Patricia Leigh Brown reports on San Francisco’s Ferry Building – once hidden behind the now demolished Embarcadero Freeway and about to be re-opened after major renovation.
Until the Golden Gate Bridge and Bay Bridge eclipsed ferry traffic in the 30’s, the building was the crossroads of San Francisco. From 1885 to 1930, the most direct way to reach the city from points north and east was by water. Over 20 million frenetic commuters and travelers a year hustled up the second-floor gangplanks to waiting rooms, sitting on wooden benches listening for the whistles that would carry them home.