Downtown-  Union Square

Downtown's main shopping district is located around Union Square, lined by palm trees, bounded by Post and Geary Streets on the north and south, and by Powell and Stockton Streets on the west and east.  Many consider the location the center of downtown. 

The square is dominated by a statue (dedicated 1905) on a tall pedestal dedicated to Admiral George Dewey's victory over the Spanish fleet at Manila Bay in 189, setting in motion the 48-year colonial rule of the Philippines by the more enlightened Yankees.  The person on the statue is Victory, modeled after Mrs. Adolph Spreckels, definitely a cutie in her day.   

The downtown hotel district begins around Union Square with the St. Francis across the street on the west side (a Borders bookstore is on the northwest corner) and extends westward into the Tenderloin.

For years, another prominent feature of the square was the City of Paris department store on the southeastern corner (at Geary and Stockton) topped by the broadcast antenna of KFRC.  The photo at right looks toward that same corner in the present.

Union Square is the one place in San Francisco where residents and tourists mix in about equal numbers. But tourists still seem to dominate the cable cars in summer months.  The best time of the week to be there is on late Friday afternoon when downtown workers are in a TGIF mood and the tourists are in an expansive mood.  Downtown San Fran has always been an upbeat place; it did not go through the decline suffered by other American cities' centers in the last 40 years.  For one thing, San Francisco doesn't have many indoor malls to lure shoppers away from downtown (even though every residential neighborhood has its business district lined with shops), and the place is easily accessible from anywhere in the city.   

Downtown shopping peaks on Sutter, Post and Geary Streets, from Powell east down to about Kearny or Montgomery. 

Maiden Lane, almost an alley (San Francisco has many named alleys with buildings' main entrances), was a red light district before 1906.   It runs east from Union Square to Kearny, a two-block span.  Now it has such businesses as the flagship store of Sharper Image, whose headquarters are up at the North Waterfront. 

For a look at Stockton Street's unusual tunnel, go here.