Where the City Meets the Water

The Ferry Building's clock tower rises above the Embarcadero, with the Bay Bridge stretching out toward Oakland behind it, shot from above at Embarcadero Plaza.

The Ferry Building opened in 1898 and was, for decades, one of the busiest transit terminals in the world, before the Bay Bridge and Golden Gate Bridge opened in the 1930s and ferry travel across the bay fell off. It survived the 1906 earthquake with little damage and still anchors this stretch of the waterfront today. The Bay Bridge itself opened in 1936, connecting San Francisco to Oakland for the first time by car.

Part of the San Francisco Collection.