Another walking tour took us to the Castro district of San Francisco. This was a settlement on the edge of town, with cows and pasture between it and the downtown area. It was first settled by Swedish and then Irish communities.
Like the Italian quarter has its flag, the Castro has the rainbow flag on each lamp post as,since the 60's this area had affordable accommodation and was populated by gay men.
There are a number of Victorian style houses in this very expensive area.
The main street has a number of bars which, unlike other areas, are glass fronted and open, not hidden away down some dark alley. The Gay community is open and visible, sending out this message.
This area sees a big parade in June.
The main road through from the Castro towards the City is called Market Street. This is the main
artery from the ferry terminal at Fishermans Wharf through the city
.
There are a great deal of big commercial properties along this road, many having been re-built after the big earth quake of 1906. The city was raised to the ground due to the fires caused by the earthquake.
When the buildings were rebuilt, architects made an effort to beautify the city, the scenes on these lamp posts show what were common views, Red Indians, cougars and the bottom panel showed farmers with their cows. There were also scenes of miners panning for gold.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_Street_%28San_Francisco%29
The Wells Fargo Museum was an interesting find, full of articles from the Wild West days. The first Wells Fargo branch of the bank was on Market Street San Fransisco.
http://www.wellsfargohistory.com/museums/
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