Civic Center - Domes, Charters and Protest

Photo: Almonroth, CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)

A stop on San Francisco, District by District, a free self-guided tour.

Civic Center was the city's answer to the 1906 disaster. The old City Hall, which had taken decades to build, collapsed in the earthquake, and the city chose this site for a grand new Beaux-Arts center in the spirit of the City Beautiful movement. Under Mayor James Rolph, City Hall and the Exposition Auditorium rose around this plaza in time to show the world a rebuilt city, followed by a library, an opera house and a veterans building.

The world did come. The 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition was held in today's Marina District, but the auditorium here was built for it. In 1945, delegates from 50 nations met here to create the United Nations. Civic Center has also been the city's stage for protest, from the 1960 student demonstrations at City Hall to the 1977 disability rights sit-in.

Take BART or Muni Metro to Civic Center Station. The mini tour takes about an hour.

Getting here: From Balmy Alley, take BART from 24th Street Mission to Civic Center Station, or walk north on Valencia and Market Streets, about 40 minutes.

Did you know?: City Hall's dome rises about 307 feet, taller than the dome of the U.S. Capitol.

Photo op: Stand at the east end of Civic Center Plaza to frame City Hall's full facade and gilded dome, especially striking at dusk when it is lit.

More on Wikipedia: Civic Center, San Francisco · San Francisco City Hall · United Nations Conference on International Organization · James Rolph

Stops on this tour

1. Ferry Building and the Embarcadero - Where the City Met the World
   • The Grand Nave - A Ferry Terminal Reborn
   • Harry Bridges Plaza - The Freeway That Fell
   • Steuart and Mission - Bloody Thursday
   • Rincon Annex - Murals That Reached Congress
2. Financial District and Jackson Square - Gold Rush on the Old Shoreline
   • Clay and Sansome - The Ship Under the Street
   • Transamerica Pyramid - The Site of Halleck's Folly
   • Jackson Square - The Brick Survivors
   • Pacific Avenue - The Barbary Coast
3. Chinatown - The Neighborhood That Refused to Move
   • Dragon Gate - Chinatown's Front Door
   • Old St. Mary's - The Clock With a Warning
   • Chinese Historical Society - Julia Morgan's YWCA
   • Waverly Place - The Street of Temples
   • Portsmouth Square - Where the City Began
4. North Beach and Telegraph Hill - Little Italy and the Beats
   • Columbus Tower - The Green Flatiron
   • City Lights - The Howl Trial
   • Saints Peter and Paul - Washington Square's Spires
   • Coit Tower - Murals on the Hilltop
   • Filbert Steps - Gardens on the Cliff
5. Fisherman's Wharf - Italian Boats and Old Ships
   • Hyde Street Pier - Where Cars Took the Ferry
   • Aquatic Park Bathhouse - A Building Shaped Like a Ship
   • Ghirardelli Square - A Factory Saved
6. Nob Hill and Russian Hill - Cable Cars, Mansions and the Great Fire
   • Fairmont Hotel - Rebuilt by Julia Morgan
   • Flood Mansion - The Survivor in Brownstone
   • Grace Cathedral - On the Crocker Ruins
   • Cable Car Museum - The Working Powerhouse
   • Lombard Street - Russian Hill's Eight Turns
7. The Presidio - Two Centuries Guarding the Golden Gate
   • Officers' Club - Adobe Inside the Walls
   • Building 640 - The Secret Language School
   • Crissy Field - From World's Fair to Airfield to Marsh
   • Fort Point - The Fort Under the Bridge
8. Japantown and the Fillmore - Two Communities, One Neighborhood
   • Peace Plaza - Built on Redevelopment
   • Buchanan Mall - Ruth Asawa's Fountains
   • Kinmon Gakuen - The Line on Bush Street
   • Bop City - The House That Moved
   • The Fillmore - From Dance Hall to Rock Palace
9. Haight-Ashbury - From Victorian Suburb to Summer of Love
   • The Panhandle - Free Food and Free Concerts
   • 710 Ashbury - The Grateful Dead House
   • Haight Ashbury Free Clinic - Care Without Questions
   • Hippie Hill - The Park's Gathering Place
10. Golden Gate Park - Sand Dunes Turned Into a Park
    • Conservatory of Flowers - A Glass House From a Kit
    • Music Concourse - The 1894 World's Fair
    • Japanese Tea Garden - The Hagiwara Family's Garden
11. The Castro - A Neighborhood That Became a Movement
    • Pink Triangle Park - A Memorial in Granite
    • Castro Theatre - The Neighborhood's Movie Palace
    • Castro and 18th - The Honor Walk and the Crossroads
    • Castro Camera - Harvey Milk's Storefront
12. The Mission - Where San Francisco Began
    • Mission Dolores Chapel - Adobe From 1791
    • The Golden Fire Hydrant - The Hydrant That Saved the Mission
    • The Women's Building - MaestraPeace
    • Clarion Alley - A Gallery Without Walls
    • Balmy Alley - Murals of the Americas
13. Civic Center - Domes, Charters and Protest
    • City Hall - Under the Golden Dome
    • War Memorial - Where the UN Charter Was Signed
    • Civic Auditorium - Built for the 1915 Fair
    • Asian Art Museum - The Old Main Library
    • 50 United Nations Plaza - The 504 Sit-In
14. South of Market - From Rincon Hill to the Tech Boom
    • The Old Mint - The Granite Lady
    • Yerba Buena Gardens - A Waterfall of Words
    • South Park - London Square to Dot-Com Hub
    • Salesforce Park - The City Above the Street