2022
The Ferry Building is one of the most iconic landmark in San Francisco. You can see it’s clock tower sitting at the east end of Market street. At it’s prime, the ferry building help travelers get to the other side of the bay before the Golden Gate Bridge. Travel by ferry soon were replaced by cars. The terminal is still active today, with ferries docked outside as the interior was remodeled for office spaces. In 2003, the lower part of the building reopened to the public, boasts small restaurants, shops, and of course ticket booth for ferries. It’s one of best places to grab good eats, check out a farmer’s market on a Saturday morning.
The second floor is private offices space, closed to the public other than for special events and group tours hosted by San Francisco Public Library. I know I’ve recommended this free tour in several of my post, but it’s a good way to get a historical guide with a small donation at the end. http://www.sfcityguides.org/desc.html?tour=25. One thing about the tour, you’ll get to see the giant tiled Eureka (California State Seal) on the 2nd floor. Don’t try to sneak in, they have a guard at the top of the stairs.
For information on Ferry schedule and where to purchase tickets, check out this link: http://sanfranciscobayferry.com/fares-and-tickets. It will have information on getting to the East Bay, to the North Bay, and Angel Island. You cannot get to Alcatraz from here, you’ll need to go to Pier 39 for that. We found out in a confusing way the tickets to Sausalito and Larkspur ferry are outside of the building, you’ll see a small grey building to your right in parking lot. Buy a round trip ticket, discounted rates when using a clipper card https://www.clippercard.com/ClipperWeb/index.do. This is us Local Guide gals, @KimberlyAnnG heading to Sausalito for a day of art and music.
The farmer’s market is ran by the Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture (CUESA) Tuesday and Thursday from 10am to 2pm, Saturday from 8am to 2pm. They host a Saturday cooking demo https://cuesa.org/event-type/market-table-demo. Take a look at some of the seasonal fruits and vegetables and specialty goods.
While there’s good eats inside the ferry building, they have some delicious food vendors as well. I got myself a treat from Craftsman and Wolf.
The public marketplaces (our equivalent to Chelsea Market in New York) houses many eateries, specialty shops, and restaurants. A few of my favorite shops for my sweet tooth, Miette for cookies and candies, check out the unique flavors of ice cream at Humphry Slocombe, or chocolates at Dandelion Chocolates. For burger and fries, everyone goes to Gott’s Roadside (formerly knowns as Taylor’s, though the menu is still the same). If you don’t want a full meal, this is what we do, grab some freshly baked bread from Acme breads (once they sell out they close, so the hours posted are based on availability of production. Just don’t wait until it’s too late in the day), cured meats from Boccalone Salumeria, grab some cheese from Cowgirl Creamery and find a bench outside. Side note, one of my favorite snacks is the Wagon Wheel that you can get there on the weekends, it’s a giant wheel of cheese, under a heat lamp, as the cheese melts, the scrape it onto some bread.
I hope you get a chance to go out and explorer the Ferry Building. It definitely is one of my favorite places in the city.
