MARKET  STREET A  VIRTUAL  TOUR  FROM  EMBARCADERO  TO  VAN  NESS
Despite how it appears on this page, Market Street does not go "straight up and down."  It's a diagonal, going north-east to south-west, eventually reaching Twin Peaks.
				At the foot of Market Street stands the Ferry Building.  Built in 1898, it was The City's transportation center in the days before the bridges were built.  Today, it houses an upscale food mall.
The much-hated Embarcadero Freeway loomed here for decades. It was demolished in 1991, leaving a beautiful, tree-lived avenue.
				Market does not actually reach The Embarcadero, at least not as a drivable street.  Justin Herman Plaza lies in between.
Not everyone likes the industrial-themed Vaillancourt Fountain, but it features two catwalks that allow visitors to walk through it without getting wet.
				Now part of the One Market complex, the old Southern Pacific Building has been a Market Street landmark since 1916.
The Hyatt Regency's innovative (some would say bizarre) lobby design has appeared in many movies.
The end of the line for the California St Cable Car line is right in front  of the Hyatt main entrance.
				People who have more money than you do: The Federal Reserve Bank.
Despite its California Street address, One California is a prominant fixture on Market Street.
				Two old buildings that have become more-or-less one:  The Matson Building and PG&E Headquarters.
101 California is basically a tall glass tube on stilts.
				333 Market's late-seventies design contrasts sharply with PG&E Headquarters, across Beale Street.
Pointy on one end, round on the other, 388 Market's appearence changes drastically, depending which way it's viewed,
The asymmetrical shape of Shaklee Terraces makes it very distinctive.
				425 Market, another Market Street skyscraper.  It was built in 1973.
The Donahue Monument (named after the guy who paid for it) stands at the edge of Mechanics's Plaza
				The Central Plaza complex is at the corner of Market & Fremont Streets.
Erected in 1929, the Shell Building is one of the older skyscrapers in the Financial District.
				525 Market, also known as First Market Tower.
One Bush Street is an unusual structure: tall rectangular part in the back, short round part in the front.
				40-story Chevron Tower was built in 1975 in the same style as its shorter neighbor from 1964.  Both buildings used to be owned by Standard oil.
This flatiron-style building is appropriately named the Flatiron Building.
The Citicorp Center consists of two very different components: The temple-like structure from 1910, and the tower, added in 1964.
				One of the most recogniz-able buildings in the downtown area, 595 Market's banded windows create alternating black and white stripes around this six-sided skyscraper.
The Hobart Building is dwarfed by the L-shaped 44 Montgomery behind it.
				The clock atop 33 New Montgomery can be seen from blocks away. Tucked in at the corner is the Bank of America Building from 1907.
McKesson Plaza, a 38-story office building,  occupies the corner where the old Crocker Building once stood.  On the sidewalk in front is the Native Sons Monument.
				The Palace Hotel was originally built in 1873.  After the 1906 earthquake and fire destroyed it, it was rebuilt. President Warren G Harding died here in 1923.
The Old Chronicle Building is undergoing renovation, removing that white metal siding to reveal the original 1889 brickwork underneath. Lotta's Fountain, also recently restored, stands nearby.
				Built almost immediately after the 1906 quake, the Monadnock Building has been here ever since.
				The Hearst Building was once home to The San Francisco Examiner.
The 1902 Mutual Savings Bank building, with its 1964 add-on.
			Cental Tower started life as the ornately-domed Call Building.  A 1938 remodeling eliminated the dome.  (A century ago, this intersection was known as Newspaper Corners, with  the Chronicle, Examiner and Call offices each on their own corner.)
The Banker's Investment Building, which first appeared in 1912.
The onetime Union Trust Building, now one of many owned by Wells Fargo.
Currently the Armani store, this "temple" started out as the Savings Union Bank.
			The Four Seasons is one of the first hotels built in the new millenium.
The wedge-shaped Phelan Building, one of several flatiron-style buildings on Market Street.
			Unlike Central Tower, the Humboldt Savings Bank building still has its dome.
The former Roos Brothers store, this building now houses a Virgin Megastore, as well as Cody's Books.
			Ross ("Dress for Less")
The Apple store is a  mecca for technogeeks.
			The new Palomar Hotel, situated in the century-old Pacific Building.
Another flatiron:  California Savings, also known as the West Bank Building.
			The James Bong Building, once known as the Commercial Building.
The venerable Flood Building.  Onetime host to Owl Drug, then Woolworth's, and today, The Gap.
			The Emporium closed in 1996, after more than a century.  In the Fall of 2006, Bloomingdale's will open in a new building that retains the Emporium's facade and dome.
The Powell Street cable car turntable, seen on thousands of postcards.
One Powell was a Bank of America branch for decades.  Currently it's a Forever 21 clothing store.
			The San Francisco Shopping Centre, anchored by Nordstrom.
The area between Powell and Cyrill Magnin was turned into Hallidie Plaza in 1973. The plaza also has a small annex on the other side of Cyrill Magnin.
			Long forgotten, Hale Brothers Department Store once was a major player.  Today, Copeland Sports occupies the bottom floor.
The onetime Mechanics Savings Bank building currently stands empty.
			West of Fifth Street, the neighborhood begins to take a downturn, as illustrated by these two rundown shops.
The Hotel Metropolis, formerly the Oxford.
McDonald's Bookshop: "A dirty, poorly-lit place for books" is their motto.
The Dean Building (another flatiron) features a graffiti mural on one side and Discount Sportswear of the other.
			The St. Francis Theater.   Opened in 1910.  Closed in 2001.
			Two of the several "loft buildings" in this neighborhood, so called because the upper floors are open lofts with large windows facing the street.
The Egyptian Theatre eventually became the Crazy Horse Gentleman's Club.  Meanwhile, the Warfield Theater remains next door.
			One Sixth Street.  An updated exterior disguises that it was built in 1910.
The Golden Gate Theater, one of San Francisco's premier live theater venues.
			The fairly nondescript Delger Building.
Another flatiron: The San Christina Building (shouldn't that be Santa Christina?)
			The beautiful-but-decaying  Eastern Outfitting Co. building.
			Play Fascination. Some sort of carnival-style game.
			City Souvinirs: "Gee, Martha!  Look at all the swell bargains!"
Once the Anglo California Trust Company, now a check cashing joint.
The Hibernia Bank building, built in 1892.  Another beautiful building left to rot.
			Yet another strip club: Market St Cinema. Note also the several "bargain" stores surrounding.
Flatiron hotel:  The Hotel Renoir (formerly the Shaw)
			Merrill's Drugs.  Closed.
			The Grant Building (1905)
			Oddfellows Hall, with the TRUTH mural on its side.
			And yet more "bargains" at Bargain Bee!
The two blocks between Seventh and Hyde were turned into UN Plaza in 1975.  (The United Nations charter was originally signed at the nearby War Memorial Opera House.) The fountain was added in 1977. UN Plaza is also the site of the Farmers Market on Wednesdays and Sundays.
			The Strand Theater. Longtime hangout of "the homeless and the strange."  Extremely closed.
The Orpheum Theater.  Another of San Francisco's first-rate stage venues.
A corner of the new Main Library.
			Not much interesting down here...
And now a snall corner of Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, built during the 1915 Panama Pacific Internation Exposition.
Fox Plaza:  An ugly apartment building from the 1960s.
			This building has been the Bank of America Computer Center, but I just read that they're about to move out, so never mind!
			...and that's about it!  We covered just shy of two miles.  I hope your feet didn't get too sore.
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