A century or so ago, the eastern flank of the Financial District formed part of the Barbary Coast , an area of land that grew due to the hundreds of ships that lay abandoned by sailors heading for the Gold Rush. Enterprising San Franciscans used the dry ships as hotels, bars and stores. This then-rough-and-tumble waterfront district gave The City an unsavory reputation as Baghdad by the Bay , packed as it was with saloons and brothels where hapless young males were given Mickey Finns and shanghaied into involuntary servitude on merchant ships. William Randolph Hearst's Examiner lobbied frantically to shut down the quarter, resulting in a 1917 California law prohibiting prostitution. Remains of the cradle of San Francisco can be seen in the Jackson Square Historic District , not an actual square but an area bordered by Washington, Columbus, Sansome and Pacific streets.

The landmark Transamerica Pyramid , at the foot of diagonal Columbus Avenue and Washington, serves as a useful dividing point between the various downtown areas. The 48-story structure, capped by a colossal 212ft hollow spire, arose amid a city-planning furor that earned it the name of "Pereira's Prick," after its LA-based architect William Pereira. Since then it's been indisputably the signature of San Francisco's skyline, in these days of plump speculative buildings, a rare example of architecture that sacrifices the pragmatic for the symbolic. From a real-estate perspective, the building is a nightmare - as the structure tapers upward, the floors that fetch the highest rents diminish in area - the pyramid would be far more valuable upside down. Rudyard Kipling, Robert Louis Stevenson, Mark Twain and William Randolph Hearst all rented office space in the Montgomery Block that originally stood on this site, and regularly hung around the notorious Bank Exchange bar within. Legend also has it that Sun Yat-sen - whose statue is in Chinatown, three blocks away - wrote the Chinese constitution and orchestrated the successful overthrow of the Manchu Dynasty from his second-floor office here. Next door is the pleasant Transamerica Redwood Park with fountains perfect for an outdoor lunch. Across the street from the park, Hotaling Place 's winding brickwork and antique lamps recall the past, and some original redbrick buildings can be seen, now serving as office space for upscale design firms. Heading west on Jackson or Pacific streets from the area leads you back to Columbus and the green-copper siding of the Columbus Tower , 906 Kearney, the de facto beginning of North Beach. Director and San Francisco native Francis Ford Coppola owns the building, and his Neibaum-Coppola Café on the ground floor serves sandwiches, pasta and his wine from the nearby vineyards.

Jackson Square and the Barbary Coast

• Jackson Square and the Barbary Coast

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