San Francisco Neighborhoods · Financial District
Financial District
also Barbary CoastSun zoneSan Francisco's glass-and-granite canyon — where Gold Rush fortunes built the West's oldest banking center and steel towers still catch the morning fog.
- Walk to work downtown
- BART + Muni hub
- Historic dining institutions
- Steps from the waterfront
On the map
Open Financial District on the map →The story
The Financial District grew out of the 1849 Gold Rush as San Francisco's first commercial center, rising on land that was once shoreline and buried ships near the old Long Wharf. Its northern edge overlaps the Barbary Coast, a notorious 19th-century district of saloons, dance halls and brothels named after the pirate-plagued coast of North Africa. As banks and trading houses replaced the vice trade, the area became one of the largest and oldest financial districts in the western United States. Montgomery Street, its main spine, earned the nickname 'the Wall Street of the West.'
Things most people don’t know
An 853-foot landmark
The Transamerica Pyramid, completed in 1972, was the city's tallest building until Salesforce Tower surpassed it in 2018.
A redwood grove downtown
Transamerica Redwood Park, planted in 1974, holds nearly 50 mature redwoods transplanted from the Santa Cruz area, now towering over 100 feet.
Pony Express headquarters
601 Montgomery St was the western business headquarters of the company that ran the 1860–61 Pony Express; a historic marker still stands there.
Bank of America's old HQ
555 California St, finished in 1969, was the tallest building west of the Mississippi until 1972 and served as Bank of America's world headquarters.
California's oldest restaurant
Tadich Grill traces its roots to an 1849 coffee stand on Long Wharf, making it the oldest continuously run restaurant in the state.
Eating and drinking
Restaurants
- Tadich Grill · 240 California St
- Kokkari Estiatorio · 200 Jackson St
- Wayfare Tavern · 201 Pine St
- Schroeder's · 240 Front St
Bars
- Comstock Saloon · 155 Columbus Ave
- Blue Bottle Coffee · 115 Sansome St
Getting around and getting care
Transit. Montgomery St and Embarcadero stations both serve BART (Blue, Green, Red and Yellow lines) and Muni Metro (J, K, L, M, N and T lines) beneath Market St. The historic F-Market streetcar and the California Street cable car also run through the district.
Nearest hospital. Chinese Hospital, 845 Jackson St (about 0.6 mi)
Thinking about Financial District?
Send me an address and I will come back with its sun, wind and fog, what is under it, and what has closed on the block.