Unloading coffee in San Francisco, circa 1936.

Photograph by Otto Hagel.

A common sight on the San Francisco waterfront during the 1930s was that of longshoremen unloading the 160-pound bags in which coffee arrived. This slingload of eight bags was typical of the close to 65,000 tons unloaded on the city's docks in 1936. The two men shown would lower the slingload onto a wheeled truck and then pull the 1280-pound load across the rough surfaces of the docks to the warehouse.

   
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