San Francisco Northern Waterfront Tour

AN HISTORIC JOURNEY INTO THE PAST
OF SAN FRANCISCO'S NORTHERN WATERFRONT

The past is rich here and it's fabled history is far
more fascinating than the what one might
gather from the proliferation of souvenir shops
selling overpriced plastic goods made in China

Before the crowds, the tour buses, before the hotels and the shops, there was a
working waterfront, where San Franciscans made their living in blue collar industries
made possible because of the city's location, and access to the sea, to shipping and
fisheries. We will explore this maritime past and examine the romanticized lives of
the men and women who lived what might be considered today to have been very a
difficult existence. Yet for many, they traveled half way around the world just for
the opportunity.

We'll take a look at Ghiradelli Square, not the mall and the hotel but the chocolate
factory and woolen mills of yore but they too were only recent transplants. Before
the Europeans there were people here who lived harmoniously with the land and
they too made their living here at the waterfront but their lives couldn't have been
more different from the colonizers that followed. For hundreds of years their
villages and the abundant bay were hidden from voyaging explorers in sailing ships
just a few miles out to sea.

Some more highlights that we will explore:

-The San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park
-The Maritime Museum/ Dolphin/ South End Swim Clubs
-The Argonaut Hotel
-Hyde Street Pier, where the ships docked or in storage include:
-The Balclutha (1866), C.A. Thayer, Eureka, Alma, Hercules, Eppleton Hall,
and over one hundred smaller craft.
-We won't just look at ships in the harbor but we'll board them
-We don't just discuss history we'll interact with it
-An historic “walk” along the water’s edge near a Yelamu village
-History of the DelMonte company in San Francisco and canning at the wharf
-See the world famous Musee Mechanee
-We will discuss the first fishermen of the wharf, Chinese immigrants
-Find out why Italian fishermen had green sails and sang Verdi while they sailed
-See the USS Pampanito and USS Jeramiah O'Brien
-Time for lunch, sample the world famous Crabs or hearty clam chowder
-Onward past Pier 39 towards Pier33 and the Alcatraz Landing