21 People, Places, and Iconic Attractions Reaching Major Milestones in 2023
SAN FRANCISCO, March 8, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- For a city that's a progressive bastion of innovation, San Francisco holds fast to its past and colorful history. It's always evolving, yet always San Francisco. Forward-looking San Franciscans ensured the city's unique character, architecture and natural beauty were preserved while creating a welcoming environment where creativity and invention continue to thrive today.
Several of the city's most iconic attractions are commemorating major milestones in 2023, including Alcatraz, the Ferry Building, the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco's cable cars. Many more cherished arts institutions, restaurants and shops also will celebrate significant anniversaries. Together, they are emblematic of what makes San Francisco a compelling destination.
21 NOTEWORTHY ANNIVERSARIES IN 2023
"DING DING"
San Francisco may be one of the world's most walkable cities, but it's been innovating locomotion for well over a century. The city's public transit fleet is one of the greenest in the nation. Both Uber and Lyft were founded and are headquartered in San Francisco. And Cruise, the self-driving company with an all-electric fleet, became the first to offer commercial "robotaxi" service in a major U.S. city in San Francisco last June.
But it is Scottish immigrant Andrew Smith Hallidie who forever changed the face of the city with the invention of the first cable car in 1873. Now synonymous with San Francisco, the city's cable cars will celebrate 150 years of traversing San Francisco's famed hills in September. They are the only moving national historic landmark in the U.S. First tested on Aug. 2, 1873, cable cars began public service on Sept. 1 of that year. Today, there are three manually operated cable car lines: the Powell-Mason, Powell-Hyde and California Street Cable Cars. Single cable car rides cost $8. Visitors can ride as much as they want with a Visitor Passport, which provides unlimited rides on San Francisco's cable cars, historic streetcars, light rail and buses for one, three or seven days.
Those wanting to learn more about the history of cable cars can visit the free Cable Car Museum in the Washington-Mason Streets Powerhouse. The museum is home to artifacts such as little car #8 – one of the first cable cars to operate in the city.
Riveting Design
Levi Strauss, an immigrant from Bavaria, opened a dry goods company at the height of the California Gold Rush in 1853. Catering to miners and other workers, he recognized the need for clothes built to endure anything. He and tailor Jacob Davis combined copper rivet reinforcements with tough denim, leading to the first manufactured waist overalls 150 years ago. Levi's iconic "blue jeans" would go on to become "the uniform of progress" coveted worldwide. Levi's San Francisco flagship store, located at 815 Market Street, sells new and vintage Levi's clothing.
On the Waterfront
Transformation of San Francisco's downtown waterfront has been continuous since the Gold Rush, but the iconic Beaux-Arts style Ferry Building, which opened in July 1898, has withstood the test of time. It's become a celebrated "culinary cathedral" home to some of San Francisco's most beloved local, farm-driven, and ethnically diverse merchants.
A nexus during the city's heyday as a bustling port city, the Ferry Building has weathered booms and busts. It is one of the few buildings to survive the 1906 earthquake and subsequent fires; by the late 1930s, around 50 million people a year were ferried across the bay. But the debut of the Bay Bridge and Golden Gate Bridge in the mid-1930s dramatically reduced the number of ferry riders, and the building fell into disuse. Then, left in the shadow of the elevated Embarcadero Freeway built in the late 1950s, the Ferry Building was cleaved from the city for over three decades. The freeway was finally removed in 1991 after it was damaged by the 1989 Loma Prieta quake and replaced with a magnificent palm-lined boulevard. Following an extensive four-year restoration and renovation of the Ferry Building, the historic landmark reopened to the public in March 2003 with a new public food market along its interior Nave. The food market complements the renowned, thrice weekly Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, which was established 30 years ago in 1993.
Ahead of the Ferry Building's 125th anniversary this July, new merchants have set up shop in the Ferry Building, joining stalwarts such as Hog Island Oyster Company, Gott's Roadside and Dandelion Chocolate. New merchants in 2022 included artisanal crêpe destination Grande Creperie; Filipino-fusion hotspot Señor Sisig; Arab bakery - Reem's; Turkish bakery Simurgh Bakery; puppy favorite Mishka Dog Boutique; artisan dessert company Yes Pudding, and butchery Fatted Calf. Others that opened there include Fog City Flea Trading Post, which features makers and merchants from the Bay Area, home-town brewer Fort Point Beer Company's beer garden along the Embarcadero, Peaches Patties, a Jamaican catering company that debuted its first outlet in January, and raw, organic juice bar Juice House Co.
The Ferry Building anchors a revitalized waterfront and the Embarcadero promenade. The Embarcadero spans two miles between Oracle Park, where year-round tours of the San Francisco Giants' home are available, and the famous PIER 39 in Fisherman's Wharf, which celebrates its 45th anniversary this year. The Embarcadero has become home to attractions such as The Exploratorium, which moved there in April 2013, and acclaimed restaurants such as One Market, which opened 30 years ago this February. In late 2023, the Ferry Building will begin undergoing more enhancements, with work extending the facility both toward the bay and into the Embarcadero.
The Rock
Before the 22-acre island of Alcatraz opened as a national park site in 1973, it was a fort, a military prison and, for 29 years, a maximum-security federal penitentiary holding notorious inmates such as Al Capone and George "Machine Gun" Kelly. March 21 marks the 60th anniversary of the closing of the infamous prison, while October ushers in Alcatraz's 50th anniversary as a national park site. Located just 1.5 miles off the city's coast, Alcatraz is a place of contradictions, with a grim past and an enduring future as one of San Francisco's most prominent landmarks and tourist attractions. Alcatraz tours tend to sell out during peak periods, but tours can be booked in advance.
To read more about other iconic San Francisco institutions celebrating major milestones this year, visit: https://www.sftravel.com/media/press-release/anniversaries-everywhere-all-once-san-francisco/.
SAN FRANCISCO TRAVEL
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Media Contact
Maddy Ryan, San Francisco Travel Association, (415) 227-2680, [email protected]
Lori Lincoln, San Francisco Travel Association, (415) 227-2603, [email protected]
SOURCE San Francisco Travel Association
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