Walking San Francisco

Pier 7’s pedestrian wharf is a great place to soak in bridge views or cast a line into the sea.

PUBLIC TRANSIT: Embarcadero BART station; F streetcars (street level); J, K, L, M, N, T streetcars (underground); 2, 6, 7, 9 14, 21, 31 Muni buses

Much of the history of early San Francisco centered on the waterfront around Yerba Buena Cove, which, before it was filled in, curved into what is now the Financial District, as far inland as Battery Street. At high tide, early structures along Montgomery Street are said to have had water lapping at their steps. Most of the ground we’ll tread on this tour covers the bones of rotted ships, many of which were abandoned by seamen who made a dash for the diggings in the Sierra foothills. Some deserted ships became boarding houses, while others were converted into saloons. One even served as the city jail. Eventually, their wooden hulls formed the foundation for landfill, and the wharves where they tied on became the city streets we walk today.

For the unwary sailor, a stop in this neighborhood was perilous indeed, with swindlers and crimps seeming friendly enough until the hapless seaman was drugged or slugged and sold to the next ship embarking on a two-year voyage. This practice was prevalent in other ports, but it ran rampant in San Francisco, where it became known as shanghaiing. We’ll uncover some of that history here, so keep your wits about ye.

This tour doesn’t dwell exclusively on the past, though, for the Embarcadero is returning to life after its late 20th-century slumber. Saturday morning, when the Ferry Building Farmers’ Market is on, is a good time to begin this tour.

Walk Description

Begin at the

Ferry Building. Built in 1898, it instantly established itself as the principal entryway to the city, and it remained so until bridges and airplanes made it possible to arrive in San Francisco from the east without taking a ride on a ferry boat. For a time the Ferry Building was one of the busiest transit hubs in the world, with some 100,000 passengers passing through every day. Ferry traffic began to diminish after the completion of the Bay Bridge in 1936. The building’s dwindling importance was obvious by the time the elevated Embarcadero Freeway was completed in 1959, effectively concealing much of the Ferry Building from the rest of the city. That proved to be a temporary problem solved by the 1989 earthquake, which damaged the elevated freeway. The freeway was demolished a few years later, giving new life to the Ferry Building; thus, the landmark has survived the 1906 earthquake, the demise of ferry traffic, the intrusion of a freeway, and the 1989 quake.

Beautifully restored, the ground floor has been repurposed as an atmospheric marketplace with shops and eateries specializing in gourmet foods. The Ferry Building Marketplace takes the shopping mall food-court concept to a new level, with a tasteful style that appeals to locals and tourists alike. When the farmers’ market is on (Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10 a.m.–2 p.m., and Saturdays, 8 a.m.–2 p.m.), the Ferry Plaza and Marketplace bustle with vendors and crowds of people indulging in San Francisco’s passionate culture of food. Walk through the building and around it, past the benches offering front-row views of the bay, Treasure Island, the Bay Bridge, and the Port of Oakland beyond. The fine

Slanted Door, a modern Vietnamese restaurant under the direction of Charles Phan, anchors the dining scene here, and they also have a more causal to-go window called Out the Door. But for a sweet treat, it’s hard to beat the scoops at

Humphry Slocombe, where locals swear by a flavor called Secret Breakfast: bourbon ice cream with cornflakes mixed in. If you need some reading material with your treat, the well-stocked aisles at

Book Passage offer something to suit every taste. Boasting a well-curated travel and children’s section, Book Passage also hosts a bevy of literary events and book signings. In addition to all the featured shopping and dining, ferries continue to launch from the building.

Exit the front of the Ferry Building and turn right onto the Embarcadero, which is conamed Herb Caen Way to commemorate the legendary columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle and Examiner. Caen was fond of calling the city “Baghdad by the Bay,” and he famously resuscitated a 19th-century edict from Joshua Abraham Norton—a local oddball who styled himself Emperor of the United States—banning “Frisco” as a city nickname. (The Baghdad tag has proved a bad fit, but many San Franciscans remain quick to upbraid anyone who uses “Frisco.”) Caen wrote his anecdotal column, rife with insider knowledge and ellipses, for some 60 years until his death in February 1997.

Just past Pier 5, right before the foot of Broadway, is the wooden

Pier 7 pedestrian wharf, which extends 900 feet out into the bay. Walk out and you’re likely to encounter anglers extending fishing poles over the sides. You may even see folks net rock crabs, which they are entitled to take home for dinner, or Dungeness crabs, which by law they are required to throw back. The pier, built in 1990, juts out into the bay in roughly the spot where ships docked at the old Broadway Pier. Piers extended out from Vallejo and Pacific Streets as well. Running perpendicular to these piers, Front Street stood on wooden pilings driven into the mud of the bay as late as the mid-1860s. Boardinghouses and saloons crowded around the wharves in a town still short on housing and women. You’ll need to use your imagination to picture any of this today, but a few buildings from that period survive along the course of this walk.

At Pier 15, you’ll find the

Exploratorium, a hands-on, state-of-the-art science museum. Relocated here in 2013 from its original Palace of Fine Arts digs, the museum is definitely worth a visit. Even if you don’t have time to explore the interior, there are a variety of free exhibits on the wharf outside, including Fog Bridge #72494, by Japanese artist Fujiko Nakaya.

Coming to Pier 17, you’re likely to spot a few tractor tugs operated by Baydelta Maritime. On the sidewalk here, look for a historical marker labeled BARBARY COAST, which has some tasty excerpts from author Herbert Asbury and historian H. H. Bancroft, describing the rough-and-tumble entertainment district that was centered along Pacific Avenue just west of here.

A little ways down the Embarcadero,

Pier 23 Cafe is a basic, squat wooden shack on the wharf, with seafood, a bar, and live music most nights. On warm days, you can make friends on the sun-splashed back patio overlooking the bay. Just beyond the restaurant, Pier 23 itself still functions as a warehouse for goods shipped in from overseas. If the gates are open, you’ll spot pallets loaded up with imported goods, mostly from the People’s Republic of China. The huge and modern glass building at Pier 27 is the new James R. Herman cruise ship terminal.

Cross the Embarcadero at Lombard or Chestnut Street and check out

Fog City, a West Coast interpretation of the traditional East Coast diner that’s been a mainstay since 1985. From the diner, follow Battery Street a few paces and detour into the small public space behind it, following the path through the little stream and fountain. This is an extension of

Levi Strauss Plaza, corporate headquarters for the company that put blue jeans on the legs of the world. German-born Levi Strauss came to San Francisco in 1853 and opened a dry goods shop. In 1870, he and Jacob Davis, a tailor, patented durable canvas work pants on which the seams were reinforced with copper rivets, a distinguishing trademark. Cross Battery and cut through the center of the campuslike office complex, built in the early 1980s. It incorporates modern structures along with a pair of stately warehouses dating to the early 1900s. At Sansome Street turn left.

Two blocks down, in the nondescript industrial structure at 200 Green Street, Philo T. Farnsworth invented television. Farnsworth, a native of Utah, publicly demonstrated his invention for the first time in 1927. He lived until 1971, long enough to have watched broadcasts of Mr. Ed, The Mod Squad, and the Apollo 11 moon landing.

The corner of Sansome and Green was the northeastern extent of a neighborhood known during the gold rush as

Sydney Town, largely inhabited by ticket-of-leave men from Australia. The denizens of this menacing little fun zone, which extended west to Kearny and south to Broadway, were known as the Sydney Ducks, and by and large were considered to be ruffians or worse by the rest of San Francisco. On several occasions large portions of the city burned to the ground, and Australians were blamed for kindling the flames or for plundering in the wake of disaster. Many were executed by vigilantes; the Committee of Vigilance of 1851 was formed in large part to contain the criminal proclivities of many Sydney Town residents.

The Ferry Building’s clock tower reigns over incoming ships and Marketplace shoppers.

At Vallejo Street turn left and continue to Front Street. The building on the corner, at 855 Front St., is the

Daniel Gibb Warehouse, built in 1855. It’s a rare gold rush–era survivor built on landfill at the shore of the bay. Daniel Gibb was an importer of goods ranging from liquor to coal. The warehouse is now an office building, but it looks much as it would have when Gibb was alive.

Backstory: Shanghaiing

Among San Francisco’s gifts to the English language is shanghai, the verb. Sailors put aboard ships against their will were said to have been shanghaied by shady characters called crimps, who made a good living through such dastardly deeds. Bill Pickelhaupt, in his book Shanghaied in San Francisco, nicely explains the term’s etymology. According to Pickelhaupt, during the mid-19th century, Shanghai, China, was not on direct shipping routes from San Francisco, so a sea voyage to that port necessarily involved an indirect course around the globe lasting about two years before a sailor returned to San Francisco. Sailors almost always had to be persuaded, honestly or otherwise, to accept such assignments.

In San Francisco, a perpetual shortage of seamen—often due to the opportunities and distractions available in the boisterous boom town and at the gold fields—led to an increase in crimping, or the sale of unconscious sailors to shipping companies in return for the sailors’ first two months of wages. Most often the destination was not actually Shanghai. Although the practice was illegal, politicians and businessmen saw the value in looking the other way, and crimps with names like Shanghai Kelly and Shanghai Chicken Devine felt no need to hide the nature of their business. Kelly’s knockout cocktail, served in his saloon, was a mixture of schnapps, beer, and a narcotic—usually opium.

Follow Front Street down to Pacific Avenue and turn right. At Battery, the

Old Ship Saloon is a lovely old bar with a dark past. This establishment has an indelible link to James Laflin, one of the city’s most notorious shanghaiers. The building dates to 1907 but stands where the business has stood since 1851. The establishment was originally in an old ship, the Arkansas, which was abandoned by a crew excited by news of gold strikes. The Arkansas docked here and her forecastle was transformed into a drinking tavern before Yerba Buena Cove was filled. Laflin sailed over on the Arkansas as a cabin boy and became a bartender in the Old Ship Saloon. He soon gained infamy as one of the city’s most successful crimps, selling unconscious seamen to ships sailing out in the morning. A model of a ship, standing in for the Arkansas, hangs over the street corner, above the bar’s main entrance. Have a drink here—you probably won’t end up in Shanghai.

Turn left onto Battery, then left again at Jackson. Enter the old portals to

Sydney Walton Square, now an open space but once the sight of numerous saloons. The Boston House, run by James “Shanghai” Kelly, whose notoriety circled the globe, stood at 33 Pacific, on a block now occupied by the Hyatt Regency Hotel. Pass through the square, admiring the public art and the fountain, and turn right on Davis Street. Cross Washington Street and follow paved pedestrian path through Sue Bierman Park to make your way back to the Embarcadero.