My grandfather, Jorge Silvio Polack, came to the United States from Argentina in March of 1968. A couple of months later, when he had found a job, he sent for my grandmother, father, uncle, and aunt to come join him.

He filmed his departure, parts of his trip, his arrival, and a lot of the Bay Area once he arrived. This is certainly amateur video, so the quality is uneven— and unfortunately a lot of it (including "Los Hippies en Haight y Ashbury") is very over-exposed. In parts he uses the video camera like a still-camera, taking a quick shot of this and a quick shot of that, so you almost need to watch in slow motion or keep a finger on the pause button to see some of the details.

He described some of what he filmed in letters he wrote, the first of which (in Spanish w/ translation) is here: rpollack.net/2010/03/letters-from-my-grandfather/ I have several subsequent letters that I plan to translate and post soon (really this time). (You'll notice how much he talks about prices, including the price of film: maybe this also helps explain the quick-shot-of-this and quick-shot-of-that camera work.)

This video is uploaded in two parts.

It begins at the airport in Córdoba, Argentina. It hardly remains there a few seconds; you can see my grandfather's little brother Javier standing there with a camera, sending him off.

It quickly cuts to the airport in Mendoza, Argentina (the building says "Bienvenidos"). The man walking up smiling with a package under his arm was my grandmother's brother, who met him at the airport and exchanged packages.

Then shots of the flight, crossing over the Andes, his arrival in Santiago de Chile, and some footage from around Santiago. Then flying again, first a brief stop in Los Angeles and on to San Francisco.

Then footage of a friend's house where he stayed in Lafayette, a bit around the suburban East Bay (including the Orinda Theater around 8:50), and a few quick shots in San Francisco and around the Transbay Terminal (which, incidentally, only closed down a few months ago).

Then some shots from inside the Sun Valley Mall, and on to the second part.