This is a terrific year for APsaA members to visit San Francisco. 2015, the Lunar Year of the Sheep (which Chinese astrologers predict will be one of healing and positive thinking) is a year of celebration for San Francisco's 100th anniversary of the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition and World's Fair.
Those who attend APsaA's 104th Annual Meeting in June will find a familiar San Francisco icon transformed for the centennial event. The Ferry Building, only a few blocks from APsaA's conference venue, the Palace Hotel, will be decorated with the numerals “1915,” just as it was for the Pan-Pacific Exposition a century ago. Eleven and a half feet high and placed above the tower's famous clock, the numerals will be illuminated in white lights at night, along with the rest of the tower, in an accurate re-creation of its splendid appearance during the Exposition and World's Fair. At that time, the Ferry Building was the symbol of San Francisco, by far the busiest passenger terminal in the Western United States. Before construction of the Golden Gate Bridge and Oakland Bay Bridge in the 1930s, almost all visitors to the city arrived via the Ferry Building.
During the centennial celebration a variety of events will take place throughout San Francisco and around the Bay. APsaA attendees interested in a historical overview of the 1915 Exposition and World's Fair can check out what promises to be a fascinating exhibit, “City Rising,” at the California Historical Society on Mission Street, just two blocks from the Palace Hotel. The exhibit's title is well chosen since San Francisco was indeed a “city rising” in 1915, literally rising out of the ashes of the devastating earthquake and fire of 1906 that killed hundreds and left thousands more homeless.
“City Rising” will tell the story of the international exposition's development and popularity—it was attended by nearly 19,000,000 people, more than 20 times San Francisco's population at the time—through vintage photos, souvenirs, and artifacts. The Historical Society invites visitors to share in this moment of history when San Francisco stepped onto the world stage and, perhaps, to draw their own connections between that era and the present day.
An orientation to the 1915 exposition would not be complete without a visit to the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco's Marina District, the only building that remains today out of a network of pavilions, fountains, and gardens that stretched along the Bay. Stroll through the Palace's grand colonnade and rotunda and venture inside the exhibition hall
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.
(formerly the site of the Exploratorium museum of science and technology, now located on the Embarcadero) to discover what this World's Fair meant to the city. Historical film footage, salvaged architectural fragments, and a digital animation will bring visitors closer to understanding how the fair entertained and enchanted so many people from around the world.
During APsaA's Annual Meeting, the Palace of Fine Arts will also host a multicultural ethnic dance festival (). And for another glimpse into the marvels of the exposition, APsaA attendees can take a short walk from the conference hotel to the Wells Fargo History Museum, where there will be a display of original Austrian cut glass “novagems” that hung from the 1915 “Tower of Jewels,” as well as more historical photos, maps and illustrations of the exposition.
Of course, the City of San Francisco will have much more to offer visitors in June beyond its historical celebration. For the musically inclined, the San Francisco Symphony will present Ravel's L'heure espagnole at Davies Symphony Hall, a short cab ride from the Palace Hotel (). During the meeting, the San Francisco Opera will stage a matinee of The Trojans by Berlioz, a rarely performed epic depicting the fall of Troy ().
New to San Francisco as of January 2013 is SFJAZZ Center, a performance venue for nationally renowned jazz artists. Like the city's symphony hall and opera house, SF JAZZ, the only stand-alone facility built specifically for jazz in the United States, is located in the Civic Center area. It's an excellent choice for an evening out since dinner is available both on site and in excellent restaurants nearby ().
For theater fans, the Broadway version of The Book of Mormon will run through June 7 at the Orpheum Theater on Market Street (). In addition, American Conservatory Theater's A Little Night Music will be performed every evening during the Annual Meeting () at the Geary Theater, only a block and a half from Union Square. Repeat visitors to the city will remember Union Square as the heart of downtown and a focal point for serious shopping. Among the numerous shops and stores located either right on the square or just steps away are: Neiman Marcus (with its famous café under the rotunda, perfect for a teatime shopping break), Saks 5th Avenue, Tiffany, Cartier, Williams Sonoma, and Gump's. In addition, Chinatown is about a 10- to 15-minute walk from the square (though visitors should be forewarned, depending on the route they choose, they may encounter iconic San Francisco hills).
For a contrast to music or the theater, APsaA attendees can also choose to catch the San Francisco Giants, World Series Champions in 2010, 2012 and 2014, slugging it out against the Philadelphia Phillies during the week of the Annual Meeting (). San Franciscans are justifiably proud of their baseball park, located just a mile and a half from the Palace Hotel. Built to a classic design, the park was completed in 2000 and boasts glorious views of the Bay.
APsaA attendees interested in fine arts will find several special exhibits underway. The Legion of Honor, a museum housed in a full-scale replica of the French Pavilion at the 1915 exposition, and located in a naturally beautiful setting overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge, will have two special shows during the Annual Meeting. A stunning collection of porcelain from the Meissen manufactory near Dresden and a costume collection on loan from the Brooklyn Museum augment the Legion of Honor's permanent collection, which spans 6,000 years of ancient and European art. This museum will also host a San Francisco Symphony chamber music concert during the meeting ().
A trip to one of the nation's largest urban parks, the 1.5-square-mile Golden Gate Park, can be an occasion to visit another of San Francisco's premier art museums, the de Young. Well known for its permanent collections featuring American art, textiles, costumes and indigenous art from the Americas and Africa, the de Young will host its own pair of special exhibits in June: a collection of African figurative sculpture and a photographic exhibit depicting scenes of San Francisco captured in the South of Market district.
Golden Gate Park, about a 20-minute cab ride from the conference hotel, offers visitors many other attractions as well: the California Academy of Sciences, which includes a world-class aquarium, planetarium, rainforest ecosystem, and a “living roof” (and don't miss the penguins); the Conservatory of Flowers, where in June there will be a special exhibit on plants that aid tropical island survival; tranquil Stow Lake, perfect for a relaxing stroll; the Japanese Tea Garden; the 55-acre San Francisco Botanical Garden; two restored windmills and even a few live buffalo.
San Francisco has countless other interesting sites to beguile APsaA attendees, among them the Embarcadero and waterfront area mentioned in my article in the last issue of TAP. First-time visitors to the city may want to check out Fisherman's Wharf, Ghirardelli Square, Pier 39, Alcatraz Island, a sightseeing cruise on the Bay, or the Exploratorium, to mention only some of the highlights in this area. And many of those who know the city well don't consider their visit complete without returning to at least some of these.
Certainly, no description of San Francisco's tourist attractions would be complete without mentioning Telegraph Hill and Coit Tower (whose WPA-era murals have been newly restored), the world-famous cable cars, the Asian Art Museum, Lombard Street, the Disney Family Museum, Fort Point, the Contemporary Jewish Museum, Mission Dolores, the Maritime National Historic Park, Japantown, Grace Cathedral and the Cartoon Art Museum. This list can be extended on and on. Viewers may want to add their own favorite places in the city from previous visits or ones they are interested in seeing for the first time.
In short, whatever you're looking for—from a centennial celebration to a Broadway musical, from baseball to opera to ethnic dance, from incomparable Bay views to shopping delights, from a lively waterfront to tranquil gardens—you'll find it during APsaA's 104th Annual Meeting in San Francisco. I hope to see you there.