AVENIDA SAO JOAO

Avenida São João became São Paulo's Broadway (or 42nd Street) with lots of cinemas on its course. It reigned supreme as the fashionable main drag from the 1930s up to the mid 1960s when decay started settling in with the imposition of a brutal military dictatorship that took hold of Brazil until the mid 1980s when everything that could go wrong did go wrong.

glorious Avenida São João seen from the top of State of São Paulo Bank in 1950, with Banco do Brasil building still under construction.

Avenida São João in the 1950s. See the trams going up the avenue westbound.

same place a couple of years later (late 1950s).

night life at Avenida São João in the late 1950s.

Post Office in the foreground while Praça do Correio was being built in the early 1950s.

 1970s.

this photo must've been taken before 1947. 

 late 1960s.

Av. S.Joao right-hand side going towards Lapa; Hotel Central and Hotel Britannia in 1953.

1930s. 

Mother & kids walk up Avenida São João besides the Main Post Office in 1945.

at a tram stop (parada) next to rua Dom José de Barros before 1964.

Avenida São João seen from the opposite side looking East. On the left-hand side one can see Cine Broadway. The tram goes to Avenida Angelica.

1950s.

A postman starts his day at Avenida São João in 1963. 

1930s.

Photo taken circa 1940. See Cine UFA on the right? It was a German movie house that was 'discontinued' when Brazil entered WWII in 1942, on the side of the Americans. 

Av. São João next to rua Conselheiro Crispiniano and Cine Art Palácio in 1955. 

an earlier shot o the same place taken by U.S. Life magazine.

Two fashion models at Avenida São João in 1962. 

12 August 1966 - the last day trams rode in São Paulo.

Avenida São João looking west circa 1950.

Av. São João & Líbero Badaró in 1914, with the towers of Igreja dos Homens Pretos & Lutheran Church in the background.

Rua Líbero Badaró & Avenida São João on a rainy day in the 1940s. 

Avenida São João in glorious colours... trams and busses were red & yellow... Here's looking eastward with Largo do Paissundú on the left and Rua Conselheiro Crispiniano on the right-hand-side.

Avenida São João further down. Cine Metro which was showing 1938's 'Boys Town' with Spencer Tracy and Mickey Rooney. This must be 1939 or 1940.

Cine Metro on the right and First City National Bank on the left circa 1961.

Avenida São João in the mid-1970s. One can not but notice VW's beetles (and a VW kombi on the left-hand side) were the majority of cars on the street. The bus is a Mercedes-Benz made. Note Cine Saci on the right-hand side, was a popular cinema that catered especially for the unemployed. One could get in to watch a flick in the morning and stay until past lunch time.

As the tram-car rails are still on the street-bed this could be 1964...

1962.