Page 688 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - USA

686  C ALIFORNIA

ones can be seen in Jackson 2 Wells Fargo
and Montgomery Streets. History Museum
Standing adjacent is a soaring
San Francisco landmark, the Map F3. 420 Montgomery St.
Tel (415) 396-2619. @ 1, 12, 15, 42.
Transamerica Pyramid. Capped  Montgomery St. Open 9am–5pm
with a spire on top of its 48 Mon–Fri. Closed public hols. 7 =
stories, it reaches 853 ft (260 m) ∑ wellsfargohistory.com
and is the tallest building in the
city. Its 3,678 windows take Founded in 1852, Wells Fargo
cleaners an entire month to & Co. became the greatest
wash. Designed by William banking and transportation
Pereira, the building stands on company in the West. The com-
what was earlier the site of the pany moved people, goods,
historic Montgomery Block, gold, and mail. The Pony Express
which contained many was one of their mail ventures.
important offices. Many artists The museum displays splendid
and writers took up residence in stagecoaches – famous for the
Transamerica Pyramid, the tallest building the block, including the writer legendary stories of their heroic
on the city’s skyline Mark Twain, who often visited drivers and the bandits who
the Exchange Saloon, located robbed them. The best-known
1 Financial District in the building’s bandit was Black Bart,
basement. Farther who left poems at
Map F3. Between Washington &
Market Sts. @ 1, 12, 15, 32, 42, 83. south, 555 the scene of
v F, J, K, L, M, N.  California St. California his crimes.
Embarcadero Center: @ 1, 32, 42. Street was He was later
v J, K, L, M, N.  California St. originally the identified as
Bank of Italy, the mining
San Francisco’s economic engine founded by A.P. engineer Charles
is fueled by the Financial District, Giannini in San Boles. Exhibits
lying at the heart of downtown. Jose, and then the include a simulated
The district stretches from the former head- A splendid old stagecoach at the stagecoach ride,
imposing skyscrapers and quarters of Bank of Wells Fargo Museum Pony Express mail,
plazas of the Embarcadero America. Its 52 photographs, gold
Center to staid Montgomery floors make it one of the city’s nuggets, and the imperial
Street, called the “Wall Street tallest skyscrapers, with currency of the eccentric
of the West.” All the main banks, incredible views from the top. Joshua Norton, who proclaimed
brokers, and law offices are At the district’s northeastern himself Emperor of the United
located here. corner lies the Ferry Building, States in 1854.
Completed in 1981 after a built in 1903. In the early 1930s,
decade of construction, the vast over 50 million passengers a
Embarcadero Center stretches year passed through here, to 3 Yerba Buena
from Justin Herman Plaza to and from the transcontinental Center for the Arts
Battery Street and houses a railroad in Oakland or homes
large number of commercial across the bay. Its clock tower Map F3. 3rd St, between Mission
outlets and offices. A shopping was inspired by the Moorish & Howard Sts. Tel (415) 978-2700.
arcade occupies the first three bell tower of Seville Cathedral in @ 9, 14, 15, 30, 45, 76. v J, K, L,
tiers of its four high-rise towers. Spain. With the opening of the M, N. Center for the Arts Galleries &
The splendid foyer of the Hyatt Bay Bridge in 1936, it began to Forum: Open noon–8pm Thu–Sat,
noon–6pm Wed & Sun. Closed public
Regency Hotel, located here, deteriorate. A few ferries still hols. & (free noon–8pm 1st Tue of
has a 17-story atrium. cross to Tiburon, Sausalito, and month). ^ 7 = - Children’s
North of Washington Street, Oakland. On the building’s east Creativity Museum: n 221 4th St
the Jackson Square Historical side stands the Gandhi (415) 820-3320. Open 10am–4pm
District was once the heart of Monument (1988). Designed Wed–Sun. Closed Dec 25. & 7
the business community. by K.B. Patel and sculpted by = ∑ ybca.org
Renovated in the early 1950s, Z. Pounov and S. Lowe, it bears
this area contains brick, cast- an inscription of Gandhi’s words. The construction of the
iron, and granite façades dating underground Moscone Center,
from Gold Rush days. From P Transamerica Pyramid San Francisco’s largest venue
1850 to 1910 it was known as 600 Montgomery St. Open 8:30am– for conventions, heralded the
the Barbary Coast, notorious 4:30pm Mon–Fri. Closed public beginning of ambitious plans
for its brothels and squalor. hols. 7 for Yerba Buena Gardens, now
Today, the buildings are used P 555 California Street the Yerba Buena Center for the
as showrooms, law offices, and 555 California St. Open Only the first Arts. New housing, hotels,
antique shops; some of the best floor is open to the public. museums, and shops have
For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp710–12 and pp713–15

686-687_EW_USA.indd 686 11/2/16 2:49 PM
Eyewitness Travel LAYERS PRINTED:
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Date 1st October 2013
Size 125mm x 217mm