The Embarcardero: San Francisco's Barbary Coast From Richard Katz's
Skating Unrinked book, published in paperback by HarperCollinsWest in 1994. Or was it '95? If you are not reading this on a screen, stop reading and head to www.Amazon.com. Thanx. Richard Katz = katz@frogojt.com. email
If you didn't really want to read a rollerskating trails book: Back to Richard Katz's Homepage
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Chapter embrcdro
The Embarcardero: San Francisco's Barbary Coast
NOTE: Bring along plenty of quarters for the parking meters.
ANOTHER NOTE: This is where the San Francisco Midnight Rollers Friday Nite (and Halloween) Skate starts out. They have their own web page(s). Check it out, and I'll see you there. Just remember, the Friday Nite Skate is IN THE STREETS. This Book is about places to skate where you don't skate in the streets; so don't lump the Friday Nite Skate in with the rest of the text here. HarperCollins publishers would especially not like it if there were any mention of any streetskating, for obvious liability reasons.
The first sign that this is a good place to skate is the multitude of other skaters &endash;&endash; lunch hour skaters who let down their big city aloofness to wave to you as they whiz by. They belong. You belong. The second sign is the easy parking right along the Embarcadero, within sight of San Francisco's most imposing skyscrapers.
San Francisco has hills so steep they have steps carved into the sidewalks, but down here at the waterfront the pavement's level. This trail is about as urban as it gets, composed almost entirely of very wide sidewalks, but the Embarcadero always sets its own pace. If you take your time with the pedestrians, even beginners can skate an easy two miles.
How to Get There by Car from Highway 101 (the Golden Gate Bridge):
After you cross the Golden Gate Bridge southbound, follow the signs for Doyle Drive and take a right exit following the signs for Lombard Street/Downtown. You will be briefly on Richardson Avenue, then bearing left on Lombard. Stay in the left lanes. Where Highway 101 turns right (onto Van Ness Avenue), you should make a left turn onto Van Ness and then a quick right turn onto Bay Street. Bay Street runs into the Embarcadero at Montgomery Street. Turn right; you can usually find parking across the street on the bay side of the Embarcadero.
How to Get There by Car from Interstate 80 (The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge):
Stay in the left lane of the Bay Bridge (Main Street) and take the first left exit at a conservative pace. After a tight 270 degree turn, stay in the right hand lane and make the first right onto Harrison Street. Harrison Street ends at the Embarcadero. Turn left and park anywhere.
If you cruise too far north on the Embarcadero, you will be in the Fisherman's Wharf area, where parking spaces are at a premium.
What It's Like, Starting from The Embarcadero and Howard Streets:
From wherever you found a parking spot (or wherever your public conveyance dropped you off), start by skating south along the Embarcadero's wide sidewalk that runs beside the piers. The Embarcadero wasn't always so sunny and pleasant. Until recently, it was overshadowed by the Embarcadero Freeway, an elevated hellish monstrosity that ran above the middle of the street. After the Earthquake of '89 the City tore it down.
A new Promenade is being constructed to extend the path south of Howard Street. If it isn't done yet, and Howard Street still looks like a construction zone, turn around and skate back north. Stop for a moment when you get to the bridge stanchion of the Bay Bridge, an object of remarkable bulk and solidity.
The concrete sidewalk path is narrow from Howard Street back to the Ferry Building, but it's much skated by the locals. Note the sculpture of two glazed old fashioned stainless steel doughnuts. San Francisco's fireboats are anchored on your left. Cross the street at Harrison so you can admire the Gordon Biersch brewery tanks in the old Hills Brothers Coffee building. There is a ramp up to the plaza.
Pier 1 (odd numbered piers are north of Market Street, even numbered south) has a restaurant open at 6 A.M. for breakfast. It's the ferry dock for Alameda and other East Bay ports of call. The big building with the clock tower is called the Ferry Building.
Here the Embarcadero is a place of huge piers and small boats. San Francisco doesn't do that much in the shipping trade anymore. Most of the huge ocean going vessels that are going by are container ships going to Oakland. The left side of Pier 3 is the usual berth for the Santa Rosa, a ferry boat from a bygone era. It's okay to skate right up to the plank, any day from 9 to 6. Pier 7 is a fishing pier, quiet and lovely but wooden and hard to skate on.
Pier 39 is one of San Francisco's best known tourist attractions. You can't skate on the boardwalk portions of the Pier, but feel free to skate all around the pier on excellent pavement. Stop to admire the seal sculpture near the sidewalk, and the live seals on the docks as you circumnavigate on fivestar concrete. At the end of Pier 39 is a stunning view of Alcatraz.
Pier 41 has a Ben and Jerry's walkup ice cream and expresso stand.
A little farther west on the Embarcadero, note the "Cable Car" tours. The management says you can take a motorized imitation cable car tour with your skates on, if you like. The Franciscan Crab Stand is just a bit further on.
The end of the trail is at Pier 45, where you see the signs "End Embarcadero" and "End Taylor". Skate out on Pier 45, following the signs to "USS Pampanito", past the row of telescopes; it's a good trail to a World War II submarine. Sometimes the SS Jeremiah O'Brien is berthed on the pier as well; it's the last operational Liberty ship. The pier also has a Ripley's Believe it or Not! museum. You can see off to starboard the two piers that are ferry docks for the Angel Island and Tiburon Ferry, and the tourist ferries to Alcatraz.
If you start at the Bay Bridge and skate to Pier 45, you cover about two miles, one way.
The Embarcadero is lit at night. Between Piers 35 and 39, there is a marvelous monumental abstract sculpture that looks especially good by streetlight.
Places to Eat:
At the north end of the Embarcadero, near Pier 43, you can belly up to the Franciscan Crab Stand and order anything from a shrimp cocktail to a full course meal. They have outdoor tables, and the seafood is as tasty as any other along Fisherman's Wharf. A short distance away is a Ben and Jerry's ice cream stand. Both places serve excellent espresso.
If you are out for a little night skating, Boudin's Bakery is open late and you can skate through. Excellent meals, excellent pastry, and real sourdough. During the day you can skate up to large plate glass windows and watch them bake it.
Public Transportation:
Three ferry lines stop at the Ferry Building: Angel Island/Tiburon Ferry; Golden Gate Ferry to Sausalito and Larkspur; and Alameda/Oakland Ferry (the Blue and Gold fleet). The Red & White Fleet puts in at Pier 43. Amtrak (buses) stop at the Ferry Building, and several Muni lines (19, 32, 42) stop somewhere along the Embarcadero. Muni 2, 7, 8, 9, 14, 21, 31 go to the Ferry Building. From Embarcadero BART you can skate down Market Street to the Ferry Building. Around Christmastime, you will have the pleasure of rollerskating next to an outdoor ice skating rink as you cross Justin Herman Plaza.
Ratings:
Path Surface = * sidewalk (some ***** piers)
Public Transit Access = ****
Surroundings = **
Level of Difficulty = EASY
Overall Rating = ***
Length = Two miles one way
Other trails to check out in the neighborhood:
Marina Green San Francisco
The Great Highway
10/10/96
Note from the Author: Haven't put in links to the other chapters yet.
From Richard Katz's Skating Unrinked book, published in paperback by HarperCollinsWest in 1994. Or was it '95? If you are not reading this on a screen, stop reading and head to www.Amazon.com. Thanx. Richard Katz = katz@frogojt.com. email
Back to Richard Katz's Homepage
If you want to go back to the Table of Contents of Skating Unrinked, Back to TOC