California Street is a major

thoroughfare A thoroughfare is a primary passage or way as a transit route through regularly trafficked areas, whether by road on dry land or, by extension, via watercraft or aircraft. On land, a thoroughfare may refer to anything from a multi-lane highway ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. It is one of the longest streets in San Francisco, and includes a number of important landmarks. It runs in an approximately straight east-west line from the

Financial District A financial district is usually a central area in a city where financial services firms such as banks, insurance companies and other related finance corporations have their head offices. In major cities, financial districts are often home to s ...

Lincoln Park Lincoln Park is a park along Lake Michigan on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. Named after US President Abraham Lincoln, it is the city's largest public park and stretches for seven miles (11 km) from Grand Avenue (500 N), on the south, ...

in the far Northwest corner of the City.

Description

California Street begins at the intersection of

Market Street Market Street may refer to: *Market Street, Cambridge, England *Market Street, Fremantle, Western Australia, Australia * Market Street, George Town, Penang, Malaysia *Market Street, Manchester, England *Market Street, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia ...

, Main Street, and Drumm Street in front of the

Hyatt Regency Hyatt Hotels Corporation, commonly known as Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, is an American multinational hospitality company headquartered in the Riverside Plaza area of Chicago that manages and franchises luxury and business hotels, resorts, and vacat ...

Embarcadero Center Embarcadero Center is a commercial complex of five office towers, two hotels, a shopping center with more than 125 stores, bars, and restaurants, and a fitness center on three levels located in San Francisco, California. There is an outdoor ice sk ...

, one block from the Ferry Building, then travels through

Chinatown A Chinatown () is an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Austra ...

, over

Nob Hill Nob Hill is a neighborhood of San Francisco, California, United States that is known for its numerous luxury hotels and historic mansions. Nob Hill has historically served as a center of San Francisco's upper class. Nob Hill is among the highes ...

, through

Lower Pacific Heights Lower Pacific Heights, also known as Upper Fillmore, is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California, between Pacific Heights, the Fillmore District, Laurel Heights, and Japantown. The neighborhood is centered on the commercial corridor of Fillmor ...

, Laurel Heights, and the Lake District. The street makes a slight bend at 8th Avenue, then parallels the edge of the

Presidio of San Francisco The Presidio of San Francisco (originally, El Presidio Real de San Francisco or The Royal Fortress of Saint Francis) is a park and former U.S. Army post on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula in San Francisco, California, and is part o ...

through the Richmond District until its dead end terminus just west of 32nd Avenue, at Lincoln Park. Fifty-four blocks of California Street, from

Van Ness Avenue Van Ness Avenue is a north–south thoroughfare in San Francisco, California. Originally named Marlette Street, the street was renamed Van Ness Avenue in honor of the city's sixth mayor, James Van Ness. The main part of Van Ness Avenue runs fro ...

westward to the dead end past 32nd Avenue, comprised the last major leg of the final 1928 alignment of the

Lincoln Highway The Lincoln Highway is the first transcontinental highway in the United States and one of the first highways designed expressly for automobiles. Conceived in 1912 by Indiana entrepreneur Carl G. Fisher, and formally dedicated October 31, 1913 ...

, the first road across

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, leading out to the highway's western terminus in

. The route has four to six lanes for its entire length. A cable car line runs on the eastern portion from Market to Van Ness Avenue and a

trolleybus A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or troll ...

line runs on the western portion between Steiner and 32nd Avenue.

Landmarks and points of interest

* 50 California Street *

101 California Street 101 California Street is a 48-storey, story office skyscraper completed in 1982 in the Financial District (San Francisco), Financial District of San Francisco, California. The tower, providing of Office, office space, is bounded by California S ...

* 150 California Street * 345 California Center (

Loews Regency San Francisco The Four Seasons Hotel San Francisco at Embarcadero is a luxury hotel that occupies the top 11 floors of 48 story office tower of 345 California Center at 222 Sansome Street in the financial district of San Francisco, California. Completed in 19 ...

) * 400 California Street ( Bank of California Building) * 465 California Street ( Merchants Exchange Building) *

555 California Street 555 California Street, formerly Bank of America Center, is a 52-story skyscraper in San Francisco, California. It is the fourth tallest building in the city as of February 2021, and in 2013 was the largest by floor area. Completed in 1969, the ...

( Bank of America Center) * 580 California Street *

650 California Street 650 California Street, also known as the Hartford Building, is a 34-story, 142 m (466 feet) office tower on the northwestern edge of San Francisco's Financial District. The tower is located on California Street on the edge of Chinatown, and no ...

(Hartford Building) *Sing Chong and Sing Fat buildings at

Grant Grant or Grants may refer to: Places *Grant County (disambiguation) Australia * Grant, Queensland, a locality in the Barcaldine Region, Queensland, Australia United Kingdom *Castle Grant United States * Grant, Alabama *Grant, Inyo County, C ...

and California, in

* 600 Stockton (

Ritz Carlton The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, LLC is an American multinational company that operates the luxury hotel chain known as The Ritz-Carlton. The company has 108 luxury hotels and resorts in 30 countries and territories with 29,158 rooms, in addit ...

hotel) * 905 California Street (

Stanford Court Hotel The Stanford Court Hotel is a historic 393-room hotel located at 905 California Street on Nob Hill in San Francisco, California. The hotel sits at the intersection of California & Powell St, where the city's cable car lines also intersect. His ...

) * 800 Powell Street (University Club) * Fairmont Hotel * 999 California Street (

Mark Hopkins Hotel The InterContinental Mark Hopkins San Francisco is a luxury hotel located at the top of Nob Hill in San Francisco, California. The hotel is managed by the InterContinental Hotels Group. The chain operates over 5,000 hotels and resorts in approxim ...

) * 1000 California Street (

Pacific-Union Club The Pacific-Union Club is a social club located at 1000 California Street in San Francisco, California, at the top of Nob Hill. It is considered to be the most elite club of the West Coast, and one of the most elite clubs in the United States, a ...

), the former Flood Mansion * 1075 California Street ( Huntington Hotel) * 1111 California Street ( Masonic Auditorium) *

Huntington Park Huntington Park is a city in the Gateway Cities district of southeastern Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 58,114, of whom 97% are Hispanic/Latino and about half were born outside th ...

* Grace Cathedral *

California Pacific Medical Center Sutter Health California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC) is a general medical/surgical and teaching hospital in San Francisco, California. It was created by a merger of some of the city's longest established hospitals and currently operates three a ...

In popular culture

Two novels are named for San Francisco’s California Street: ''California Street'' (1959) by

Niven Busch Niven Busch (April 26, 1903 – August 25, 1991) was an American novelist and screenwriter of movies such as the acclaimed '' The Postman Always Rings Twice''. His novels included ''Duel in the Sun'' (1944) and ''California Street'' (1959). H ...

, which documents the rise of a publishing magnate; and ''California Street'' (1990) by Donna Levin. Levin's novel is the story of a psychoanalyst searching for a missing woman. Both novels use "California Street" as a metaphor for the milieu in which the stories unfold.

External links

{{Authority control Streets in San Francisco History of San Francisco Lincoln Highway Chinatown, San Francisco Nob Hill, San Francisco

Description

Landmarks and points of interest

In popular culture

See also

External links