San Francisco - Ferry Plaza Farmers Market
From Hunters Point we drove north. We drive passed the AT&T Ballpark, the home of the San
Francisco Giants. It is a beautiful ballpark and we have spent many happy hours here watching some exciting games.
Parking in the city is hard to find and expensive but on a Saturday you can park in the Howard Street car park (which is just off The Embarcadero) for up to four hours it is just $5. It is the closest parking for the Farmers Market which is held outside the Ferry Building every Saturday morning from 8 a.m - 2 p.m. There is also a Farmers Market here on a Tuesday as well at the same time.
It is just a short walk from the car park to the market but there are a lot of distractions along the way. The Embarcadero itself is a show stopper all on its own. for many years, this part of the city was overshadowed by the Embarcadero freeway which ran above the road and separated the city from the waterfront. During the 1989 earthquake it was badly damaged and was pulled down. Thanks to the then Mayor, Art Agnos, it was never rebuilt and the city and the waterfront became reunited.
Now with palm tress planted, old trolley buses from all over the world plying up and down, the
Ferry Building, restored, the Farmers Market and the interesting street sculpture, the area has been re-invented. This is a popular stretch for joggers, roller bladers, skateboards and walkers. And of course you have wonderful views of the bay and the East Bay.
The Farmers Market itself is a wonder to behold, as are all the Farmers Markets. At any time of the year there are so many colors, textures, smells and tastes to assail your senses and lots of free samples.
We bought some heirloom tomatoes and white necterines. Peets Coffee House is just inside the Ferry Building. This is Tom’s favorite brew (I’m sure I’ve said that before) so he was happy. We sat ouside Book Passage at a table and enjoyed our coffee and read the paper.
Next stop - breakfast. This we bought at the Hayes Street Grill stall. Tom had the chorizo scramble and I had the wild mushroom scramble with bacon. The bacon was cold, the toast was burnt but the scrambles were very good.
Outside the Ferry Building at the side of the road there were a couple of election tables and one was for Ron Paul, a Republican candidate in the presidential election. We had a brief word with the lady manning the table and I picked up a leaflet. I have just applied to become a US Citizen and hopefully will be able to vote in the 2008 election. At the moment I am just gathering information on all the candidates so I can make an educated choice.
As we were walking away we were stopped by a man who introduced himself as Scott Martelle of the LA Times. He was doing a piece on Ron Paul and he asked our opinions. (The article appeared on October 29 and is entitled ‘Is San Franciso Ron Paul territory?’ No mention of us though).
We crossed the Embarcadero towards the Hyatt Hotel and watched the trolley buses go by. The city has an interesting collection of old trolley buses. I saw one from Milan and several from other cities in the US. They are very popular with the tourists. I wonder though how they manage to maintain them and how difficult it is to find spare parts.
If you are ever in this part of San Francisco you can’t miss seeing and hearing John F. King. He is a drummer/percussionist who performs here most days. His instruments at the moment are a collection of plastic containers and other odd objects because his kit had been stolen from his car. He certainly puts a lot of effort into producing his music and he’s good.
We walked along Market Street for a bit and then turned left and made our way back to the car park.
October 31 2007 07:05 pm | Special Places
