As I wander through different areas of San Francisco, I wonder about what has shaped our city. Apart from topography, our past has had the largest influence on the outcome. Once constructed, it’s hard to erase the built memories. The majority of the city is laid out in a grid, even though there are 16 different versions. Eventually the roads starting growing in contours around hills, but the grid has been shaped on several layers of history. Everything is dependent on what came before. I’ll go through each stage in more detail in subsequent posts, but here’s a teaser.
2nd Street Cut, via sfist.com
Part 1, The Hills:
The original plans for the city involved leveling hills and filling the bay. The grid was pursued relentlessly over the peaks of downtown. Rincon and Irish Hills were mostly flattened, and the 2nd Street cut tore through SOMA. As San Francisco grew, we had fewer choices to build out, with higher hills to conquer, and curved routes uphill became the norm.
Islais Creek, via bendeannet.jpg
Part 2, Water:
Downtown Portsmouth Square was built along the water, as was North Beach. Fill from extinct hills made new land. Ships left by gold miners are covered by foundations of skyscrapers. But the grid also gave way to once large bodies of Mission and Islais Creeks, as well as the marsh lands along the eastern shore.
Cal Train Tunnel, via Funston on Flikr
Part 3, Trains:
Many competing companies had various routes into and through the city. Following creeks and lowlands, burrowing through hills, ignoring the grid in search of a level path. Large blocks of land were created in the bayshore, and SOMA. Rights of way still exist through Fort Mason and along the Marina. Trains and shipping helped make San Francisco the city it is, but their life here is almost over.
Embarcadero Freeway, via foundsf.org
Part 4, Highways:
Roads were widened along existing pathways, only higher and faster. Acting like large walls, cutting off neighborhoods along their once main axes. A large network was imagined for San Francisco and the region during the 1950s and 60s, including a future Bay crossing. Now we have a patchwork of sub-standard highways, semi-completed expressways and dissected districts.
17th St. Plaza, via blog.streetcar.org
Part 5, Dismantling:
This network of history is beginning to be unwound in places. One time rights-of-way, with their origins hard to decipher, are coming back to the community. But we still have questions about their shape. Why does Mission St curve? Why do Treat and San Jose cut across the grid of the Mission? Why does Webster alternate from 2-4 lanes? What happens to areas like the 17th St Plaza? What will remain when the next layer is peeled away?
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