Fisherman's Wharf | |
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 Fisherman's Wharf sign | |
  Fisherman's Wharf Location within Central San Francisco | |
| Coordinates:37°48′30″N122°24′56″W / 37.80833°N 122.41556°W /37.80833; -122.41556 | |
| Country | United States |
| State | California |
| City | City and County of San Francisco |
Fisherman's Wharf is aneighborhood andtourist attraction inSan Francisco, located in the northern part of the city's waterfront. TheAquatic Park Historic District is often considered to be part of Fisherman's Wharf, though some neighborhood descriptions treat it as a separate area.[1][2] Historically a working fishing port which also hadseafood restaurants that were a draw to outsiders, the fishing docks declined during the 1960s and 1970s while tourist development became dominant.[3]
Most narrowly, the name Fisherman's Wharf describes the "tourist trap" area on the waterfront along Jefferson Street and adjacent streets, as well asPier 39.
More broadly, it refers to the larger neighborhood north of Bay Street, spanning fromPier 35 and the intersection ofThe Embarcadero and Bay Street westward to Hyde Street and Aquatic Park,[2] or further west toVan Ness Avenue, which runs parallel to the high wall separating the area fromFort Mason. The neighborhood lies to the north ofRussian Hill,North Beach, andTelegraph Hill. To the southeast beyond Pier 35, theSan Francisco Waterfront is continued by theNorth Waterfront district.[2]
The Fisherman’s WharfCommunity Benefit District, a local business association, defines the area more narrowly, defining the area as spanning from the intersections of The Embarcadero and North Point Street and Powell and Bay Streets west- and northward to Columbus Avenue and Aquatic Park, with an extension along a strip of Beach Street that includesGhirardelli Square, as far west as Van Ness Avenue.[4][5]
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In 1884,[6] the first state-owned Fisherman's Wharf was built at the foot ofUnion Street,[7] jutting out from the shore on a north by northeast angle, comprising a long narrow rectangle about 450 feet long and 150 feet wide, with an entrance along the leeward eastern side.[8]
In 1900, the state of California set aside the waterfront between the foot of Taylor and Leavenworth streets for commercial fishing boats.[9]
Despite its redevelopment into a tourist attraction during the 1970s and 1980s, the area was still home to many active fishermen and their fleets.
In 2010, a $15 million development plan was proposed by city officials hoping to revitalize its appearance for tourists, and to reverse the area's downward trend in popularity among San Francisco residents.[10][11][needs update]
One of the busiest and well known tourist attractions in the western United States, Fisherman's Wharf is best known for being the location ofPier 39, the Cannery Shopping Center,Ghirardelli Square, aRipley's Believe it or Not museum, theMusée Mécanique,Madame Tussauds, and theSan Francisco Maritime National Historical Park.
Seafood restaurants are plentiful in the area, including the floatingForbes Island restaurant at Pier 39 to stands that serve freshseafood. Some of the restaurants, including Fishermen's Grotto, Pompei's Grotto andAlioto's, go back for three generations of the same family ownership. Other restaurants include chains likeApplebee's andBubba Gump Shrimp Co. The area also has anIn-N-Out Burger; local business leaders said they opposed every other fast food chain except In-N-Out, because they wanted to maintain the flavor of family-owned, decades-old businesses in the area, with one saying locals would ordinarily "be up in arms about a fast-food operation coming to Fisherman's Wharf," but the family-owned In-N-Out "is different."[12]
Other attractions in Fisherman's Wharf area are theHyde Street Pier (part of the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park), theUSSPampanito, adecommissionedWorld War IIsubmarine, and theBalclutha, a 19th-century full-rigged cargo ship. Nearby Pier 45 has a chapel in memory of the "Lost Fishermen" of San Francisco andNorthern California.
On November 13, 2023, theSkyStar Wheel began operations in Fisherman's Wharf after spending three years in the nearbyMusic Concourse withinGolden Gate Park.[13][14] Its opening coincided with the 2023Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.[13]
There is asea lion colony next to Pier 39. They "took-up" residence months before theLoma Prieta earthquake in 1989. The sea lions lie on wooden docks that were originally used for docking boats.
Fisherman's Wharf plays host to many San Francisco events, including a firework display on theFourth of July and some of the best views of theFleet Week air shows featuringThe Blue Angels.
TheUSSPampanito (SS-383) and theLiberty shipSSJeremiah O'Brien areNational Historic Landmarks, preserved as a memorial andmuseum ships as part of theSan Francisco Maritime National Historical Park located near the Wharf.
Although the Fisherman's Wharf area is best known primarily for tourist attractions and tourist-oriented businesses, the southern and eastern portions of the neighborhood contain residential areas and neighborhood businesses. The NorthPoint development, consisting of a shopping center and several blocks of apartment buildings, is located along North Point and Bay Streets from Mason to Stockton Street.[15] The area also included the Northpoint Theatre, which operated from 1967 to 1997. It had one of the largest screens in the city at the time and was selected byGeorge Lucas for early screenings ofAmerican Graffiti,Star Wars, andThe Empire Strikes Back.[16][17][18][19]
The original Cost Plus Imports store, which later expanded into theWorld Market chain, was located at Taylor and Bay Streets and was a significant draw to the area for tourists and locals alike.[20][21][22] It served as the company'sflagship store during the company's early decades. The location was later reduced in floor size and shut down entirely in 2020.[citation needed]Tower Records operated a flagship store at Bay Street and Columbus, and was an iconic location in San Francisco for many years before the store's closing along with the rest of the Tower Records chain in 2006.[23]Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has its world headquarters at the foot of Van Ness Avenue across from Aquatic Park and also operates another office building at 100 North Point Street near The Embarcadero.[citation needed]
One of the campuses of theart schoolAcademy of Art University is located on Stockton Street between Beach and North Point Streets, one of a number of locations around San Francisco where Academy of Art conducts classes.[citation needed] In 2019,University of California, San Francisco acquired the 2001 The Embarcadero building as a gift. It is currently refurbishing the building and is planning to use it as an office space for its some of its administrative departments.[24]
The area is served by several lines of historiccable cars andstreetcars run by theSan Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni). The Powell / Hyde cable car line has its northern terminus atAquatic Park, while that of the Powell / Mason cable car line is Bay and Mason Streets. The cable cars journey over Russian andNob Hills and have their southern terminus at Powell andMarket Streets in downtown San Francisco. The cable cars have served the area for many decades, with the Powell / Mason line dating to 1888, while the Powell / Hyde line was added in 1957 after the decline of several older cable car routes elsewhere in the city.
In 2000, Muni added several lines ofheritage streetcars as part of a larger redevelopment of The Embarcadero. These were theE Embarcadero of andF Market lines which routed from Fisherman's Wharf through the northern Embarcadero, from the southern Embarcadero and Market Street, respectively. E Embarcadero service was terminated in 2020 during theCOVID-19 pandemic, and as of 2025, it has not been revived. There are ongoing plans to extend the streetcar lines through an old tunnel running underneath Fort Mason and extend the streetcar lines out to the Fort Mason piers near theMarina District.
Muni also runs its several regular bus routes to the area, and Fisherman's Wharf is the northern terminus for several crosstown routes.
TheBlue & Gold Fleet offers ferry service fromPier 39 to theSausalito Ferry Terminal. Until the early 2020s, more extensive ferry service ran fromPier 41, with service to destinations likeTiburon,Angel Island, andVallejo.
The 1939 film,Fisherman's Wharf is an early example of a film set in this area. Numerous other films have used Fisherman's wharf as a filming location, notably, the 1962film noirExperiment in Terror and the 1985James Bond filmA View to a Kill.[25] Fisherman's Wharf was also a frequent location for the 1970s police drama television seriesThe Streets of San Francisco.
The cover photos forVan Dyke Parks' music albumClang of the Yankee Reaper (1976) were taken byEd Thrasher at Fisherman's Wharf.
37°48′30″N122°24′56″W / 37.80833°N 122.41556°W /37.80833; -122.41556
| Culture | |
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| Geography | |
| Public art | |
| Transportation | |
| Downtown |  | |
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| North of Downtown | ||
| Outside Lands | ||
| Western Addition | ||
| Southern | ||
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