared services? Then I saw the back view, and it was confirmed. Sheffield and Wheelock have a combined fire department (all volunteer) and a combined population of less than 1500. I will venture to say (although I could be proven wrong) that this was not an ambulance, only a support vehicle for the fire department (hence the ladder rack on the side.) Plus, with the word LLAMA on the back door, I'm not sure there's any interior left anyways. Sheffield - Wheelock is provided ambulance coverage by a regional service (Lyndon Rescue) and to my knowledge, never had their own ambulance. Thanks for the find - always neat to see how far these old vehicles get.
 
Steves link to the auction is great cannot imagine myself and another well fed medic loading a stretcher the old fashioned way,and knowing me, one hot call and one good hi-speed turn,=drivers door sliding open and me half in and half out cuz I don't think they had seatbelts.:rofl::smileflagcan:
 
Confirmed!

The other day I went to YouTube and checked out a video segment of the opening credits of The Streets of San Francisco show. At one point the opening sequence flashes a view of the the side of an ambulance. I froze the image momentarily and it indeed was a San Francisco Department of Public Health unit.

I just can't imagine what it would be like to have to work in an ambulance with a patient on an army-type litter, especially as Wayne points out, one that is speeding through traffic. With no way to anchor the stretcher and with no belts on the stretcher to hold the patient in place, I can just imagine what would happen if the driver suddenly had to slam on the breaks. Yikes!!!
 
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