Posts Tagged With: San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park

San Francisco, February18, Saturday

This is Presidents Weekend and the tourist areas were busier than the previous two days. Still mainly sunny and people were out enjoying the day. We upped our touristy quotient by visiting the Fishermans Wharf area. We took an Uber up to the San Francisco National Maritime Museum Historical Park area and walked around for an hour and half since we got here at 9 and many places were not yet open for business. We walked and sat and enjoyed the morning. For us, it was a more relaxed pace than usual, with a mid-morning pastry break and an early afternoon ice cream break.

People and scenery watching were good. Besides the usual joggers, bikers, and walkers, there were about half a dozen people swimming in the water off the cove by the old Aquatic Bathhouse. A few sailboats were in the water, we did see more by the middle of the afternoon. Several guys were out selling fresh caught crabs to anyone who was interested. The sea lions were entertaining a crowd at Pier 39.

As a side note, there is a much higher percentage of people here wearing face masks. Interestingly, when you see a couple of people together, one might have a mask while one does not. There is also a very high percentage of people obeying the “Walk, Don’t Walk” lights. I guess there are not any visitors from Boston or D.C. here.

We only visited the two buildings associated with the National Park Service’s San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park. One building was based in an old cannery and had the bulk of the exhibits and videos-but no bookstore. The exhibits told the story of San Francisco from its sea perspective. The vast majority of new arrivals came by boat; land routes were practically non-existent and the railroads came at least 20 years after the gold rush. Even after railroads arrived, San Francisco had a western perspective with trade to China, Japan, Alaska a major economic driver.

The exhibits demonstrated how various sections of San Francisco were tied to different economic drivers, such as lumbering, fishing, ship building, cargo handling, etc. Historic vessels are available to be examined. New technologies kept disrupting the status quo but San Francisco has managed to thrive.

Among others, we discovered: how rivers feeding into San Francisco Bay allowed travel far into central California; how the gold rush led to numerous ships being abandoned in the harbor as sailors went searching for gold and the ships sank to the bottom and today lie beneath the buildings of the Financial District; and how container ships pushed cargo from San Francisco to other cities like Oakland and San Diego that had more land available to store the containers until loaded onto railroads.

The second NPS building was the renovated Aquatic Park Bathhouse. Built by the WPA during the period before WWII, it has had a sorry history. The city leased the building to private casino operators rather than making it open to the public. WWII saw the facility used as headquarters for various military groups. After the war, part of the building was used as a senior center but much of it sat vacant until a maritime museum was established in the building. In 1998 the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park was established and the museum in the old Aquatic Park Bathhouse was added to the park.

The NPS has renovated part of the building with more to be accomplished. The murals constructed by WPA artists gleam. Models of various types of ships are enclosed in glass cases. A highlight of their display is the 19 foot sailboat Mermaid used by 23 year old Kenichi Horie in 1962 for the first solo voyage from Osaka to San Francisco. He left Japan in secrecy but was a hero by the time he made it to San Francisco. Horie went on to make numerous solo voyages. In 2022 at age 84, he made the trip from San Francisco to Japan becoming the oldest man to sail solo non-stop across the Pacific.

The cable car was our transportation option to get home. At $8 per ride per person, it seems to be mainly used by tourists. There was a long line to get on the Powell Hyde line and a transit ambassador helped us navigate the way to the Powell Mason line that also goes to Fishermans’s Wharf. The wait here was much shorter. There was a service glitch and the line could not bring one all the way to the downtown end but would end in Chinatown. This was great for us, Chinatown is basically where our hotel is.

We went to church at Old St. Mary’s Cathedral in Chinatown. All during the service we heard Chinese music playing on the sidewalk outside the church. The pastor happened to be in the back of the church when we arrived and in talking to him, found out he used to live in Minneapolis when he was the pastor of the Newman Center at the University of Minnesota.

Dinner was Italian at Mangia Tutti, not far from our hotel. Everyone working there seemed to be family members. Good food.

Ed and Chris, San Francisco, February 18.