Financial District
About Financial District
The Financial District is built on the buried edge of the bay. In the Gold Rush years this was Yerba Buena Cove, and Montgomery Street ran along the original waterfront. Ships that arrived in 1849 and 1850 were abandoned by crews who left for the gold fields, and the city filled the cove with sand and debris around them. The remains of dozens of those ships are still under the streets.
As the waterfront moved east onto the new land, the district became the banking center of the West Coast. A.P. Giannini founded the Bank of Italy in 1904. After the 1906 earthquake and fire, he made loans from a makeshift desk on the wharf to help people rebuild, and the bank later grew into Bank of America. The Bank of Italy building still stands at 552 Montgomery Street.
The district was rebuilt after 1906 and kept growing upward. The Transamerica Pyramid at 600 Montgomery Street was completed in 1972 and was the tallest building in the city until Salesforce Tower passed it in 2018. A half-acre redwood grove, Transamerica Redwood Park, sits at its base and is open to the public.
Filmed in Financial District
62 recorded shoots across 14 places here.
- Pier 7The Wedding Planner 2001/The OA Part II 2019/Goliath- Season 4 2021/Godzilla 2014/DEVS 2020
- Ferry BuildingThe Presidio 1988/The Maltese Falcon 1941/Serial 1980/Just One Night 2000/Interview With The Vampire 1994
- Financial DistrictVenom 2018/The Right Stuff 1983/The Conversation 1974/Pacific Heights 1990/Ant-Man and the Wasp 2018
- Bank of America BuildingThe Towering Inferno 1974/The Game 1997/High Crimes 2002/Fearless 1993/Dirty Harry 1971
- Sheraton Palace HotelThe Game 1997/Patch Adams 1998/Jade 1995/Herbie Rides Again 1974/Experiment in Terror 1962
- Union SquareThe Conversation 1974/Terminator – Genisys 2015/Looking 2014/High Crimes 2002/D.O.A 1950
- Hyatt Regency HotelTime After Time 1979/The Towering Inferno 1974/High Anxiety 1977/Freebie and the Bean 1974
- Transbay TerminalThe Other Sister 1999/Getting Even with Dad 1994/Chu Chu and the Philly Flash 1981/Basic Instinct 1992
- The EmbarcaderoThe Lineup 1958/The Caine Mutiny 1954/Sneakers 1992/Dirty Harry 1971
- Embarcadero FreewayMagnum Force 1973/Freebie and the Bean 1974/A View to a Kill 1985/A Night Full of Rain 1978
- Red's Java HouseTwisted 2004/The OA Part II 2019/Murder in the First, Season 3 2016
- Montgomery & Market StreetsThe Net 1995/Red Widow 2013/Bedazzled 2000
- Neiman MarcusThe Conversation 1974/Getting Even with Dad 1994/George of the Jungle 1997
- Sutter Stockton GarageVenom: Let There Be Carnage 2021/Terminator – Genisys 2015
From the San Francisco Film Commission permit record. Every film shot in San Francisco.
Where to Eat
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Where to Drink
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Things to Do
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People in Plazas: Free Lunchtime Concerts in Downtown San Francisco
Concerts start at noon and run about an hour, so time a lunch break around them. Check peopleinplazas.org the morning of, since two plazas often have shows in the same hour and the lineup changes every week. Pick Rincon Center when the wind is up on Market Street; it is the one indoor venue in the series.
Transamerica Redwood Park
A half-acre redwood grove at the base of the Transamerica Pyramid. It's free too.
Lotta’s Fountain
A cast iron fountain at the intersection of Market, Geary, and Kearny, donated to the city by actress Lotta Crabtree on September 9, 1875. It survived the 1906 earthquake and served as a message wall for finding missing family members. Since 1919, survivors and their descendants have gathered here every April 18 at 5:12am. Free. On a traffic island downtown.
Heineman Building
A 10-story Edwardian on a lot barely 20 feet wide on Bush Street, designed by George Applegarth in 1910 as a necktie and suspender factory. Glazed terra cotta, hammered copper panels, prismatic bow windows. Look up between Battery and Sansome.
