San Francisco’s original eastern shoreline did not look as it does today. In 1835 the area consisted of a cove and was the site of the City’s first settlers. As people surged into the City after the discovery of gold in the Sierra foothills, hundreds of ships were abandoned in the cove. They were a prominent feature of the shoreline until 1850 when the cove was filled and the ships buried. 

Jasper O’Farrell (1817–1875) was born in Ireland. He was educated in Dublin and moved to London, then Chile, arriving in San Francisco in 1843. He found work with the Mexican government surveying Marin, Sonoma and San Francisco (still known at the time as Yerba Buena). His map focused on the land between Post, Mason, Green and Bay: the Barbary Coast^[1]. He helped name streets and created the “grand promenade” that would eventually become Market Street^[2]. This area became the cornerstone of the City’s Financial District (or FiDi, as my daughter Katie and those of her generation call it). Until the early 2000’s, all the City’s skyscrapers were located in FiDi. It remains the epicenter of the City’s corporate headquarters, law firms, insurance companies, real estate firms and financial institutions. 

The City’s first high-rise office building were built on Market. While the area was destroyed in the 1906 Earthquake and Fires^[3], these buildings survived. Business buildings built after the earthquake were low-rise masonry-clad buildings ranging from 6-12 stories due to earthquake fears. But in the 1930s several new high-rises were built, including the 25-story Standard Oil Building at 225 Bush, the 26-story Pacific Telephone Building at 140 New Montgomery, and the 28-story Shell Building at 100 Bush^[4]. The skyline remained the same until 1980 when earthquake engineering allowed for the construction of the 52-story Bank of America Headquarters (now known as 555 California)^[5] and the 48-story TransAmerica Pyramid^[6]. Public outcry at the dramatic change to the City skyline ultimately led to building restrictions on high-rise construction within FiDi, and skyscraper construction moved from FiDi to South of Mission.

Every New Years Eve, from the 1940s – 1990s, employees would toss their calendar pages out their FiDi office windows, making a spectacular ticker-tape effect. This was when skyscrapers still had windows that opened. But I think the most unique event to take place in the FiDi every year is the birth of peregrine falcons at the top of the 34 story PG&E Building at 77 Beale. Peregrine falcons were once an endangered species, though there are now over 300 pairs of this species in California. They have been nesting on the PG&E Building since 2004. Four eggs are laid and fertilized every February or March, and the male and female take turns sitting on the eggs for over a month. Once the eggs hatch, it takes about 12 weeks before the hatchlings are able to fly. A live webcam allowed anyone to follow their progress, but sadly, when PG&E sold their building in May 2021 to a real estate developer, the camera was turned off.

^[1] Barbary Coast: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=3823 

^[2] Market Street: story coming July 26th 

^[3] 1906 Earthquake and Fires: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=2849 

^[4] Shell Building: story coming March 18th

^[5] Bank of America Building: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=3302

^[6] TransAmerica Pyramid: story coming April 25th