Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco, California
Encyclopedia
Fisherman's Wharf is a neighborhood and popular tourist attraction
Tourist attraction
A tourist attraction is a place of interest where tourists visit, typically for its inherent or exhibited cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, or amusement opportunities....

 in San Francisco, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. It roughly encompasses the northern waterfront area of San Francisco from Ghirardelli Square
Ghirardelli Square
Ghirardelli Square is a landmark with shops and restaurants in the Fisherman's Wharf area of San Francisco, California, USA. A portion of the area is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Pioneer Woolen Mills and D. Ghirardelli Company....

 or Van Ness Avenue east to Pier 35 or Kearny Street. The F Market
F Market
The F Market & Wharves line is one of several light rail lines in San Francisco, California. Unlike the other lines, the F line is operated as a heritage streetcar service, using exclusively historic equipment both from San Francisco's retired fleet as well as from cities around the world...

 streetcar runs through the area, the Powell-Hyde cable car
San Francisco cable car system
The San Francisco cable car system is the world's last permanently operational manually operated cable car system, in the US sense of a tramway whose cars are pulled along by cables embedded in the street. It is an icon of San Francisco, California...

 lines runs to Aquatic Park
San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park
The San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park is located in San Francisco, California, USA. The park includes a fleet of historic vessels, a visitor center, a maritime museum, and a library/research facility...

, at the edge of Fisherman's Wharf, and the Powell-Mason cable car line runs a few blocks away.

History

Fisherman's Wharf gets its name and neighborhood characteristics from the city's early days during the Gold Rush
Gold rush
A gold rush is a period of feverish migration of workers to an area that has had a dramatic discovery of gold. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, Brazil, Canada, South Africa, and the United States, while smaller gold rushes took place elsewhere.In the 19th and early...

 where Italian
Italian people
The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...

 emigre fishermen settled in the area and fished for the Dungeness Crab. From then until present day it remained the home base of San Francisco's fishing fleet. Despite its redevelopment into a tourist attraction during the 1970s and 1980s, the area is still home to many active fishermen and their fleets.

Attractions and characteristics

One of the busiest and well known tourist attractions in the western United States, Fisherman's Wharf is best known for being the location of Pier 39
Pier 39
Pier 39 is a shopping center and popular tourist attraction built on a pier in San Francisco, California. At Pier 39, there are shops, restaurants, a video arcade, street performances, an interpretive center for the Marine Mammal Center, the Aquarium of the Bay, virtual 3D rides, and views of...

, San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park
San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park
The San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park is located in San Francisco, California, USA. The park includes a fleet of historic vessels, a visitor center, a maritime museum, and a library/research facility...

, the Cannery Shopping Center, Ghirardelli Square
Ghirardelli Square
Ghirardelli Square is a landmark with shops and restaurants in the Fisherman's Wharf area of San Francisco, California, USA. A portion of the area is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Pioneer Woolen Mills and D. Ghirardelli Company....

, a Ripley's Believe it or Not museum, the Musée Mécanique
Musée Mécanique
The Musée Mécanique is a for-profit interactive museum consisting of 20th-century penny arcade games and artifacts located at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco, California...

, the Wax Museum at Fisherman's Wharf, Forbes Island and restaurants and stands that serve fresh seafood
Seafood
Seafood is any form of marine life regarded as food by humans. Seafoods include fish, molluscs , crustaceans , echinoderms . Edible sea plants, such as some seaweeds and microalgae, are also seafood, and are widely eaten around the world, especially in Asia...

, most notably Dungeness crab
Dungeness crab
The Dungeness crab, Metacarcinus magister , is a species of crab that inhabits eelgrass beds and water bottoms on the west coast of North America. It typically grows to across the carapace and is a popular seafood...

 and clam chowder
Clam chowder
Clam chowder is any of several chowders containing clams and broth. Along with the clams, diced potato is common, as are onions, which are occasionally sauteed in the drippings from salt pork or bacon. Celery is frequently used. Other vegetables are uncommon, but small carrot strips might...

 served in a sourdough
Sourdough
Sourdough is a dough containing a Lactobacillus culture, usually in symbiotic combination with yeasts. It is one of two principal means of biological leavening in bread baking, along with the use of cultivated forms of yeast . It is of particular importance in baking rye-based breads, where yeast...

 bread bowl. Some of the restaurants, like Pompei's Grotto and Alioto's #8, go back for three generations of the same family ownership. Nearby Pier 45 has a chapel in memory of the "Lost Fishermen" of San Francisco and Northern California
Northern California
Northern California is the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. The San Francisco Bay Area , and Sacramento as well as its metropolitan area are the main population centers...

.

Other attractions in Fisherman's Wharf area are the Hyde Street Pier
Hyde Street Pier
The Hyde Street Pier is a historic ferry pier located on the northern waterfront of San Francisco, California, amidst the tourist zone of Fisherman's Wharf....

 which is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area
Golden Gate National Recreation Area
The Golden Gate National Recreation Area is a U.S. National Recreation Area administered by the National Park Service that surrounds the San Francisco Bay area. It is one of the most visited units of the National Park system in the United States, with over 13 million visitors a year...

, the USS Pampanito
USS Pampanito (SS-383)
USS Pampanito , a Balao-class submarine, was a United States Navy ship, the only one named for a variety of the pompano fish . She completed six war patrols from 1944 to 1945 and served as a Naval Reserve Training ship from 1960 to 1971...

, a decommissioned
Ship decommissioning
To decommission a ship is to terminate her career in service in the armed forces of her nation. A somber occasion, it has little of the elaborate ceremony of ship commissioning, but carries significant tradition....

 World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 era submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...

, and the Balclutha
Balclutha (1886)
Balclutha, also known as Star of Alaska, Pacific Queen, or Sailing Ship BALCLUTHA, is a steel-hulled full rigged ship that was built in 1886. She is the only square rigged ship left in the San Francisco Bay area and is representative of several different commercial ventures, including lumber,...

, a 19th century cargo ship.

Fisherman's Wharf plays host to many San Francisco events, including a world-class fireworks display for Fourth of July, and some of the best views of the Fleet Week
Fleet Week
Fleet Week is a United States Navy, United States Marine Corps, and United States Coast Guard tradition in which active military ships recently deployed in overseas operations dock in a variety of major cities for one week. Once the ships dock, the crews can enter the city and visit its tourist...

 air shows.

One of the city's most popular figures is a harmless but controversial resident of Fisherman's Wharf called the World Famous Bushman
World Famous Bushman
David Johnson, also known as the World Famous Bushman, is a homeless man who has been scaring passers-by along Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco since 1980. His current act began after he tried dressing as a robot but found there were too many others doing the same thing. Johnson hides...

, a local street performer who sits behind some branches and startles people who walk by. He has gained notoriety during the 30 years he has been doing this.

In 1985, the wharf was used as a filming location in the James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...

 film A View to a Kill
A View to a Kill
A View to a Kill is the fourteenth spy film of the James Bond series, and the seventh and last to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Although the title is adapted from Ian Fleming's short story "From a View to a Kill", the film is the fourth Bond film after The Spy Who Loved...

, where Bond (played for the last time by Roger Moore
Roger Moore
Sir Roger George Moore KBE , is an English actor, perhaps best known for portraying British secret agent James Bond in seven films from 1973 to 1985. He also portrayed Simon Templar in the long-running British television series The Saint.-Early life:Moore was born in Stockwell, London...

) met with CIA agent Chuck Lee (David Yip
David Yip
David Yip is an English actor.Yip, of Asian and English descent, was born in Liverpool and trained at East 15 Acting School, London...

) in his quest to eliminate the villain of the film Max Zorin
Max Zorin
Max Zorin is a fictional character and the main antagonist in the James Bond film A View to a Kill. He was portrayed by Academy Award winner Christopher Walken...

 (Christopher Walken
Christopher Walken
Christopher Walken is an American stage and screen actor. He has appeared in more than 100 movies and television shows, including Joe Dirt, Annie Hall, The Deer Hunter, The Prophecy trilogy, The Dogs of War, Sleepy Hollow, Brainstorm, The Dead Zone, A View to a Kill, At Close Range, King of New...

).

See also

  • Hyde Street Pier
    Hyde Street Pier
    The Hyde Street Pier is a historic ferry pier located on the northern waterfront of San Francisco, California, amidst the tourist zone of Fisherman's Wharf....

     old automobile ferry site made obsolete by the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges
  • 49-Mile Scenic Drive
    49-Mile Scenic Drive
    The 49-Mile Scenic Drive in San Francisco highlights many of the city's major attractions and historic structures.Opened on September 14, 1938 as a promotion for the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition, it...

  • Fisherman's Wharf
    Fisherman's Wharf
    Fisherman's Wharf may refer to:*Fisherman's Wharf, Monterey, California, a historic fishing wharf in Monterey, California*Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco, a tourist destination and still-functioning wharf, in San Francisco, California...

    s in other places
  • F Market
    F Market
    The F Market & Wharves line is one of several light rail lines in San Francisco, California. Unlike the other lines, the F line is operated as a heritage streetcar service, using exclusively historic equipment both from San Francisco's retired fleet as well as from cities around the world...

    , the San Francisco Municipal Railway
    San Francisco Municipal Railway
    The San Francisco Municipal Railway is the public transit system for the city and county of San Francisco, California. In 2006, it served with an operating budget of about $700 million...

     historic streetcar linking the Wharf to Market Street
  • Pier 39
    Pier 39
    Pier 39 is a shopping center and popular tourist attraction built on a pier in San Francisco, California. At Pier 39, there are shops, restaurants, a video arcade, street performances, an interpretive center for the Marine Mammal Center, the Aquarium of the Bay, virtual 3D rides, and views of...

  • Musée Mécanique
    Musée Mécanique
    The Musée Mécanique is a for-profit interactive museum consisting of 20th-century penny arcade games and artifacts located at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco, California...


External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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