Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
154
As long as anyone can remember, Market Street has been the spine of the city,
and it remains its most important thoroughfare, cutting an oddball diagonal path
through the traditional grid layout that rules the rest of Downtown. From the
1800s to today, it was the avenue by which the city moved and breathed, where
its most important banks and hotels clustered, where the streetcars and ferries
headed, and even today, where all the major political and social parades march. To
walk down its span, twice as wide as most other streets around here, is to wander
through the city's tumultuous history, from boomtown to shakedown to the classy
Financial District that dominates it today. Illogical as it seems, the section of
Market Street between the Bay and (roughly) Van Ness Avenue is often called
“Lower” Market despite the fact that it appears higher up on maps than its other
end, which threads through hills of Twin Peaks, southwest of the Castro.
1
The Ferry Dock
If it's outside of rush hour, where you're
standing right now may be virtually
desolate. Today, just a few boats,
including ones to Sausalito (near the
northern landing of the Golden Gate)
and to Oakland, leave from here.
The thing that will probably most
catch your eye is the mighty San
Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. From
here, you'll get a panorama of its west-
ern spans. That massive stone support
beneath the roadway between the two
suspension towers (each 526 ft. tall)
was, during construction, the tallest
structure in town. The building of
the bridge is described in the box on
p. 112, but few people appreciate that
it was completed just 6 months after
the more famous Golden Gate—and at
greater expense. You can't see it from
here, but a new high-tech bridge for the
eastern portion of the route—the one
on the other side of Yerba Buena
Island—is currently under construc-
tion until 2012 or 2013. The Bay
Bridge lands nearly 5 blocks south,
where it pours its 280,000 daily cars
onto the 101, and where a new crop of
skyscrapers is changing deep SoMa into
something worth visiting again.
The statue of Mohandas Gandhi
standing in the middle of the square
didn't make it here without some con-
troversy, which is not atypical of this
town. First, people accused its donor of
some shady dealings and said that the
city shouldn't accept the gift. Then oth-
ers objected to the work's placement
behind the Ferry Building, which some
considered undignified. Make amends
for all the whining by enjoying the
bronze sculpture now.
Enter the back of the Ferry Building.
2
The Ferry Building
You're now entering the former baggage
area for ferry passengers, now a 65,000-
square-foot food marketplace. Although
I deliver a thumbnail history and per-
spective of this place in the box on
p. 70, happily, the boutique gourmet
shops here are self-explanatory, and I
encourage you to wander around, tast-
ing things you've never tried before.
Everything sold at stores here is from a
Bay Area provider, so you're certain to
eat something you probably can't get
anywhere else in the world. If you can't
get to the Wine Country, at least you
can sample some of its bounty here.
Much of what's on offer here consists
of nibbles, but two affordable options,
Taylor's Automatic Refresher
(p. 67)
and a lunch at the
Slanted Door
(p. 69), will furnish very different din-
ing experiences.
