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24th Street between Rhode Island and De Haro |
Around the turn
of the Millennium, the streets of Old San Francisco came a couple
of steps closer to extinction. In December, 2000, the section of Commercial
Street between Grant and Kearny in Chinatown, which was one of the City's
last brick streets, was renovated. It's well-worn
bricks were replaced with new ones, but also with alternating sections
of concrete. The discarded bricks were rescued and stored by a preservationist.
When Kearny was at the water's edge, Commercial Street was known as Long
Wharf. It was home to several brothels and shares a distinction with Market
Street as the only two streets where you can face the east for an unobstructed
view of the Ferry Building. In 2002, the section of 24th Street between
Rhode Island and De Haro is the subject of friction between neighbors and
Department of Public Works officials who want to remove its cobblestones
for plumbing and other improvements. A
quasi-brick street exists on Pacific
Avenue between Lyon Street and Presidio. When
the City's streets were made from bricks, mud, and cobblestones, flat stones
were used at every intersection. St. Brigid's
Church, Broadway and Van Ness Avenue, is made from many of them which
were bought and stored by the church about a hundred years before Y2K. The
City's most famous brick street is Lombard
between Hyde and Leavenworth.
Detail
I: 3rd Ave. between Irving and Parnassus |
Copyright 2002 Hank Donat |