San Francisco - Alison Bing [45]
In the Financial District you’ll spot the last people in San Francisco who actually wear suits to work, other than restaurant hosts, hoteliers and gangsters.
By 5pm the sidewalks are filled with power-brokers loosening ties and lining up for express buses, eager to distance themselves from work. By 7pm, the Financial District abruptly becomes a ghost town.
TRANSAMERICA PYRAMID & REDWOOD PARK Map
600 Montgomery St; admission free; 9am-6pm Mon-Fri; 1, 15, 41; & Embarcadero
The defining feature of San Francisco’s skyline was built during the Jet Age, atop the wreck of a whaling ship abandoned in the 1849 Gold Rush, on the site of a saloon frequented by Mark Twain and the newspaper office where Sun Yat-sen drafted his Proclamation of the Republic of China.
Architect William Pereira maximized light in the narrow streets below with his pyramid design, but even before its 1972 inauguration his pointy office tower was derided as ‘Pereira’s Prick.’ Critics claimed Pereira’s background in Hollywood special effects was too apparent in the 853ft streamlined tower, which looked ready for blastoff.
But others pointed out that the quirky landmark was perfectly suited to SF, and even those who still love to hate the building adore Redwood Park, the half-acre stand of redwood trees at its base.
Another redeeming feature was the view – note the past tense. Since September 11, the viewing platform at the tip of the pyramid has been closed to visitors ‘for security reasons.’ But if you’re determined to get virtually queasy witnessing the slight half-foot sway at the top of the Pyramid in a strong wind, you can do so by visiting the virtual observation deck.
EMBARCADERO CENTER Map
415-772-0700; www.embarcaderocenter.com; Sacramento St; admission free; 10am-5pm; 1; & Embarcadero; California
If this really is San Francisco’s answer to Lincoln Center, that’s one round for New York. These skyscrapers joined by an overhead walkway form an urban sprawl of a mall, and the upper office floors have nothing to recommend them beyond the crowd-pleasing Embarcadero Center Cinema, the indie movie multiplex whose concessions counter is consistently rated the city’s best.
PALACE HOTEL Map
415-512-1111, 800-325-3535; www.sfpalace.com; 2 New Montgomery St; & Montgomery St
The city’s most storied hotel opened in 1875, and was gutted during the 1906 earthquake and fire. Opera star Enrico Caruso was staying here that day, and reportedly ran into the street, swearing he’d never return to San Francisco. The current building opened in 1909. Ten years later, Woodrow Wilson gave his League of Nations speech here, and in 1923 US President Warren G Harding died upstairs. Visit the lobby by day to see the opulent Garden Court and its luminous stained-glass domed ceiling, then pop into the Pied Piper Bar to see Maxfield Parrish’s mural of the Pied Piper.
LOTTA’S FOUNTAIN Map
Market St at Kearny St; 5, 6, 7, 15, 21, 31, 38, 71, F; & Montgomery St
Lotta Crabtree made a killing as San Francisco’s diminutive opera diva, and never forgot the city that paid for her trademark cigars. At the age of 28, the already-wealthy performer commissioned this cast-metal pillar thrice her size with a spigot fountain as a present to the people of San Francisco – a useful gift indeed during the 1906 fire, when it became the sole source of water Downtown.
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UNION SQUARE
The shoppers who throng the area usually ignore Union Square itself, and no wonder: the newly paved grounds actively discourage loitering. Mean-spirited city planners built them that way lest visitors get too comfortable and forget that the unifying theme of Union Square is shopping – the pro-Union Civil War rallies that gave the plaza its name are long forgotten. Now the 1850-plaza-turned-1950s-patio sits atop a parking garage, bordered by chain hotels and department stores, and bedizened with a few gold-, silver- and bronze-clad mimes working their decades-old ‘living statues’ schtick.
But perch awhile on a skinny bench or grab a coveted seat at the cafe in the square,