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Bruce Bomberger

Posted on March 10, 2022March 11, 2022 By Hey You

It must have been 1965 when I was among a number of San Francisco’s creatives who gath­ered at Bruce Bomberger’s home at 1000 Lombard Street. This address was at the base of ​“North Beach’s crookedest street”. His home was ​“a gallery” of his paint­ings, but I didn’t know his life’s work up to that date.

Bruce was a member of the Art Direc­tors and Artists Club of San Fran­cisco, as was I, so I seem to remember that the group was a committee to plan a part of one of the club’s upcoming events. The club’s member­ship would have been the only way that I could have been included. I knew that Bruce was one of the top illus­tra­tors in the city. Now, after all these years, I am able to know more of his history as a commer­cial illus­trator and fine arts painter.

Bruce Dubois Bomberger was born on May 18, 1918 in Manteca, CA, which is 76 miles due east of San Fran­cisco. He started painting at age eight. His art had devel­oped at the College of Arts and Crafts in Berkeley, CA and at Art Center in Los Angeles. In the late 1940s, he worked for Fred Ludekens at Foot, Cone and Belding in San Francisco.

Bruce Hettema is the current owner of Patterson and Hall (now, P&H Creative Group, located in Sonoma County http://​www​.phcre​ative​.com/ ) I thank Bruce Hettema for providing this back­ground infor­ma­tion and samples of Bruce Bomberger’s talent.

He wrote:
Bruce Bomberger, was one of the most sought after artists at Patterson & Hall. In the 1940s, he, along with Stan Galli, became silent part­ners. Because of this, they were able to sign their illus­tra­tions which wasn’t always the case with P&H staff artists. In addi­tion to his illus­tra­tions for The Cali­fornia Zephyr, Bruce illus­trated many bill­boards for Levi’s helping to estab­lish their cowboy image. This lead to his work later for Marl­boro ciga­rettes creating the iconic Marl­boro Man. He also did work for Matson, Chevrolet, Chevron, Bank of America and more.
Bruce Hettema

THE CALIFORNIA ZEHPYR

Zehpyr 1
Zehpyr 1 
Zehpyr 2
Zehpyr 2 
Zehpyr 3
Zehpyr 3 
Zehpyr 3
Zehpyr 3 

LEVI’S

Levis Billboard
Levis Billboard 
Levis Billboard Cowboy liedown
Levis Bill­board Cowboy liedown 
Levis Billboard Bruce Sign
Levis Bill­board Bruce Sign 

MATSON

Matson Lines 1
Matson Lines 1 
Matson Lines 2
Matson Lines 2 
Matson Lines 3
Matson Lines 3 
Matson Lines 4
Matson Lines 4 

CHEVROLET

Chevy '54
Chevy ​’54 
Chevy '56 Cable Car
Chevy ​’56 Cable Car 
Chevy '56
Chevy ​’56 
Chevy '56
Chevy ​’56 


1958, The Bombergers trav­eled to Hawaii. Finding no other photos of Bruce Bomberger, Bruce Hettema found this news­paper clip­ping in the Patterson and Hall archives.

1961, Bruce Bomberger was a founding member of SFSI, the San Fran­cisco Society of Illus­tra­tors, and a pres­i­dent of that club.

There was a demand for his illus­tra­tions for stories written in the major maga­zines: such as the Saturday Evening Post, True, True West, Good House­keeping and Reader’s Digest.

This Week Magazine
This Week Magazine 
Bomberger pencil sketch
Bomberger pencil sketch 
Bomberger prep sketch
Bomberger prep sketch 
Bruce Bomberger Illustration
Bruce Bomberger Illustration 
Saturday Evening Post Illustration
Saturday Evening Post Illustration 
Bruce Bomberger Story Illustration
Bruce Bomberger Story Illustration 
Saturday Evening Post 1954
Saturday Evening Post 1954 

During the mid-1960s:
His product illus­tra­tions were seen in Life, Look and Time maga­zines. He painted for Wayer­haeuser Timber Company, and a full series of maga­zine ads known as the Marl­boro Country campaign for Leo Burnett’s Adver­tising Agency, Chicago, IL.
Also, Mobil Oil Co. offered prints, suit­able for framing, of Bruce Bomberger’s illus­tra­tions of the Green Bay Packers, the Wisconsin’s NFL foot­ball team.

Weyerhaeuser Timber Co.
Weyer­haeuser Timber Co. 
Weyerhaeuser Timber Co.
Weyer­haeuser Timber Co. 
Weyerhaeuser
Weyerhaeuser 
Marlboro Country
Marl­boro Country 
Green Bay Packers-Modil
Green Bay Packers-Modil 
Green Bay Packers-Modil
Green Bay Packers-Modil 
Green Bay Packers-Modil
Green Bay Packers-Modil 
Green Bay Packers-Modil
Green Bay Packers-Modil 

Retiring from commer­cial work, Bruce Bombarder made many paint­ings, some now avail­able on the web. Bruce Bomberger died at age 62, in September of 1980.

Bomberger Street Scene
Bomberger Street Scene 
Bomberger Street Scene
Bomberger Street Scene 
Bomberger Street Scene
Bomberger Street Scene 
Bomberger Street Scene
Bomberger Street Scene 
Bomberger Top of the World
Bomberger Top of the World 
Bomberger Birds
Bomberger Birds 

In addi­tion to his artwork, Bruce Bomberger designed a home for his family in Kent Wood­lands in Marin County. He worked closely with his archi­tect, George Rock­rise, AIA, and land­scape designer, Lawrence Halprin. The house and art studio was to match the shape of the pie-shaped lot, a natural shelf that had views of Mount Tamal­pais and the San Fran­cisco Bay. Bruce also made all of the inte­rior choices from the colors of the inte­rior to the design of furni­ture for the home.

This news­paper report, shown above, was in the San Fran­cisco Exam­iner and dated: 24 Dec. 1961,
So was the home that I visited on Lombard Street in 1965, his second home?

Ann Thompson

BTW, the 1000 Lombard address has quite a history.
https://​sfghosts​.com/​1​0​0​0​-​l​o​m​b​a​r​d​-​s​t​r​e​et/


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