Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco has long been a tourist destination, Pier 39 in particular. Rooted in SF’s history as a port town during the Gold Rush era and beyond, it’s a bit like walking through a very active ghost town. The piers are still in use, for cruise ships and private fishing boats, but they don’t seem to have much to do with the buzzing tourist activity, until you get down toward the very end of the strip, which is in fact the beginning. I did it wrong.
You should start here
I hadn’t remembered just how kitschy Fisherman’s Wharf is especially Pier 39. At once trying to be a circus, a Disney-fied European town, an upscale shopping mall, a foodie destination, it’s a place with an extreme identity crisis.
So I did the only logical thing a person can do. Bought a soft pretzel, took a selfie and wandered around.
Among the sound of constantly honking sea lions, street performers, multiple languages and Alcatraz* tour hustlers, I’m also greeted by a breeze from the bay, and the occasional strong whiff of fish being cooked at various restaurants competing for attention (“let’s see, do I want the beer battered fish-n-chips casual experience or the we have a white tablecloth so we’re fancy experience?”).
As I made my way along, enjoying my soft pretzel, I couldn’t help wishing the place lived up to the romanticism of its name. Fisherman’s Wharf conjures up such a classic turn of the century image and the complete contrast that exists along the present day piers is disappointing.
However, while Pier 39 is tiresomely touristy, further along at some of the other piers, it becomes easier to let one’s imagination fade away the crowds and sun flares from cell phone cameras and replace it with a historic sepia toned ideal of what the area used to be like. Not that I do this regularly…that’s a lie.
*(A tour of Alcatraz is actually well worth doing)
In conclusion, when visiting San Francisco, Fisherman’s Wharf should be a stop, but avoid Pier 39 and instead take in the peripheral. There was a restaurant on Pier 23 I’m dying to go back and try and, if I hadn’t been full, the stalls selling crab, chowders, and other fish-y offerings at No. 1 Fisherman’s Wharf were incredibly enticing. And non food related, but Musee Mecanique is a classic (and fun!) walk through history at Pier 49, definitely worth checking out.
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