Self-Guided Walking Tour: Travel & Leisure on San Francisco's North Waterfront
If you weren’t able to join us for our 2021 Tour Day walking tour, here’s a simple guide to explore San Francisco’s North Waterfront on your own! The theme of this tour was “Travel & Leisure” so we talked about the neighborhood’s history of swim clubs as well as the private casino at the Aquatic Park Bathhouse (now the Maritime Museum) and other forms of leisure like shopping and dining. The North Waterfront and Fisherman’s Wharf areas are top tourist destinations in San Francisco—but often go forgotten or overlooked by local Bay Area residents. This tour is a chance to explore some fantastic Modern architecture and very interesting adaptive reuse projects by top tier Modernist architects, landscape architects, and graphic designers.
Click on the embedded Google Map above to navigate. Red pins are primary stops on the tour, and blue pins are bonus stops.
Maritime Museum, view north across Beach Street toward Aquatic Park Bathhouse Casino decorated for an event. Source: OpenSFHistory / wnp14.13432.
Stop 1
Maritime Museum (formerly Aquatic Park Bathhouse)
900 Beach Street
The Streamline Moderne style Aquatic Park Bathhouse building (now the Maritime Museum) was designed by architect William A. Mooser III and constructed between 1936 and 1939 under the direction of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the City of San Francisco. Mooser also incorporated the Streamline Moderne style into the design of other Aquatic Park features including three convenience stations, two speaker towers, and the concrete bleachers. Intended by the WPA as a “Palace for the Public,” the building also boasts several important murals, sculptures, mosaics, and other installations by artists working under the Federal Art Program of the WPA, including Hilaire Hiler, Sargent Johnson, Beniamino "Benny" Bufano, Richard Ayer, and John Glut.
Stop 2
Aquatic Park Bleachers
East of Maritime Museum
Known as Black Point Cove before it became Aquatic Park, this area has historically served a combination of industrial and recreational uses. Early factories, including the Pioneer Woolen Mills, were attracted to the area for its protected, natural harbor and the availability of large amounts of water for their industrial processes. At the same time, the area became a popular bathing and swimming spot with commercial baths and swimming clubs. In 1917, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved a plan to establish Aquatic Park at this location. Works Progress Administration (WPA) funding provided the means to develop the waterfront and what is now the Maritime Museum during the Great Depression.
Black Point Cove, c. 1870. Source: NPGallery, San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park.
Stop 3
Fontana Towers
1000-1050 North Point Street
The Fontana Towers were built in 1963-1965 by architects Hammarberg & Herman of Oakland. Built on the site of Fontana Fruit Canning Company warehouses, the project sparked a civic revolt over the "Manhattanization" of San Francisco by residents and preservation architects. This led to a 1964 permanent 40-foot height limit on a 100-block area of the northern waterfront. Each tower is 17 stories with 144 apartments, featuring expansive views, luxury finishes, and shared amenities.
Aquatic Park with view of Aquatic Park Bathhouse, Ghirardelli Square, and Fontana Towers, 1970. Source: OpenSFHistory / wnp25.5333.
Stop 4
Ghirardelli Square
900 North Point Street
Walk along the south side of North Point Street on your way from Fontana Towers to get a good view of the exterior of the Ghirardelli Square block, then make your way into the complex to the Ghirardelli Marketplace in the former Woolen Mills Building. This brick building was built in 1861 by William S. Mooser and was the first woolen mill in California. It was constructed broadside to the shoreline at the time, accounting for its usual angle within the block. The block was purchased by D. Ghirardelli Co., the largest chocolate producer on the West Coast, in 1893, and William S. Mooser II adapted and expanded complex over a period of several decades, creating an innovative, model factory complex.
In 1962, William Matson Roth (of the Matson shipping magnate family) purchased the complex to save the site from redevelopment. Roth hired prominent local designers—including architects Wurster, Bernardi & Emmons and John Matthias, landscape architect Lawrence Halprin, and graphic designer Bobbie Stauffacher Solomon—to adaptively reuse the site as a retail complex with a below-ground garage. Sensitively designed new buildings and new terraced plazas integrate new and historic fabric at this innovative site which was lauded with numerous awards when it was completed, and served as a test case and model for future adaptive reuse projects across the country.
Next, walk east back toward Larkin Street and stop at the fountain. This mermaid sculpture, officially named Andrea, was commissioned in 1966 and installed in 1968. Designed by the notable local artist Ruth Asawa, the sculpture prompted some controversy as the project’s landscape architect Lawrence Halprin objected to its figurative design being “out of character” with the new Modernist landscape, while it was immediately beloved by much of the public.
Be sure to take note of the lighted arched Ghirardelli Square sign as you exit onto Larkin Street—this is one of the few remaining examples of Barbara “Bobbie” Stauffacher Solomon’s contributions to the site. She said that the Clarendon font was more “corny, old San Francisco” than her preferred Helvetica, but recognized the need to be compatible with the historic nature of the site. Sadly, her way finding signs have been replaced, a supergraphic mural covered over, and interiors for HearHear Records removed.
Ghirardelli Square, May 1968. Source: OpenSFHistory.org.
Poster announcing the opening reception for HearHear Records at Ghirardelli Square, c. 1968. Graphic design for the poster and the store’s interiors were done by Bobbie Stauffacher Solomon. Source: Marc Treib Collection, LACMA.
Stop 5
The Cannery
2801 Leavenworth Street
This 1907 brick warehouse building was originally erected by the California Packing Corporation, and at its height produced 200,000 hand-soldered cans of peaches a day. In 1964, the building and its adjacent railroad spur (now a public plaza called “Cannery Street”) was purchased by Leonard Martin, who hired an all-star design team -- consisting of architect Joseph Esherick, graphic designer Marget Larsen, and landscape architect Thomas Church -- to create his vision of a playful, labyrinthine commercial experience within the walls of this historic building. The Cannery opened in 1967 to much acclaim; it was listed as a Structure of Merit by the San Francisco Planning Department in 1968 and received an AIA award in 1970.
The Cannery. Source: Joseph Esherick Collection, Environmental Design Archives, UC Berkeley.
Stop 6
Hyde Park Pier
2905 Hyde Street
A Petaluma resident and maritime history-buff, Karl Kortum, pitched the idea of a Maritime Park and Railroad Museum in 1949 and found support from the mayor and various other agencies that controlled the waterfront. In the 1950s the Maritime Museum (formerly Aquatic Park Bathhouse) and Waterfront became the first State Park in San Francisco. Kortum’s ideas for Aquatic Park (which he called Victorian Park) were far reaching and rooted in a love of history and an interest in the maritime and industrial heritage of San Francisco. His ideas were akin to Disney’s in the creation of a themed, cohesive visitor experience, but predated Disneyland and grew more and more to involve salvage and reuse of historic materials, artifacts, and structures. Kortum’s plan for Aquatic Park influenced the conversation around the heritage of the Northern Waterfront, and impacted the projects of the 1960s and 70s—including Ghirardelli Square and the Cannery.
Karl Kortum in 1963 with a model of his proposed historical park. Source: Maritime State Historical Monument.
BONUS STOPS
We didn’t go further east into the heart of Fisherman’s Wharf during our walking tour, but we did provide a few suggested spots for folks to explore on their own time. There are a number of Modernist restaurant buildings and motels that graced the waterfront—some are still standing, some significantly altered, and some sadly demolished.
