 The Embarcadero photographed from southeast, with theFerry Building to the right andAlcatraz Island in the distance | |
 Interactive map of The Embarcadero | |
| Maintained by | San Francisco DPW |
|---|---|
| Nearest metro station |   Embarcadero station |
| Southeast end | Second Street / King Street |
| Major junctions | |
| Northwest end | Pier 45 |
Central Embarcadero Piers Historic District | |
| Location | Piers 1, 1½, 3 and 5, The Embarcadero San Francisco,California |
| Coordinates | 37°47′55″N122°23′49″W / 37.7986°N 122.3969°W /37.7986; -122.3969 |
| Area | 6.6 acres (2.7 ha) |
| Built | 1918 |
| Architectural style | Beaux Arts |
| NRHP reference No. | 02001390[1] |
| Added to NRHP | November 20, 2002 |
The Embarcadero (Spanish for "Embarkment") is the eastern waterfront ofPort of San Francisco and a major roadway inSan Francisco,California, United States. It was constructed onreclaimed land along a three mile long[2] engineeredseawall, from which piers extend into the bay. It derives its name from theSpanish verbembarcar, meaning "to embark";embarcadero itself means "the place to embark." TheCentral Embarcadero Piers Historic District was added to theNational Register of Historic Places on November 20, 2002.[1]
The Embarcaderoright-of-way begins at the intersection of Second and King Streets nearOracle Park, and travels north, passing under theSan Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge. The Embarcadero continues north past theFerry Building atMarket Street,Pier 39, andFisherman's Wharf, before ending atPier 45. A section of The Embarcadero which ran betweenFolsom Street and Drumm Street was formerly known as East Street.
For three decades, until it was torn down in 1991, theEmbarcadero Freeway dominated the area. The subsequent redevelopment and restoration efforts have, according to theNational Trust for Historic Preservation, "contributed to a remarkable urban waterfront renaissance", with the Embarcadero Historic District serving as a "major economic engine for the Bay Area".[3]
San Francisco's shoreline historically ran south and inland fromClark's Point belowTelegraph Hill to present-dayMontgomery Street and eastward toward Rincon Point, enclosing an inlet namedYerba Buena Cove. As the city grew, the cove was filled. Over fifty years a large offshoreseawall was built and the mudflats filled, creating what today is San Francisco'sFinancial District.TheSan Francisco Belt Railroad, ashort line railroad for freight, ran along The Embarcadero; itsformer enginehouse has been preserved. The roadway follows theseawall, a boundary first established in the 1860s and not completed until the 1920s.
During the early-20th century when the seaport was at its busiest and before the construction of theBay Bridge,Pier 1,Pier 1½,Pier 3 andPier 5 were dedicated chiefly to inland trade and transport. These connections facilitated the growth of communities in theSacramento- andSan Joaquin Valleys and fostered California's agricultural business.[citation needed] Today, these piers comprise theCentral Embarcadero Piers Historic District. TheDelta Queen docked at Pier 1½, ferrying people between San Francisco andSacramento. There was once a pedestrian footbridge that connected Market Street directly with the Ferry building and a subterranean roadway to move cars below the plaza.[citation needed]
DuringWorld War II, San Francisco's waterfront became a military logistics center; troops, equipment and supplies left the Port in support of the Pacific theater. Almost every pier and wharf was involved in military activities, with troop ships and naval vessels tied up all along the Embarcadero.
However, after the completion of the Bay Bridge and the rapid decline of ferries and the Ferry Building, the neighborhood fell into decline. The transition tocontainer shipping, which moved most shipping toOakland, led to further decline. Automobile transit efforts led to theEmbarcadero Freeway being built in the 1950s. This improved automobile access to theBay Bridge, but detracted aesthetically from the city. For 30 years, the freeway divided the waterfront and theFerry Building from downtown. It was torn down in 1991, after being severely damaged in the1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.
After thefreeway had been cleared, massive redevelopment began as a grand palm-lined boulevard was created, squares and plazas were created and/or restored, andMuni'sN Judah andT Third Street andF Market & Wharves lines were extended to run along it, with the N and T lines going south from Market Street to Fourth and King Streets (atOracle Park and theCaltrainstation) and the F line going north from Market toFisherman's Wharf. The Muni also relaunched the ‘E’ line which was historically a seasonal service connecting Fishermans' Wharf to the Caltrain Depot, the line now operates weekends between Jefferson and Jones adjacent Fisherman's Wharf and Fourth and King streets near the Caltrain terminus.
The sidewalk along the waterfront betweenChina Basin and Fisherman's Wharf[4] was named "Herb Caen Way..." after the death of celebrated local columnistHerb Caen in 1997. The three dots, orellipsis, deliberately are included in honor of columnist Herb Caen'sPulitzer Prize winning writing style.
A large public sculpture,Cupid's Span, byClaes Oldenburg andCoosje van Bruggen, was installed in 2002 along theRincon Park area. ResemblingCupid's bow and arrow with the arrow implanted in the ground, the artists stated that the statue was inspired by San Francisco's reputation as the home port of Eros, hence the stereotypical bow and arrow of Cupid.[5][6]
In 2016, the Embarcadero was named on thelist of "11 Most Endangered Historic Places" in the US by theNational Trust for Historic Preservation, citing "the dual natural threats of sea-level rise and seismic vulnerability" to the seawall.[2]
Embarcadero Station, aBART andMuni Metrosubway station, is located at the foot of Market Street, one block from The Embarcadero. While not in the original transit system plans, it has become the most highly trafficked BART station.[citation needed] As it is aninfill station, the design is unique among theMarket Street subway.
Embarcadero Center consists of four 30- to 45-story buildings and theHyatt Regency San Francisco, located between the Ferry Building and the foot of Market Street. Until 2001, there was a viewing deck on top of the Embarcadero Center. During the winter holidays, the edges of all four buildings are illuminated, the effect resembling the outlines of four giant books on a shelf.
At the eastern end of Market Street is Embarcadero Plaza, opened in 1972 and originally named Justin Herman Plaza, forM. Justin Herman, head of theSan Francisco Redevelopment Agency from 1959 to 1971.
Right along the Embarcadero Center is the Embarcadero YMCA, the city's flagship branch of a group of a dozen locales. The center features the uniqueYouth Chance High School, an alternative high school that is a magnet for troubled students from throughout the Bay Area.
The Embarcadero area was the test site for one of the most famous experiments in urban planning education, when in 1978 renowned architecture and planning theoristChristopher Alexander - famous for his "pattern language" - took his students from theUniversity of California Berkeley to the site with the aim of reimagining it as something that would grow organically over time. The results were published in 1987 as the bookA New Theory of Urban Design (1987).[7]
The Embarcadero seawall is over a century old, originally constructed between 1878 and 1916, and is in need of upgrades in order to ensure its integrity in the event of a major earthquake.[8] As of February 2018[update] thePort of San Francisco, theSan Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, and several other departments are partnering to deliver a project to upgrade the seawall and adjoining public spaces. The project is expected to cost at least $2 billion, and the city successfully passed a ballot measure to issue $425 million in bonds to finance part of the project in November 2016.[9][10]
Media related toThe Embarcadero (San Francisco) at Wikimedia Commons| Downtown |  | |
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| North of Downtown | ||
| Outside Lands | ||
| Western Addition | ||
| Southern | ||
| See also | ||
