The other day, we talked about helpful Muni operators on the Boat Tram. Here’s a different angle on that, literally. The cruise ship Crystal Symphony called at Pier 35 yesterday, with relatives on board. A tour gave us the chance to snap a few shots from a vantage point San Franciscans rarely experience. That includes sweeping views of the Wharf area with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background, and, in this case, two F-line streetcars, No. 1053 (Brooklyn) approaching Pier 39 and No. 1015 (Illinois Terminal) turning from Beach onto The Embarcadero. The World War II merchant ship S.S. Jeremiah O’Brien and submarine U.S.S. Pampanito are visible just beyond Pier 39; the Piers of Fort Mason, proposed terminal of the historic streetcar extension, can be seen just below the Golden Gate Bridge archway over the Civil War-era Fort Point.
Click photos to enlarge
In my San Francisco lifetime, I’d never had this exact vantage point (unless you count an occasional trip in a news helicopter back in my reporter days). Off the bow, above, a head-on shot of Coit Tower almost at eye level, with a foreground of the eclectic mix of sheds behind the historic facade of Pier 35. From the ship’s port side, below, spectacular views over the finger piers of downtown and the Bay Bridge. Certainly a different perspective.
Now to finally get a cruise ship terminal worthy of our city…
Excellent photos!
thanks for sharing these GREAT images!! i’ve asked for a tour before and they rudely (mean – even the people nearby who heard the screamed replies were shocked and were staring) refused. thanks for the incentive so when i get back to SF i’ll TRY asking again!!
I wonder if this tour became possible because of the with relatives on board? That said, it would make sense for cruise lines to offer tours with lunch, for a small fee, as a sales tool to attract new business. That would be better than alienating prospective customers with a hostile and dismissive response to a tour request.
That said, can you post the port-side view?
Ask and ye shall receive.