The heart of San Francisco is the bay, with its wharves
and myriad fishing boats, its bustle of activity in the morning
and again in the evening, when the fleet returns laden with
fish.
That's
true today and it was ever so much more true in 1909, when the sea
provided a bountiful harvest. There's the promise of adventure in
the very smell of the briny air, at the turn of the century the
bay was alive with seafaring men of every description - colorful
characters who spoke exotic languages and told marvelous
tales.
The
voyages that began and ended at the old ferry building were of a
somewhat more modest character and yet not without their own
romance. Ferries plied the bay, connecting San Francisco with the
many quaint villages along the shore. In San Francisco, Market
Street and the Ferry Building, at Dusk, 1909, we visit a time
when auto travel was less than convenient, and the ferries that
came and went from the old building at the foot of Market Street
provided the most practical transport to the bustling bay-area
towns.
Practical,
and yet, so romantic. With its cable cars and ferries, San
Francisco has always been a city where travel is a charming
adventure.
-Thomas Kinkade
