And yes, it was cold. Although the temperature was in the 50's, the wind made it feel like the 30's. I wore my down jacket, hat, and gloves. As Mark Twain once said, the coldest winter he ever spent was summer in San Francisco. Not that it is summer yet, but still, it was plenty cold. Most of those on the tour were not dressed for the cold, but I had my Philly regalia with me. Once I knew the forecast called for wind, I new exactly what to wear! San Francisco can be deceiving to those who don't know her well.
Our guide was very well informed, and carried a binder of photographs and illustrations to show us:
The tour started at the base of the Transamerica Pyramid, completed in 1972. When built, it was the fifth tallest building in the world, and is still the tallest in San Francisco. It is iconic, and makes SF's skyline unique. I imagine it must be one of the most photographed buildings in the world (outside the Taj Mahal?):
As is most of the financial district, the Transam building is constructed on landfill. The guide told us that the first material used as landfill was redwood logs! In deference to this, a plaza on the east side of the building is filled with redwood trees.
Also in the plaza are tributes to Samuel Clemens / Mark Twain, who worked in the city for awhile (1864 to 1867):
The frogs in the fountain celebrate the jumping frogs of Calaveras County. The bronze sculpture in the background is of children at play, but I like to think that at least two of the boys are Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Fin. I could not verify this, however. Did you know that Samuel Clemens met a Tom Sawyer in a San Francisco saloon, and chose to name his most famous character after him?
This next photo is a really cool shot. I wouldn't have noticed it, but saw my friend taking a photo and looked up to see what it was. From this spot, we could not see the Transam pyramid, only its reflection in the windows of a building across the street! How is that for the coolest of the cool? Thank you, Nan!
In the photo below, I am looking down Commercial Street towards the Ferry Building. Commercial Street was at one time a pier, but is now all landfill. The tour group is on the right. You may have heard that in the event of an earthquake, fill is the worst place to be because it will shake the most. I read that the foundation of the Transam building is a 9-foot thick concrete block. It took 24 hours to pour the cement!
If you look really hard, you can see the Ferry Building way down at the end of Commercial Street, in the open space between the skyscrapers. Imagine, at one time, this street being a pier:
Portsmouth Square at one time was the center of bustling dock activity, but today is in Chinatown. The photo below is not Portsmouth Square, but is a block over. SF's Chinatown is much larger than Philly's, consisting of a large number of city blocks. It is very colorful.
An early map of San Francisco shows where the land ended and fill began (the shaded portion at the bottom is the fill):
When walking the streets of San Francisco, you can tell when fill ends and land begins because the streets slope up at that point. Market Street, like Commercial Street, was once a pier for several blocks.
The tour guide spoke of the 1906 earthquake and fires that destroyed so much of San Francisco. There is a multi-block section of buildings that were not destroyed, and still stand today. These buildings are two to three stories high, and made primarily of brick. The photo below gives a good idea of what San Francisco looked like before 1906. I didn't realize so many buildings remained intact!
We are heading back to Monterey tomorrow, and will stay there a few days before moving on.
