Category: Embarcadero..
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The Embarcadero Ribbon
The Embarcadero The Ferry Building, built in 1898, sits at the foot of Market Street. In 1953, San Francisco proposed the Embarcadero Freeway that was to connect the Bay and Golden Gate Bridges. Construction started at the Bay Bridge end; after 1.2 miles of freeway were built, neighborhood organizations began to gather and oppose the…
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Embarcadero Interpretive Signage and Walkway
The Embarcadero Waterfront Transportation Project Historic and Interpretive Signage Program * * * * * This interpretive signage program was created in 1996 and covers 2.5 miles of the Embarcadero. The project includes 22, 13 foot high posts, vertical history stations and bronze inlays. these metal black-and-white-striped pylons are imprinted with photographs, stories, poetry in…
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The 1852 Shoreline
162 King Street South Beach Here is a map of San Francisco prior to 1852. In this map Townsend is the western-most street on the waterfront, one block northwest of King Street. Thanks to Found SF and the Oakland Museum, you can see what the area looks like today: If you are interested in more information…
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Rammaytush
These plaques run along the south side of King Street, between the Caltrain station and AT&T Park. There are 104 of them embedded in the sidewalk. On them are engraved all of the known words of a language called Rammaytush. The Rammaytush language is one of the eight Ohlone languages, historically spoken by the…
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Lou Seal at ATT Park
* * Lou Seal is the official mascot of the San Francisco Giants. “Born” on July 25, 1996, Luigi Francisco Seal has been a regular part of the Giants baseball team since then. The name is a play on the name “Lucille.” Todd Schwenk, an Oakland Athletics Fan, named the mascot in a KNBR Sports…
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The Embarcadero – Sea Change
The Embarcadero Sea Change by Mark di Suvero At Pier 40 on the lawn near the baseball park is this giant sculpture, that you can see from blocks away. Constructed in 1995 it is 70 feet tall and weights 10 tons. The circular top moves with the wind. Marco Polo “Mark” di Suvero is an American…
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Embarcadero – Hills Brothers Coffee Drinker
2 Harrison Street The Embarcadero * This is the Hills Brothers Coffee Drinker. He is located at 2 Harrison Street in the plaza of the original Hills Brothers Coffee Building. This sculpture was created by a dear friend of mine Spero Anargyros. (1915- 2004) Spero finished this sculpture in 1992. It is a 9′ tall bronze…
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Cupid’s Span
Embarcadero Foot of Folsom Street Cupids Span Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen 2002 This is the artists statement regarding this piece: “Inspired by San Francisco’s reputation as the home port of Eros, we began our project for a small park on the Embarcadero along San Francisco Bay by trying out the subject of Cupid’s stereotypical…
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Electrified Earth
The Embarcadero Electrified Earth by Jill King The Cool Globes project came to San Francisco, set up in Crissy Field, in 2008. Cool Globes: Hot Ideas for a Cooler Planet, is a public art exhibition designed to raise awareness of solutions to climate change. Cool Globes grew out of a commitment at the Clinton Global…
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The Embarcadero – Aurora
The Embarcadero Aurora by Ruth Asawa Ruth Asawa is an American artist, who is nationally recognized for her wire sculpture. Ruth, at the age of 16, along with her family, was interned in Rohwer camp in Rohwer, Arkansas at a time when it was feared the people of Japanese descent on the West Coast would…
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Honoring the Workers
Corner of Mission and Steaurt An Injury to One is an Injury to All – The rallying cry of the Wobblies. That is the name of this sculpture found on the corner of Spear and Mission Streets, San Francisco. The brass plaque that accompanies it reads “In memory of Howard Sperry and Nick Bordoise, who gave…
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A Toast to the French on the Embarcadero
1-21 Mission Street The Embarcadero Hippolite d’ Audiffred gave San Francisco this Second Empire, Parisian Style masterpiece. In 1850, Audiffred left his native France for Vera Cruz, Mexico. By 1865, French-appointed Maximillian, Emperor of Mexico, was making it difficult to be French in Mexico, so Audiffred loaded all of his belongings onto a donkey and…
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Poetry of Pier 14
Pier 14 Waterfront/Embarcadero This 637-foot-long pedestrian span opened in 2006. It is the newest recreational pier on the San Francisco waterfront. The reason it exists is the breakwater on which it rests, a shield for ferries from winter storms; the design, by ROMA Design group was to top the pier with a 15-foot-wide corridor of…
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Boats on the Bay – Pier 14
Pier 14 The Embarcadero Titled “Boats on the Bay,” the project was designed and created by students of the Build San Francisco Institute . These simplistically drawn, colored tiles depict tugboats, cruise liners, and military ships. The Architectural Foundation of San Francisco has created the Build San Francisco Institute, a half day high school program…
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Art at One Market Street
1 Market Street The Embarcadero San Francisco has many laws regarding open space and art work. This piece sits just inside the doors of 1 Market Street. Both pieces of this installation are available to view through the windows, or are available to see up close between 7:00 am and 6:30 pm. This installation is…
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Mahatma Gandhi and the Controversies
Ferry Building Foot of Market Embarcadero This statue of Mahatma (Mohandas) Gandhi is by Zlatko Paunov. Presented to the City of San Francisco by the Gandhi Memorial International Foundation, it sits on the water side of the Ferry Building. Its location is intentional, as to honor Gandhi’s “Salt March to the Sea” Its objective is…
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The Abraham Lincoln Brigade
Justin Herman Plaza Embarcadero American Lincoln Brigade Memorial Painted Steel, Onyx, Concrete and Olive Trees In 1936, General Francisco Franco led a military uprising to overthrow the elected government of Spain. Forty thousand people went to Spain to fight for democracy. The 2,700 Americans who joined the fight were known as the Abraham Lincoln…
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The Embarcadero and The San Francisco Bay Trail
The Embarcadero The San Francisco Bay Trail is a bicycle and pedestrian trail that will eventually allow continuous travel around the shoreline of San Francisco Bay. As of 2011, approximately 310 miles of trail have been completed. Twenty six miles of the trail lies in the City of San Francisco one half of which is…
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Vaillancourt Fountain
Vaillancourt Fountain – the controversy in Justin Herman plaza – San Francisco. This fountain has been the center of controversy since the day it was installed. Created by Armand Vaillancourt in 1971, it is actually entitled “Québec libre!” It is representative of the relationship between Vaillancourt’s art and his political convictions. It is a huge…
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Movement – The First 100 Years
Embarcadero Center Susan Bierman Park Drumm Street Movement: The First 100 Years – by Man Lin Choi The First 100 Years, is also known as the Korean Monument. It was created to symbolize the bond between our two countries. On May 22, 1983, the sculpture was donated to the City and County of San Francisco by…
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The Electric Sun Wall
Pier 15 Embarcadero The Electric Sun Wall, along the south side of Pier 15, references a modified schematic of the museum’s complex photovoltaic energy system. The design elegantly expresses what’s going on behind the ten-foot wall of half-inch-thick steel plates, where photovoltaic energy gathered from the museum’s solar panels is converted into usable electricity.…
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Sun Swarm at the Exploratorium
Pier 15/17 The Embarcadero San Francisco’s Exploratorium has moved to a new and much bigger location. This new location is allowing lots of outdoor exhibits that anyone can enjoy without paying the entry fee. This fun piece is titled Sun Swarm and is by Chris Bell. According to the Exploratorium’s website: This is an elevated…
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Fog Bridge #72494
Piers 17-19 Embarcadero The Fog Bridge sits to the right of the new Exploratorium very near the entrance and was designed by Fujiko Nakaya. Nakaya’s fog installation stretches across the 150-foot-long pedestrian bridge that spans the water between Piers 15 and 17. Water pumped at high pressure through more than 800 nozzles lining the bridge…
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Have a seat at Pier 7 in San Francisco
Pier 7 Embarcadero Bay Bench by Steve Gillman in 1996 Sunset Red Granite and Bronze These two identical sunset red granite benches with curved bronze grill insets, are reminiscent of ship’s hatch covers. Steve Gillman received a BA from San Francisco State College and and MFA in sculpture from the University of Oregon. His work is…
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Levi Plaza Brings the Sierras to San Francisco
1155 Battery The Embarcadero In 1982, the Haas family (heirs to Levi Strauss) were looking to build a new corporate campus for the Levi Corporation. They called upon Lawrence Halprin to design the plaza for the campus. While prolific, Halprin is best known for Sea Ranch in California and the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial in Washington D.C. Sometimes referred to as…
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The Embarcadero Belt Railroad Engine House
The Embarcadero Belt Railroad Engine House Lombard, Sansome and the Embarcadero According to the National Park Service: The State Belt Railroad of California was a shortline that served San Francisco’s waterfront until the 1990s and played an important role in World War II. Its tracks extended the length of the Embarcadero from south of Market…
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Skygate
The Embarcadero Skygate by Roger Barr This is not the first time, and I am sadly sure, it will not be the last, when researching an artist I find the information in their obituary. The San Francisco Chronicle carried Roger Barr’s obituary on January 14, 2000 and it was so eloquent I will simply repost…