Physical Context: the Waterfront

With the removal of the elevated Embarcadero Freeway following the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, public sentiment quickly grew for San Francisco to "take back the waterfront," an idea that fit well with real estate development plans for the obsolete maritime facilities that characterize the north and east shoreline. That reclamation is well underway by this time, with several award-winning rehabilitation projects completed, others in the planning stages, and a National Register District nomination pending to protect the area’s historic significance.

However, if the true historic character is to be preserved, it is important to recognize that this waterfront was originally walled off decades before the unlamented 1950s freeway structure was put in place—that the earlier barrier was an instrument of class prejudice—and that current preservation actions are in danger of reinforcing that same bias.

Let's examine the historic evolution of the built environment of the San Francisco waterfront, and current understanding of its preservation. First, since the terminology of the waterfront and its structures is no longer familiar to the general public, (partially as a result of historic actions) it may be helpful to provide some definitions:

• Pier—a structure built generally perpendicular to the shoreline providing a platform for mooring vessels and handling cargo on or off the ship.

• Wharf—a structure similar in function to a pier, but built generally parallel to the shoreline

• Apron—the open periphery of a pier or wharf, unenclosed space used for circulation of people and goods, and for securing mooring lines

• Bulkhead—in general a wall. In San Francisco, the underlying retaining wall structure that when backfilled created the present shoreline, which is several blocks further into the bay than the natural shoreline

• Longshoreman—a worker who transfers cargo between a vessel and the pier or wharf

• Shape-up—a gathering of men seeking work, held at times and places commonly understood by both workers and employers; also a verb—to shape up, or shape, is to attend a shape-up.

» Historical Context: The Wall