San Francisco

Brief information

San Francisco seems like a dense city on the edge of the continent, but its center stands not only on dry land: the modern business district grew over the old Yerba Buena Cove, which was filled in during the 19th century for construction. Because of this, the city reads as a place that has constantly reclaimed its shape from the water, the hills, and earthquakes.

The main contrast here is not in a single symbol, but in the city’s structure. The northern tip of the peninsula is squeezed between the Pacific Ocean and the bay, so growth moved along the shores, up steep slopes, and across filled-in coastal areas. After the 1906 earthquake and fire, San Francisco was almost completely rebuilt, and later the city decided not to restore some of the damaged waterfront freeways. That is why the fog, hills, bridges, streetcar lines, and new waterfront are connected not by a postcard image, but by the real constraints of the place.

What to notice right away

It makes sense to compare three lines of the city: the hills, transportation, and the shore. The hills here are not a backdrop: within San Francisco there are 42 of them, and neighborhoods such as Nob Hill, Russian Hill, and Telegraph Hill are named directly after the terrain. The cable car matters for exactly this reason: its tracks descend from the top of Nob Hill to Fisherman’s Wharf and show how transportation was adapted to sharp grades.

In the historic northeastern “square,” you can compare winding Lombard Street, Market Street as the southern boundary of the old center, and the waterfront Embarcadero. The latter especially changes one’s view of the city: after the 1989 earthquake, the damaged freeway was not rebuilt, and the area by the water was remade into a historic waterfront. Near the port, it is useful to notice the piers set perpendicular to the shore: they recall the freight-handling past, although many now serve offices, shops, museums, and vessel moorings.