On the Waterfront

The neighborhoods that lie along San Francisco's waterfront have fabulous views and utterly different personalities. Kitschy, overpriced Fisherman's Wharf struggles to maintain the last shreds of its existence as a working wharf, while Pier 39 is a full-fledged consumer circus. The Ferry Building draws well-heeled locals with its culinary pleasures, firmly reconnecting the Embarcadero to downtown. And the area between the Ferry Building and Pier 39, once a maritime no-man's land, is filling in a bit—especially between Pier 33, where the perpetually booked Alcatraz cruises depart, and Pier 39—with a waterfront restaurant here and a restored pedestrian-friendly pier there.

Today's shoreline was once Yerba Buena Cove, filled in during the latter half of the 19th century when San Francisco was a brawling, extravagant gold-rush town. Jackson Square, now a genteel and upscale corner of the inland Financial District, was the heart of the Barbary Coast, bordering some of the roughest wharves in the world. Below Montgomery Street (in today's Financial District), between California Street and Broadway, lies a remnant of these wild days: more than 100 ships abandoned by frantic crews and passengers caught up in gold fever lie under the foundations of buildings here.