Financial District / Barbary Coast

San Francisco's Financial District is the heart of West Coast finance and banking, and home to the Pacific Stock Exchange, Transamerica Building, as well as the Port of San Francisco. Here you will find the City’s largest concentration of corporate headquarters, law firms, banks, savings and loans, and other financial institutions. The Financial District is also close to the Embarcadero, where a palm-tree lined walkway extends along the waterfront and leads to the Ferry Building Marketplace offering an abundant farmers’ market including fresh-baked breads, artisan cheeses and local fish. The West Coast's first and only skyscrapers were built along Market Street and the Barbary Coast. However, the neighborhood was completely destroyed by the 1906 earthquake. New building and earthquake retrofitting technologies introduced in the 1950’s played a part in lifting the City’s height restrictions and fueled another skyscraper construction boom in the 1980’s. Now numerous sophisticated, high-rise condos enjoy expansive views of the Downtown skyline, the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges, and the East Bay. Nearby, Union Square attracts sophisticated shoppers and Muni / Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) offer easy commuting throughout the Bay Area.