FRIDAY, AUGUST 7

FRIDAY, AUGUST 7:

      Bus ride in; no bikes. As our destination was different today than either Tuesday or Wednesday when we also rode the bus, we took a different route once we transferred at the GGB Plaza. Saw new sights from the bus as we made our way from west to east across the north side of town over to the Financial District. This is our meeting place for yet another walking tour. We're just thrilled that these are offered free, and are such a phenomenal way to get acquainted with various corners of the city.

      This tour focused on the distinctive architecture of some of downtown's most notable and imposing (and less so) office buildings in the Financial District. One of our guide's recurring themes was the 3 main building/re-building epochs in the city's history: the Gold Rush (early 1850's), post-1906 earthquake & fire, and the post-WWII modern growth spurt beginning in the 1950's.

      It was fascinating and instructive how he visually demonstrated the intersection of architectural elements and cultural mores. For example, the Wells Fargo building, re-built after 1906, has the facade of a fortress – strong, secure, impenetrable. The interior is luxurious and elegant. It communicated to the wealthy bank customer (and in those days, it was typically only the affluent who needed the services of a bank) that you and your money are in good, stable hands. And you are worthy of these luxurious surroundings.

 

                                                 

 

                                                      Another imposing bank building:            

 

                       Elegant doorway to the Mercantile Exchange:                                                                         

 
                                                Interior entryway of Mercantile Exchange:

 

  Our guide pointed out the extreme contrast with a building right across the street, built only some 50 years later, which is small, circular, all glass, hardly even noticeable, let alone formidable. It also was orignally built as a bank. But it communicated an entirely different message to an entirely different type of customer: openness, transparency, mutuality. So illustrative of the dramatic changes in culture from the turn of the 20^th century to mid-century.

      In a similar way, our guide had a logical historical and economic explanation for the abrupt and dramatic differences in style we'd observe on a given city block. On one side of the steet we'd see a classically ornamented Art Deco building, and right across from it, a glass-paned sleek skyscraper. That's because, on the heels of the 1920's Art Deco sstyle came the Depression, and new construction came to a halt. Then, in the 40's, steel and other building materials weren't available for civilian purposes . . . and so it wasn't until the 1950's when things had stabalized that construction began anew. And in those intervening 30 years, tastes had changed dramatically. So we'd see two buildings a few feet apart, one built in the 1920's, the other in the 50's, with no transition between the two.

 

 

 

 

                                                              

 

 

                     

                                           

                                        

                          

 

                   1st "glass-curtained" building in the city, dramatically different from anything previous:

                                
                                 Tiny sized building wedged in the middle was bought and built on 1 city lot.  It supposedly was a factory for making ties and belts (skinny, narrow items!):                 

    One side of this building is windowless; it houses all of the "guts" of the structure: 

                           
                                      Old-style British insurance building build just after the 1906 earthquake; they would be conducting a lot of claims business here:                    

 

                                            Old stock exchange, now a fitness center:

 

 

 

 

     Of special interest on this tour was the inclusion of several POPOS (Privately-Owned Public Open Spaces.) In the 1980's, the city of San Francisco required all new busnesses built downtown set aside 1 sq foot per every 50 sq foot of business use for the public to access. The purpose, of course, was to provide a respite and counterbalance to the urban population density downtown. We saw a rooftop garden patio, a couple of lovely courtyards, a small open shopping corridor. And we observed all of them being used and enjoyed – presumably by downtown workers.

      The climax of this tour was the landmark Transamerica Pyramid. Completed in 1972, it's San Francisco's tallest building (42 stories high).

 

 

We ended our fascinating 2-hour here, in the building's peaceful open courtyard graced with several redwood trees and a soothing fountain.  Transamerica provided this public open space even before it was required by the city to do so. May be part of the reason this icon is so beloved by the residents here.

 

      Made a quick forray into Chinatown, just a few block away. However, we didn't really know where to go to get anything out of it. Bill asked a Chinese couple at the corner where would be a good place to eat, and they indicated one right down the street. Very mundane & disappointing. The sauce on my General Tsao's Chicken looked like McDonald's packaged sauce. And we had to actually ask for fortune cookies after she brought the bill . . . no wonder she didn't offer them – they were so stale they tasted like cardboard!

       Made our way back to the bus stop, where we had to wait more than an hour. But the real bus drama was yet to unfold: a few stops further on, a young man (early 20's) got on. We could tell that there was some prolonged interchange between him and the driver . .. and when he walked back and sat down directly across from us, the bus driver stood up and announced, “Sir, you need to get off the bus.” The kid just said something like “Get this thing going.” This dialogue continued for another time or two. The bus driver returned to his seat. It was evident he was calling someone. But we continued on for several miles, over the GGB, until we pulled over to where a vehicle was waiting with flashing lights. A large imposing man (not uniformed – presumably a bus employee) entered and persuaded the kid to get off the bus, under threat that the sheriff will have to forcibly get you to leave if you don't do it voluntarily. He finally complied. He didn't appear to be high, or drunk, or out of it. Was reading a newspaper as he was riding. Was clean-shaven, had a trim haircut. Guess he just thought he didn't have to pay the $2.25 fare like everyone else. Who knows . .. maybe he's from Sausalito, rich parents, and an entitled brat. Did he not catch on that the driver had made a call – and that they had a plan for scenarios like this?? Anyway, we all breathed a sigh of relief that the incident ended as undramatically as it did.