y: the U.S. Court of Appeals building.
If you're visiting San Francisco, consider following the trail of the 1906 earthquake, and starting with the old post office building, now housing a U.S. Court of Appeals, at Seventh & Mission streets in downtown San Francisco, as pictured here in a 1905 postcard. Photo is courtesy of the National Park Service.
In the heart of downtown San Francisco, at Seventh and Mission streets, the Court of Appeals building was completed in 1905 as a federal courthouse and post office and is on the National Register of Historic Places. A quick tour inside reveals walls and columns of marble from Vermont and Maryland, as well as Italy and North Africa; rich mahogany from Mexico and East India; and local California redwood.
The courthouse was spared extensive damage in the 1906 quake and fire, so it was restored pretty quickly. The 1989 Loma Prieta temblor did, however, badly damage the building. Luckily for visitors today, the U.S. General Services Administration chose to restore it to its former glory, and actually retrofitted it to withstand future temblors, by putting an innovative base-isolation system beneath it.
After your quick tour, step back outside and walk a few blocks up Market Street toward Union Square, which was leveled in the 1906 quake, but was quickly rebuilt and became the city's premier shopping district. Today, Union Square hosts a multitude of hotels and restaurants at varying price levels (though none are very cheap), and boutique and department stores galore. If you can afford it, it's a good place to stay, as it is close to everything.
On the way, though, grab a map of the city at the San Francisco Visitors Center near the Powell Street BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) station (a couple blocks shy of the square) the start of the Powell/Hyde and Powell/Mason cable car lines. Hop aboard one of San Francisco's famed cable cars, which will take you to Fisherman's Wharf, via Union Square.
The cable cars nearly lost out to streetcars following the earthquake, as you learn at the Cable Car Museum. The quake damaged the 30-year-old cable car system, and the advent of the streetcar and the trolley bus (both popular modes of transportation in the city) led to the system's near demise by the 1940s. In 1947, the city voted to save the three lines that are still running today.
San Francisco's famed cable cars are worth the fare just to experience a century-plus-old tradition, but they're also a good way to get from downtown to Fisherman's Wharf, as pictured here, and back. Stop by the Cable Car Museum atop Nob Hill for a look at the history of the system. Photo courtesy of Friends of the Cable Car Museum.
If you're going to be walking the city for the day or for several days, get a single- or multi-day pass it will save you money and a lot of huffing and puffing as you try to navigate the city's notorious hills.
In the shadow of one famous hill, Nob Hill, lies Chinatown, a fascinating look at the Gateway to the East and some good, inexpensive food as well. Atop Nob Hill are the Cable Car Museum and some of the most expensive hotels and mansions in the city, only two of which survived the 1906 quake and fire, including the Flood Mansion (now the exclusive Pacific-Union Club, not open to the public) and the exquisite Fairmont Hotel, which was gutted by the fire.
Get back on the cable car (or walk, if you are ambitious) down Nob Hill toward Russian Hill. Atop Russian Hill, along Hyde Street, tourists can jump off the Powell/Hyde cable car and wander down Lombard Street, called the "crookedest street in the world," past stately Victorian mansions. Keep going on Lombard until you reach Columbus Street, and you'll find some fantastic dining in North Beach, San Francisco's Little Italy.
North Beach is also where you'll find the beginnings of the Bank of America,
and another important stop along the earthquake trail. As geologist Lisa Rossbacher
wrote in a July 2005 Geotimes column, owner A.P.
Giannini saved the Bank of Italy from the inferno by filling a horse-drawn wagon
with $2 million in gol