The Embarcadero (Spanish for "Embarkment") is the eastern waterfront of Port of San Francisco and a major roadway in San Francisco, California, United States. It was constructed on reclaimed land along a three mile long engineered seawall, from which piers extend into the bay. It derives its name from the Spanish verb embarcar, meaning "to embark"; embarcadero itself means "the place to embark." The Central Embarcadero Piers Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 20, 2002.
History
thumb|left|upright=1.2|Congressional candidate [[Edward J. Livernash gives a speech at the Pacific Mail Docks on the corner of 1st and Brannan Streets, October 17, 1902]]
San Francisco's shoreline historically ran south and inland from Clark's Point below Telegraph Hill to present-day Montgomery Street and eastward toward Rincon Point, enclosing an inlet named Yerba Buena Cove. Over fifty years, a large offshore seawall was built and the mudflats filled, creating what today is San Francisco's Financial District. The San Francisco Belt Railroad, a short line railroad for freight, ran along The Embarcadero; its former enginehouse has been preserved. The roadway follows the seawall, a boundary first established in the 1860s and not completed until the 1920s.
During the early-20th century when the seaport was at its busiest and before the construction of the Bay Bridge, Pier 1, Pier 1½, Pier 3 and Pier 5 were dedicated chiefly to inland trade and transport. These connections facilitated the growth of communities in the Sacramento- and San Joaquin Valleys and fostered California's agricultural business. Today, these piers comprise the Central Embarcadero Piers Historic District. The Delta Queen docked at Pier 1½, ferrying people between San Francisco and Sacramento. There was once a pedestrian footbridge that connected Market Street directly with the Ferry building and a subterranean roadway.
During World War II, San Francisco's waterfront became a military logistics center; troops, equipment and supplies left the Port in support of the Pacific theater. Almost every pier and wharf was involved in military activities, with troop ships and naval vessels tied up all along the Embarcadero.
However, after the completion of the Bay Bridge and the rapid decline of ferries and the Ferry Building, the neighborhood fell into decline. The transition to container shipping, which moved most shipping to Oakland, led to further decline. Automobile transit efforts led to the Embarcadero Freeway being built in the 1950s. This improved automobile access to the Bay Bridge, but detracted aesthetically from the city. For 30 years, the freeway divided the waterfront and the Ferry Building from downtown. It was torn down in 1991, after being severely damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.
thumb|View of [[Yerba Buena Island, Bay Bridge and the city of Oakland in the distance]]
After the freeway had been cleared, massive redevelopment began as a grand palm-lined boulevard was created, squares and plazas were created and/or restored, and Muni's N Judah and T Third Street and F Market & Wharves lines were extended to run along it, with the N and T lines going south from Market Street to Fourth and King Streets (at Oracle Park and the Caltrain station) and the F line going north from Market to Fisherman's Wharf. The Muni also relaunched the ‘E’ line which was historically a seasonal service connecting Fishermans' Wharf to the Caltrain Depot, on weekends between Jefferson and Jones adjacent Fisherman's Wharf and Fourth and King streets near the Caltrain terminus, however this line was suspended during the Covid-19 pandemic and has not returned to service.
thumb|left|upright=1.2|View from the bay 2007
The sidewalk along the waterfront between China Basin and Fisherman's Wharf was named "Herb Caen Way...<!-- don't remove ellipsis! -->" after the death of celebrated local columnist Herb Caen in 1997. The three dots, or ellipsis, deliberately are included in honor of columnist Herb Caen's Pulitzer Prize winning writing style.
thumb|right|Rincon Park and [[Cupid's Span with the San Francisco skyline and the Embarcadero in the background]]
A large public sculpture, Cupid's Span, by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, was installed in 2002 along the Rincon Park area. Resembling Cupid's bow and arrow with the arrow implanted in the ground, the artists stated that the statue was inspired by San Francisco's reputation as the home port of Eros, hence the stereotypical bow and arrow of Cupid.
In 2016, the Embarcadero was named on the list of "11 Most Endangered Historic Places" in the US by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, citing "the dual natural threats of sea-level rise and seismic vulnerability" to the seawall.
Seawall upgrade and enhancements projects
The Embarcadero seawall is over a century old, originally constructed between 1878 and 1916, and is in need of upgrades in order to ensure its integrity in the event of a major earthquake. the Port of San Francisco, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, and several other departments are partnering to deliver a project to upgrade the seawall and adjoining public spaces. The project is expected to cost at least $2 billion, and the city successfully passed a ballot measure to issue $425 million in bonds to finance part of the project in November 2016.
Gallery
<gallery>
File:Pier 7, the Embarcadero, San Francisco.jpg|Pier 7, the Embarcadero, towards Yerba Beuna island
File:Pier 7, the Embarcadero.jpg|End of Pier 7, towards the Embarcadero and Transamerica Pyramid
</gallery>
See also
- A Trip Down Market Street, a historic film showing the Embarcadero and Ferry Building in 1906