Embarcadero Skyway - SF Walking Tour

Website: http://www.sfcityguides.org/desc.html?tour=15
Date: August 13, 2017 Sunday 2PM
Rating: 4 out 5 Stars
Tour Duration: Around 1.15 hours. We finished around 3.15
Walking difficulty: Not much of a walk, this is prolly the shortest for me.
Feedback:

• Quite interesting that there is such an "urban oasis" in the Embarcadero Center Area. Seems like  a Sky Garden/Bridge connecting various buildings. Really nice.

Bently Reserve, Formerly Federal Reserve Bldg

400 Sansome Street

If you go thru the side street and take the stairs, you can see the back of this building, and you can notice that the Portico is actually not attached to the building.  This was actually annexed later.  Early 90s Boston properties bought is as part of Embarcadero and added the portico.

 This is actually a thing about two things about SF's preservation laws: 

1. Anything added can't touch the original building
2. can't pretend to be like the originals

Urban Oasis

John Portman considered this like an Urban Oasis, unfortunately, water doesn't flow thru the fountain now.

Landmark Theatre
Use to call it Rockefeller west (Landmark Theates). Not all buildings have same height. Embarcadero center. Theater build in mid 90s. They have to let people thru the lobby if they are open because it is a public space

Maritime Plaza
For Alcoa.   It was Avant garde because brazes were outside, same as John Hancock Building in Chicago. People revolted because of adding the horizontal braces on the side.

Punchline
It used to be Waldorf - comedy club;  80s was purchased by Bill Graham

Gateway Commons, used to be called Golden Gateway Commons
In  67 when idea of keeping people together than spread out. it is called the gateway (used to be called golden gateway) Used to be low income housing!

Heart of the Barbary coast - any vice can be met. So bad that police wouldn't even enter. 1911 cleaned the town. They move to broadway (chinatown). Became a produce district

The Tulip Tower

Hyatt Lobby

Website and Description below: http://www.sfcityguides.org/desc.html?tour=15

Embarcadero Skyway

Neighborhood: Embarcadero Center

Please Note:

Our free (donations welcome!), regularly scheduled tours are open to the public but NOT open to parties of 8 or more. If you plan to bring 8 or more walkers to a regular tour, please click here for more information on booking private group tours.

Description:

Take flight (sort of)! Most of the tour is above the ground. View "Rockefeller Center West" from a different angle and discover a hidden urban oasis. Tread on buried ships that once housed saloons, jails, stores and brothels.

Next Tour:

Saturday, September 9 at 2:00 pm given by Alex Streczyn-Woods

Notes:

Not advised for mobility-impaired. Tour includes multiple stairs and possibly an escalator. Elevators are available along only 2 small segments of the tour route, but are some distance from the tour route. Paving tiles are slippery when wet.

Future tours:

This tour is also scheduled on those dates in the calendar below (after the map) where the tour time is indicated (in red). You can advance to future months by clicking the >> symbol in the calendar title.

Location:

Meet in front of 400 Sansome Street (at Sacramento). Lots of stairs; wheelchairs not advisable.