The Embarcadero (San Francisco)
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The Embarcadero is the eastern waterfront roadway of the Port of San Francisco, San Francisco, California, along San Francisco Bay. It sits atop an engineered seawall on reclaimed land.
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[edit] History
San Francisco's shoreline historically ran south and inland from Clarke's Point below Telegraph Hill to present-day Montgomery Street and eastward toward Rincon Point, enclosing a cove named Yerba Buena Cove. As the city grew, the cove was filled. Over fifty years a large offshore seawall was built and the mudflats filled, creating what today is San Francisco's Financial District. The San Francisco Belt Railroad, a short line railroad for freight, once ran along The Embarcadero.
During the early-20th century when the seaport was at its busiest and before the construction of Bay Bridge, the plaza in front of the Ferry Building was one of the busiest areas of foot traffic in the world; only Charing Cross Station in London and Grand Central Station in New York City were busier. 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. In the earliest days, a maze of cable car tracks terminated here, servicing the ferry commuters. These were eventually replaced by a loop for several streetcar lines.
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 to container shipping, which moved most shipping to Oakland, led to further decline. Automobile transit efforts led to the Embarcadero Freeway being built in the 1960s. This improved automobile access to the Bay Bridge, but detracted aesthetically from the city. For 30 years, the highway divided the waterfront and the Ferry Building from downtown. It was torn down in 1991, after being severely damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.
After the freeway had been cleared, massive redevelopment begun as grand palm-lined boulevard was created, squares and plazas were created and/or restored, and the Muni N and F lines were extended to run along it.
The N line goes to 4th and King Streets (at AT&T Park and the Caltrain terminal) and the F line now goes to Fisherman's Wharf. The Market Street Railway is also planning a new ‘E’ line to run up the Embarcadero, past the wharves, to Aquatic Park.
A sculpture, "Cupid's Span" by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, was built in 2003 along the Rincon Park area. Resembling cupid's bow and arrow with the arrow implanted in the ground, the statue symbolizes the place where Tony Bennett "left his heart".
Starting in late 2006, there have been regular demonstrations along the Embarcadero protesting the National Park Service granting the contract for Alcatraz cruises to Hornblower Yachts, which had resulted in 55 employees being sacked for belonging to a union[citation needed]. There have been protests spanning three months and several demonstrations with nearly 1,000 participants[citation needed].
[edit] Subway station
Embarcadero Station, a BART and Muni Metro subway station, is located at the foot of Market Street, one block from The Embarcadero. While not in the original system plans, the area had become quite busy at the time of the BART construction. The late addition is the reason for the station's distinctive design.
[edit] Embarcadero Center
The Embarcadero Center consists of four large (30-45 story) buildings and the Vaillancourt Fountain, at Justin Herman Plaza and Four Embarcadero Center, 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.
[edit] Regional note
There is also an Embarcadero (street and waterfront area) in Oakland, California.
