Come to San Francisco for APsaA's 104th Annual Meeting, June 5-7, and you can be part of a yearlong centennial celebration of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition and World's Fair held in San Francisco in 1915.
The exposition and fair were originally planned to mark the recent completion of the Panama Canal, but quickly became a venue for the city to showcase its remarkable recovery from the devastating earthquake and fire of 1906. As San Francisco's Mayor Ed Lee observed, “All cities have moments—defining moments—which forever change the image and nature of that city, and for San Francisco, the success of the 1915 World's Fair marked a prosperous new beginning after the horrific experiences of 1906.”
Incorporating numerous buildings, gardens, a fountain, and a 21-story tower, the 1915 fair covered 635 acres along the shore of what is now San Francisco's Marina District. Alas, the only landmark that remains today is the lovely rotunda of the Palace of Fine Arts, designed by noted architect Bernard Maybeck, a native New Yorker who later became a professor at the University of California, Berkeley. At the time of the 1915 fair, this building was only one of several “palaces,” each featuring the era's innovations in such fields as science, industry, agriculture—and, of course, fine arts.
The official kick-off of San Francisco's centennial celebration occurred during the weekend of this past February 20-22 commemorating the actual date the Pan-Pacific International Exposition opened in 1915. Concerts, art exhibitions, and historical displays will take place throughout 2015. Many events will be centered around the Palace of Fine Arts, which has undergone extensive renovations in recent decades.
Repeat visitors to San Francisco may be familiar with the Palace of Fine Arts as the home of the Exploratorium, the city's premier science and technology center. In April 2013, however, the Exploratorium moved to Pier 15 on San Francisco's waterfront thoroughfare, the Embarcadero. The good news for APsaA attendees is that this location is only one mile, approximately a 20-minute level walk, from the conference venue, the Palace Hotel at Market and New Montgomery Streets. Happily, the Exploratorium's amazing collection of hands-on discovery activities remains intact in the new location and is well worth an afternoon or a Thursday evening, when hours are extended until 10:00 p.m.
You'll find the Embarcadero is a great place for people watching; it's a favorite hangout for tourists and locals alike. Only a stone's throw from the Palace Hotel is the Ferry Building, located at the foot of Market, which forms a T-junction with the Embarcadero. Prior to the construction of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and Golden Gate Bridge in the 1930s, the Ferry Building was a busy hub for ferries connecting San Francisco with cities in the East Bay and North Bay. Today, however, the Ferry Building has been reinvented as a haven for foodies, replete with gourmet boutiques and eateries. On Saturdays until 2:00 p.m., one whole side of the building is given over to local vendors for a colorful farmers' market.
While you're on the Embarcadero, keep an eye out for San Francisco's historic streetcars (not to be confused with its famous cable cars, which climb steep hills “halfway to the stars” on California Street and Powell Street). Along the Embarcadero, antique streetcars dating from the late 19th century to the mid-20th traverse the F line; most of these cars originally saw service in other cities and some in other countries. You can hop on one and take a ride to Pier 39, a shoppers' mecca also known for its many seafood restaurants, or a little farther to Fisherman's Wharf, home of San Francisco's legendary sourdough bread and takeaway Dungeness crab cocktails.
Wherever you are on the Embarcadero, you'll find yourself alongside spectacular views of San Francisco Bay. Alcatraz Island will be prominently visible, though perhaps framed by wisps of characteristic fog; even at night it's immediately identifiable by the sweeping beam from its lighthouse. If you'd like to get up close and personal with the island, check out for the full scoop on a variety of guided or self-guided tours and their departure times from Pier 33.
Venturing a little farther from the Palace Hotel will reward APsaA attendees with many more of the exciting attractions San Francisco has to offer: Union Square, Chinatown, Golden Gate Park, the Museum of Modern Art, California Academy of Sciences and the DeYoung Museum, to name just a few. Stay tuned for more about these sites—as well as suggestions for theater, symphony, jazz, and ballet events in June, and more about the city's centennial celebration—in the next issue of TAP.
Gina Atkinson, M.A., is the managing editor of The Psychoanalytic Quarterly and a translator of psychoanalytic materials from Italian to English. She is an educator associate member of APsaA and a community member of San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis.