Experience History in a Transient City

View of the Golden Gate Bridge from atop Coit Tower
Photo by Dominique Boubion

By Dominique Boubion

I walked 300 steps up a wooden staircase, passing lush greenery, Hell’s Bells and roses of green blue and red, passing by small $2 million dollar homes tucked away like tree houses from my childhood fantasies, and I passed San Franciscans getting a work out on the uncharacteristically balmy afternoon day, and I passed by tourists like me, burning the excessive calorie intake that comes with vacationing, and trudging onward for the reward of a 360 degree view of San Francisco from 495 feet above, atop Coit Tower.

At the foot of Coit Tower, there is 180 degree view of the bay that is partially obstructed by trees and so it is worth the seven dollars to ascend the extra 210 feet in a small elevator, fit snugly with tourists from as far as France, and then, finally, to ascend another 37 steps up the spiral staircase to the tip of the cylindrical concrete tower. The Coit Tower was built to memorialize a wealthy and eccentric socialite named Lillian Coit. As we would say, she was a woman ahead of her times; but at the dawn of the 20^th century, she was criticized for wearing trousers, gambling and smoking cigars. She left a third of her money to the city to beautify San Francisco and four years after her death in 1929 the tower was erected.

From the top, you can see the Golden Gate Bridge to the East, the Bay Bridge to the West and all of the organized blocks of San Francisco in between, hues of white and beige with green bushy trees sprinkled through. Just before the bay bridge, you can see a small building with a large narrow tower at the center of it– although hardly discernible from Coit Tower, the Ferry Plaza was no small feat for San Francisco from it’s conception in 1892 to it’s finishing in 1898. The Ferry Building official website points out that six hundred and sixty feet of arcades supported an entirely steel framed structure that survived both of San Francisco’s major earthquakes and was the largest foundation over water anywhere else in the world, and at the time, was the largest project the city had taken on. The large narrow tower is the 245 foot clock tower, designed by Arthur Brown (the same architect who designed the Ferry Plaza and Coit Tower) was fashioned after a 12^th century bell tower in the Seville Cathedral in Spain, which once chimed the Westminster Quarters over 50,000 passenger boarding the ferries in the hayday of the Ferry Plaza, until it became obsolete in 1936 after the completion of the bay bridges.

The loud hum of hundreds of voices combined can once again be heard inside the Ferry Plaza today, as it now attracts 25,000 customers weekly to the Farmers Market every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. On this Saturday, thousands of people were coming and going to shop for locally grown organic vegetables and fruit, artisan breads baked in 1930’s Spanish brick ovens by the Acme Bread Company of Berkeley, offering a choice Pain au Levain, Walnut Levain, all shapes and sizes of Sourdough, Italian Bread, Olive Bread, Sweetdough, Fougasse, poppy seed covered Challah and Citrus Almond Brioche. Long lines form for a hot cup of coffee grown in Sidamo and Yirgacheffe of Ethiopia, Minas Geraise of Southeaster Brazil, Guatemala and Rwanda, and brought through the port of Oakland. The high price does not deter anyone: $2.75 for a small cup of coffee. Because of it’s popularity, Blue Bottle Coffee Company is stationed at three different places around the market, making individually prepared coffee with organic beans roasted not more than 48 hours before a warm, strong cup of coffee, albeit small and expensive, enters your hands.

Photo by Dominique Boubion

Photo by Dominique Boubion

Before my trek to Coit Tower, 2 miles away, I sat at the bench on the edge of the bay enjoying a coffee served in a biodegradable cup and a Korean Egg Sandwich from the Japanese restaurant vendor Namu: an omelette, made with free range eggs, stuffed with organic and handpicked crunchy carrots and cabbage, with chorizo sandwiched between two slices of french toast, slathered with kewpie, a japanese mayonnaise made of egg yolks. While I decided whether it was a brilliant contort of a traditional egg sandwich, or total mayhem and a waste of $8.50, I found it difficult to choose the latter as a four man steel-drum band named the Kittitians performed jovial reggae tunes. If I didn’t already know I was on vacation their music reminded me so.

Before making the 2 mile trek to Coit Tower, I disposed of my cup and plate in the proper compostable trash can. Blue, green and black trash cans are all over San Francisco with specific instructions of what belongs in each trash can to ensure that trash is properly disposed because it is the law to separate recyclables and compostable from regular trash in San Francisco. It is the only city in the United States which mandates this. Already 72% of waste has been reduced and, according to NPR, is aiming for zero waste by 2020. The Ferry Plaza, with its blue, green and black trashcans dotting the parameter, is witnessing another prodigious feat a century later.