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| Landmark #328 | San Francisco County | Visited: February 23, 2013 | Plaque? NO. 🙁 |
| What is it? | Nothing but Commercial Street! |
| What makes it historical? | THE GUIDE SAYS: In the spring of 1848, the old Central or Long Wharf was built “from the bank in the middle of the block between Sacramento and Clay Streets, where Leidesdorff Street now is, 800 feet into the Bay.” After 1850 it was extended 2,000 feet and the Pacific mail steamers and other large vessels anchored there. Central or Long Wharf is now Commercial Street.
OTHER TIDBITS: During the Gold Rush, tons of ships were pulling into San Francisco, and they needed somewhere to go! Lots of them were just pulling in and getting converted into buildings, like the Niantic Hotel. So the Legislative Assembly of the District of San Francisco passed an act authorizing a Central Wharf and Joint Stock Company of San Francisco, which had the rights for the next 99 years to build and maintain a wharf for these ships! The land was purchased from the firm of Mellus and Howard and built about 400 feet to the Bay. Named for Central Wharf in Boston, the new wharf was beseiged with business! It got so busy that whatever didn’t sell got thrown into the Bay, and some of it is probably still buried under the land used to extend the reach of the San Francisco peninsula! |
| How can I Help the Helpers? | HERE’S HOW:
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| Where is this place? | LISTED DIRECTIONS: Intersection of Leidesdorff and Commercial Sts San Francisco, CA 94111 ANNOTATIONS: From Los Angeles: ~380mi (612km) — 6.4hrs |
| When should I go? | Whenever the mood strikes you! |