Industrial ruins with a waterfront view
Once upon a time, beginning in the mid 1800s and lasting for nearly 100 years, the Potrero Point Shipyards comprised the greatest industrial development west of the Mississippi. Located on the southeast shore of the city, it was a hotbed for startup companies of the day: corporations that made steel, ropes, explosives, barrels, rail equipment for streetcars, and mining equipment used to scourge the land-skin off the Gold Country. The air was thick with the smell of forges and the smoke from gas- and ironworks. New ship hulls slid relentlessly down the ramps into the bay: river steamboats and ocean schooners, and Admiral Dewey’s flagship, the USS Olympia, which later helped blow the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay to smithereens.
The pace of production kept up through World Wars I and II. The final navy ship sailed away in 1965, after which the economy took a downturn and, for the most part, the yards went quiet. One of the very last projects was the making of the underwater tubes used by BART.
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Address 550 20th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94124, pier70sf.org | Public Transport Bus: 22, 48 (20th St & 3rd St stop) | Tip One of the only functioning structures on Pier 70 is the Noonan Building, where a number of artists have worked for the past 40 years. Their creative spaces can be visited during San Francisco’s annual Open Studio tour. For more information, visit www.noonanbuildingartists.com.
Now, little remains of the shipyards, save Pier 70, which has become the symbol of what was—and what may be. The surrounding site, which encompasses more than 60 acres and includes numerous abandoned hangar-like warehouses, industrial workshops, and administrative buildings, has recently become the focus of a massive rebuilding and preservation project. The area is set to include new facilities for artists, museums, and entertaining, plus a good deal of open space. For now, however, one can still wander among the slowly collapsing waterfront ruins. Guided tours of the area are available on the first Sunday of every month.
A bit of trivia for Hitchcock buffs: Pier 70 was one of the settings used in the opening scene of Vertigo, where James Stewart meets an old friend, and the “Master of Suspense” makes his signature cameo appearance as one of the passersby.
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