"...take a transbay ferry
and, in the early morning,
gaze back at the receding
city, where water, hills
and building are
combined into a picture
that has composition,
feeling and life."
1930
The 1930s saw the highest
recorded . . . — — Map (db m157041) HM
"It was a stroke of good
fortune for the movement
of world commerce that
nature, in selecting a
location for her greatest
landlocked harbor, chose
this very central portion
of the continent."
1921
During the first half of the 20th . . . — — Map (db m157306) HM
"...nothing ever comes to
the working man or
woman on a silver platter,
free, gratis...every crumb,
every thing we get has to
be fought for..."
1994 (60th anniversary of the strike)
As the Great Depression wore on,
working . . . — — Map (db m157043) HM
Side 1:
Yesterday’s Port
Port Time
San Franciscans have relied on the Ferry Building’s clock tower to keep them on time since 1898, when the prominent structure at the foot of Market Street first opened. The inner workings of . . . — — Map (db m200664) HM
In Honor and Remembrance of San Franciscans Who Served Our Country and Died in the Vietnam War
Eddy Achica • Felizardo Cuenca Aguillaon • Albert Kaiwi Akamu • Daniel Albert Alegke • John Moses Ananian • Gregory Alfred Antunano • Joseph Gregory . . . — — Map (db m71805) WM
The Embarcadero did not exist at the water’s edge until the late 19th Century. Wharves reached out, some for more than a thousand feet from the historic shoreline that was gradually filled and extended to create the roadway landscape that you see . . . — — Map (db m72611) HM
This marker consists of six plaques arranged in a 2 X 3 pattern. The top left plaque is the title plaque and may contain some text. The top right plaque displayed an arrow which points in the direction of the named street. Other plaques contain . . . — — Map (db m72564) HM
In the cool, sweet pre-dawn silence of April 18, 1906, clocks marked 5:00 am. Empty streets picked up the clip-clop of the milkman's horse. At the wholesale market, as men unloaded produce wagons, horses suddenly reared up, snorting and neighing. . . . — — Map (db m92847) HM
This marker is one of a series intended to commemorate the 150 years of the Port of San Francisco. It is composed of a captioned photograph and text entitled Did you know... mounted on a cylindrical metal pylon.
The Ferry Building . . . — — Map (db m200512) HM
This Golden Gate Ferry Terminal is dedicated to Stephan C. Leonoudakis in recognition of his pivotal role in initiating the legislation that returned passenger ferry service to San Francisco Bay while a member of the board of directors of the Golden . . . — — Map (db m240255) HM
The Abraham Lincoln Brigade Memorial is part historical marker, part veterans memorial and entirely a work of art. It consists of a number of panels. The panels are in 15 columns of three rows each. Not all panels contain text, and some panels of . . . — — Map (db m72028) HM WM
Revolution in San Francisco; July 6. 1934...Blood ran red in the streets of San Francisco yesterday. In the darkest day this city has known since April 18, 1906, one thousand embattled police held at bay five thousand longshoremen and their . . . — — Map (db m92869) HM
The Embarcadero “Freeway to Nowhere” 1956 – 1991
The first proposal for an elevated Embarcadero roadway appeared in 1927 when the Regional Planning Association published their plan for an aviation platform on the . . . — — Map (db m71454) HM
Construction of the State Belt Railroad began in 1889, making it possible to load and unload ships directly to railcars on the piers. At first, rail spurs ran down the center of piers inside the sheds. After 1910, most tracks were laid on the pier . . . — — Map (db m92826) HM
African-American civil rights
activist credited as the chief
organizer of the watershed 1963
March on Washington and
advocate for gay and lesbian causes — — Map (db m186766) HM
American feminist, civil rights
activist and cofounder of the
Daughters of Bilitis, the first
social and political organization
for lesbians in the United States. — — Map (db m186782) HM
Jerry Garcia
(1942 - 1995)
"What we're trying to do is
expand rather than narrow."
Jerry Garcia was a legendary guitarist, singer, songwiter, and
founding member of the Grateful Dead. He grew up in the
Excelsior, living his . . . — — Map (db m186644) HM
“The Family”, one of San Francisco’s oldest and most distinctive social clubs, was founded on this site on April, 1902
This plaque dedicated on the Club’s centennial — — Map (db m58397) HM
In 1880, Finnish sea captain Gustave Niebaum acquired the Inglenook Estate and began building the stone chateau for his winery. His wines became world renowned and contributed to the growing fame of the Napa Valley.
Francis and Eleanor Coppola . . . — — Map (db m236038) HM
The Bank of California, a founding financier of the West, was established by William Chapman Ralston on July 5, 1864, the company quickly outgrew its quarters at this location and engaged architects Walter Danforth Bliss and William Baker Faville to . . . — — Map (db m70832) HM
Headquarters from 1908 to 1921
From here A.P. Giannini launched
the branch system that transformed
the nature of banking in California
National
Historic Landmark
This site is of national significance
in commemorating the . . . — — Map (db m71998) HM
Bummer and Lazarus were two stray dogs who roamed this part of San Francisco in the 1860s. Their devotion to each other endeared them to the citizenry, and the newspapers reported their joint adventures, whether stealing a bone from another dog, . . . — — Map (db m58394) HM
This Fountain
is Dedicated to
the Native Sons
of the Golden West
To Commemorate
The Admission of California
Into the Union
September the Ninth
Anno Domini
MDCCCL
“The unity of our empire hangs on the decision of this . . . — — Map (db m90968) HM
In Honor of the One Hundredth Anniversary
of the
California Street Cable Cars Line
and Leland Stanford
Among the significant contributions of the Governor Leland Stanford family, whose home was located at this site, was their important . . . — — Map (db m71803) HM
On July 9, 1846, in the early morning, in “the days when water came up to Montgomery Street,” Commander John B. Montgomery – for whom Montgomery Street was named – landed near this spot from the U.S. Sloop-of-War . . . — — Map (db m143434) HM
In 1870
Anthony Zellerbach
established a small stationery business
not far from this site.
From this modest beginning
through the passing years
many people have helped to build
Crown Zellerbach Corporation
a forest products enterprise
now . . . — — Map (db m191467) HM
Charles August Fey began inventing and manufacturing slot machines in 1894. Fey pioneered many innovations of coin operated gaming devices in his San Francisco workshop at 406 Market Street, including the original three-reel bell slot machine in . . . — — Map (db m29118) HM
1874–1963.
This great poet was born in San Francisco, March 26, 1874. First child of William Prescott Frost Jr. and Isabelle Moodie Frost. He lived in seven houses here all east of Van Ness Avenue and North of Market Street. Upon his . . . — — Map (db m639) HM
The Mining Exchange Building was designated by architects James R. Miller and Timothy L. Pflueger in 1923. The exterior of this monumental banking hall is designed in the Neoclassical style featuring sculpted Greek and Roman-inspired terra cotta . . . — — Map (db m225938) HM
This tablet marks the shore line of San Francisco Bay at the time of the discovery of gold in California, January 24, 1848. Map reproduced above delineates old shore line. — — Map (db m638) HM
The shore line of San Francisco Bay reached a point twenty-five feet northeasterly from this spot at the time gold was discovered by James W. Marshall at Coloma, California, January 24, 1848.
Map of old water line shown on tablet on opposite . . . — — Map (db m71806) HM
California’s first state fair was held on this site on October 4, 1854. Sponsored by the California State Agricultural Society, the exhibition of “horses, cattle, mules and other stock, and agricultural, mechanical and domestic manufacture and . . . — — Map (db m637) HM
The emigrant ship Niantic stood on this spot in the early days "when the water came up to Montgomery Street." Converted to other uses, it was covered with a shingle roof with offices and stores on the deck, at the level which was . . . — — Map (db m41125) HM
This is the site of the famous What Cheer House, a unique hotel opened in 1852 by R. B. Woodward and destroyed by the fire of 1906. The What Cheer House catered to men only, permitted no liquor on the premises, and housed San Francisco's first free . . . — — Map (db m33319) HM
The remains of the gold rush supply ship, the General Harrison, lie beneath this building. The sidewalk treatment reminds us that Clay Street was once a wharf at the edge of San Francisco Bay with tidal mud flats to the north, and in 1850 ships . . . — — Map (db m70839) HM
This, San Francisco’s first fireproof building erected in 1853 by Henry Wager Helleck, was the headquarters for many outstanding lawyers, financiers, writers, actors and artists. James King of William, editor of the Bulletin, died here . . . — — Map (db m143443) HM
Original Construction 1917
Architect: Benjamin G. McDougall (1865-1937)
The Old Chamber of Commerce Building or 333 Pine was built in 1917 by the Mills Estate Co. for Aetna Insurance Co. and designed by Benjamin G. McDougall.
In . . . — — Map (db m73066) HM
Near this site occurred
the incident which led to the formation of
The San Francisco
Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Animals
on April 8, 1868
———————————
James Sloan Hutchinson, a pioneer banker witnessing nearby an act . . . — — Map (db m33538) HM
This corner was originally that part of San Francisco once called Yerba Buena Cove whose shoreline was about one block further west at Montgomery Street. Landfill occurred in the 1850s and the first known structure was the Friedlander’s building . . . — — Map (db m71449) HM
Between his arrival in the sleepy trading post of Yerba Buena in 1841 and his untimely death seven years later, William Alexander Leidesdorff – the son of a Danish Jewish sugar planter and a black plantation worker in St. Croix – . . . — — Map (db m73070) HM
On this site
then occupied by
Trinity Episcopal Church
William Ingraham Kip
First Episcopal Bishop of California
began his forty-year episcopate
on
January 29, 1854 — — Map (db m115507) HM
was built in Scotland for the San Francisco grain trade. From the time of her launching, in 1886, until 1890 she was employed in transporting the grain harvests of California's interior valleys to the ports of Europe.
"Although the building . . . — — Map (db m101887) HM
The pictures you
see are of our nextdoor neighbor, the
old Pier 41. The
facade came down
with a blaze of glory
and a torrent of
water went up in its
place, the result of
a broken one-inch
water line buried
deep in the facade
years ago. . . . — — Map (db m176635) HM
Side 1:
Yesterday’s Port
Alaska Packers
Every spring from the 1890s through the 1920s, local fishermen and cannery hands boarded the Alaska Packers, wooden and iron-rigged ships that sailed from San Francisco to Alaska for the . . . — — Map (db m200669) HM
Before Crocker Bank agreed
to lend Warren Simmons
$27 million to finance the
total estimated construction
cost of Pier 39, bank executives attempted to convince
Simmons to take in a partner who could cover any cost
overruns. They might . . . — — Map (db m233443) HM
In 1907, the historic buildings on this block were built as a food cannery and warehouse by the California Fruit Canners Association, now known as Del Monte foods and headquartered in San Francisco. Called "Del Monte Plant No. 1", the facility was . . . — — Map (db m117070) HM
This is the site of the original Dimaggios' Restaurant founded by the five DiMaggio brothers in 1937. Tom, the oldest of the 9 children of Sicilian immigrant parents, ran it until the youngest, Dominic Paul DiMaggio, took on the responsibilities in . . . — — Map (db m115951) HM
Eureka was originally launched as the Ukiah, a rail car and passenger ferry. She ran between San Francisco and Tiburon for the San Francisco and Northern Pacific Railroad, later the Northwestern Pacific.
Between 1920 and 1922 . . . — — Map (db m101781) HM
The Hicks eight-horsepower engine was the most popular power source for San Francisco's "Monterey" fishing boats. Its simple design made for economy, reliability, and ease of maintenance.
The Bay Area led the nation in production of heavy duty . . . — — Map (db m101837) HM
Before the Golden Gate Bridge was built, the only way to drive north from San Francisco was to cross the bay on a ferryboat.
The Golden Gate Ferry Company began service to Sausalito in 1922, and Hyde Street Pier officially became part of . . . — — Map (db m234186) HM
This pier, home of the museum’s fleet of historic ships since 1963, was built in 1922 as the terminal of the Golden Gate Ferry Company service to Sausalito. Additions were completed in 1931 and 1932.
Service to Berkeley was added by Golden . . . — — Map (db m63394) HM
Before the Golden Gate Bridge was built, the only way to drive north from San Francisco was to cross the Bay on a ferryboat. The Golden Gate Ferry began service to Sausalito in 1922, and Hyde Street Pier officially became part of Route 101, the . . . — — Map (db m101848) HM
Anyone concerned
about the quality of
construction at Pier
39 can see from these photos that
Warren Simmons hired only the
most highly skilled craftsmen.
For fourteen months, this youngster toiled
night and day, never receiving an . . . — — Map (db m233485) HM
Reputedly built for the McGinnis Family before 1900, this ark was hauled ashore around 1923. She passed through several hands before being donated to the museum in 1969.
This little houseboat, referred to locally as an ark, was one of several . . . — — Map (db m234183) HM
Visit America’s answer to Hitler’s U-Boats – one of the last 2,710 identical armed Merchant Ships built to carry “beans, bullets and black oil" to our fighting men around the world. The goal was to build them faster than the enemy could . . . — — Map (db m76503) HM WM
In 1975, when Pier 39 was nothing more than a graveyard for old refrigerators, the Port of San Francisco drew up a lease for Warren Simmons which would be executed if Simmons acquired the horde of permits necessary to actually build on the . . . — — Map (db m176588) HM
"The Eppleton Hall is the handiest type of tug that was ever built." - Captain John Gibson, Sunderland, England.
Eppleton Hall is typical of the tugs used in the coal ports of Northern England to tow barges and shipping. Similar . . . — — Map (db m101806) HM
The Petaluma was the last of the San Francisco riverboats. Her shallow hull and sternwheel remained useful on the Petaluma River long after her sisters had quit the major rivers.
During the 19th century, these passenger and cargo . . . — — Map (db m234181) HM
“After 35 years, 8 months and 10 days we tie up for good. This ends 103 years of stern wheel navigation of S.F. Bay and tributaries. John H. Urton, Master”
Final Log Entry, dated August 24, 1950.
The Petaluma was . . . — — Map (db m63393) HM
Much has changed in the shipping industry over the years, and consequently, with the San Francisco waterfront. Long finger piers such as Pier 39 were once ideal tie-ups for ships carrying break-bulk cargo. Large gangs of longshoremen, using pallets . . . — — Map (db m176343) HM
The ferryboat Klamath was built in San Francisco in 1925 and often operated out of Hyde Street Pier. These steel propellers were taken off when she was converted to office space in 1964. Both propellers show signs of cavitation, which occurs . . . — — Map (db m117351) HM
"Here a bath is a matter of stepping off the porch, a stroll is taken in a boat, and a splash of oars announces butcher and baker." - Albert B. Hunt in Houseboats and Houseboating. 1905
This little houseboat, referred to locally . . . — — Map (db m101777) HM
As you gaze out at the majestic beauty of the Golden Gate Bridge, it probably isn't too difficult to determine which San Francisco tourist attraction is on the face of the top-selling postcard sold from City stores each year.
Right. The . . . — — Map (db m176590) HM
The toilets for ordinary sailors were usually located in the front or "head" of the ship and consisted of a series of holes in a plank which allowed for a direct drop into the ocean. From this location came the name "head," which remains a common . . . — — Map (db m101849) HM
She was a steady little ship. She wasn't too fast to sail and beat, or anything like that, but she was a solid-built ship. - Captain Emil Anderson, Master 1915
Thayer was one of 123 three-masted schooners built on the West Coast . . . — — Map (db m101805) HM
"The bay used to be full of them... They worked on the tide, they'd go up the cricks and riser's and lay on the flat until they got their cargo in and then out they'd go. Got, they were a busy outfit... What load they carried. - F.H. Wade, . . . — — Map (db m101838) HM
"No one who has not been there can imagine the strain on the captain in trying to get around Cape Horn. This passage in the Balclutha was about my hardest time. - Captain Alfred Durkee, Master 1894-1899
Balclutha was a . . . — — Map (db m101819) HM
This heroic statue of the patron Saint of St. Francis de la Varenne was carved in Paris in 1926-1928 out of a 20-ton block of granite, by the great
Italian sculptor, Beniamino "Benny” Bufano. It remained unseen in a warehouse there for 27 years, . . . — — Map (db m177076) HM
Donkey engines like this one were common along the waterfront from the 1880s into the 1920s. These portable steam winches were used as auxiliary power for loading and unloading cargo.
The name donkey comes from there fact that the engines . . . — — Map (db m101851) HM
... we picked up six million feet of timber in a raft to tow South to San Diego. Long, slow lazy days, making no more than three knots. We rigged a fishing line and caught beautiful King Salmon on the way." - Albert Hody, Hercules . . . — — Map (db m101809) HM
The helmsman, standing behind the wheel of the a sailing ship seldom looked ahead.
He looked down into the compass, if ordered to steer a compass course.
Or he looked alternately at compass and up at a sail (the mizzen royal) when the . . . — — Map (db m101876) HM
When Pier 39 opened
exactly on October 4,
1978, just as developer
Warren Simmons had
planned months before
construction had even
begun, it was the result
of determination,pride
and tremendous effort
by almost everyone
concerned.
For . . . — — Map (db m175690) HM
When Warren Simmons
signed the Development
Agreement on September 10,
1975, part of the negotiations
included the salvage rights
to Pier 37, which was scheduled for demolition. Pier 39
planned to use all the weathered wharf planks and . . . — — Map (db m233381) HM
The usual ship's carpenter was a Northerner - a Scot, a Finn, a Swede, a Norwegian, or a Nova Scotiaman. All of these were superb woodworkers and equal to the to the variety of tasks found on shipboard.
For instance, windjammers always carried . . . — — Map (db m102168) HM
This timber to support the anchor ready for "letting go" has been a fixture on shipboard for hundreds of years. As the ship approached port, the anchor was hung from the cathead by a chain called a ring stopper. One end of this chain (distinct from . . . — — Map (db m101918) HM
This structure contains the galley, the carpenter's shop, as well as quarters for apprentices and the "idlers." These men, the bosun, sailmaker, carpenter, and cook were actually among the hardest workers of the crew, beginning at six in the morning . . . — — Map (db m101877) HM
The Dolphin Club, in cooperation with the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department, maintains this facility to accomodate it program of open water swimming and rowing in San Francisco Bay.
It was founded in 1877 as a small boat club at the . . . — — Map (db m65562) HM
Would you believe that the
building at which you are now
staring was previously located
two blocks away on the corner of
Powell and the Embarcadero?
In 1978, the Eagle Cafe, run
by the Andreotti family since
1927, was lifted up on . . . — — Map (db m175662) HM
The sailors lived forward in the forecastle ( pronounced foc's'le); the captain and mates lived aft in more comfortable surroundings.
Sailors found the Balclutha's cramped quarters a great improvement over those earlier, smaller ships . . . — — Map (db m101886) HM
Life in the half deck was, perhaps, the bravest start in this mortal life ever made by human beings. The stripling of 15 or 16 years of age had to pass through the fire, had to face the elements of wind and sea in their fury had to do a man's work . . . — — Map (db m101885) HM
When the Balclutha towed to sea in the old days, twenty five sails were ready to set as soon as the tug let go the towrope. To handle this canvas a great deal of additional cordage was rove off - buntlines, leech-lines, clew garnets, . . . — — Map (db m101875) HM
The 1895 lumber schooner C.A. Thayer has gone to a shipyard in Alameda, CA for installation of her masts and rigging. The last West Coast lumber schooler in existence, the ship will be undergoing restoration boat at the yard and here at the . . . — — Map (db m101804) HM
The South End Rowing Club was founded on San Francisco Bay in 1873 by a group of rowing enthusiasts who gathered at Jimmy Farrell's Saloon at the southern end of the City near 3rd and Berry Streets.
The Club became a dominant power in the Pacific . . . — — Map (db m61359) HM
Quotation obscured
This building was the superintendent's office at the Tubbs company factory or ropewalk. This pioneer industrial factory was located on Iowa Street in the Portero district from 1856 until 1963.
Alfred Tubbs . . . — — Map (db m101778) HM
The Hercules was an "outside" tug built to live and pull in the open ocean. She could steam for 30 days or 8,000 miles without refueling, and her crew could travel from bow to stern without exposure to rough weather. Few West Coast boats . . . — — Map (db m101836) HM
Before you is a 30 ton triple-expansion engine from the steam schooner Wapama, This is the larges artifact rescued from the vessel before it demolition. Inside the visitors center across the street are extensive exhibits and films. There you . . . — — Map (db m101850) HM
My uncle Rudy Sommer had the Sea Fox for years. She was a lucky boat and was a good puller. Hillstorm built two of them, the Fox and the Captain, both real good boats." - Captain Harold Sommer, former Sea Fox mate. . . . — — Map (db m101780) HM
Before you is a 42-Ton triple-expansion steam engine from the steam schooner Wapama, which sailed on the West Coast from 1915 to 1947.
This engine is the largest artifact rescued from the Wapama before her demolition in 2013. . . . — — Map (db m234180) HM
Between 1924 and 1962, Hercules worked for the Western Pacific Railroad moving railroad cars on barges between Oakland/Alameda and Islais Creek/Fishermam's Wharf. Because these car floats were pushed and pulled from the side, rather than . . . — — Map (db m101835) HM
Look at the boats here. You will see commercial and sport fishing boats, excursion boats, fireboats, ferries, and maybe even some unusual rowboats. The Port of San Francisco manages all this activity, makes sure the public has access to the . . . — — Map (db m236763) HM
Fishermen’s Wharf remains the best place to bring a catch from the rich Pacific Ocean waters just outside the Golden Gate. In addition to providing the closest sheltered harbor, the Wharf also has the largest concentration of fish processors and . . . — — Map (db m236766) HM
America’s First Irish Coffee was made here in 1952
It was inspirationally invented
at Shannon Airport by
Joe Sheridan
It was fortuitously introduced here by
Stan Delapane
It was nurtured to . . . — — Map (db m115924) HM
Then-owner William Roth selected Ruth Asawa, well known for her abstract, wire-woven sculptures, to design and create the centerpiece fountain for Ghirardelli Square. Although it was unveiled among some controversy in 1968, Asawa's objective was to . . . — — Map (db m90225) HM
On May 12, 1848 Samuel Brannan rode through the streets of San Francisco waving a bottle of gold and yelling, “Gold! Gold! Gold from the American River!” Struck with gold fever, almost every resident headed for the foothills, beginning the greatest . . . — — Map (db m195719) HM
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