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'A monstrous mistake': Remembering the ugliest thing San Francisco ever built
SFGATE ^ | 3-04-2021 | 'A monstrous mistake': Remembering the ugliest thing San Francisco ever built

Posted on 03/04/2021 2:47:12 PM PST by Vendome

The plan was simple: Connect the Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge via a freeway. It was the 1950s and everyone loved freeways. What could go wrong? Nearly everything.

The Embarcadero Freeway is widely considered one of the biggest mistakes the city ever made. For 32 years, a concrete monstrosity barricaded San Franciscans from the bay waters, shrouded the iconic Ferry Building in smog and made lots of residents very mad. Photographs of it now look like a very different, unsightly city. And while (nearly) everyone hated it, it took an earthquake to tear it down.

Here's the story of the ugliest thing San Francisco ever built (until the Salesforce Tower).

(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: chat; convenient; more; though; was
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Photos and videos at link

Gotta say my 1st reaction was "Sheah but, it was pretty damned convenient!)

On reflection the new and beautiful delineation between the Wharfs and Piers is much more visually pleasing.

1 posted on 03/04/2021 2:47:12 PM PST by Vendome
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To: Vendome

Wondering how long it will be before somebody buys Alcatraz, knocks down the old prison, and builds luxury condos.


2 posted on 03/04/2021 2:54:20 PM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion, or satire. Or both.)
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To: Vendome

Well, maybe. But the ugliest thing San Francisco ever saw is still Speaker of the House - Thanks to Ryan aborting the election in 2018 , and dragging 25 other RINO-GROPElites with him.


3 posted on 03/04/2021 2:54:41 PM PST by Robert A Cook PE (Method, motive, and opportunity: No morals, shear madness and hatred by those who cheat.)
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To: Vendome
Drivers could now swoop off the Bay Bridge and find themselves on Broadway in North Beach and Chinatown in a matter of minutes.

Yeah, how dare residents and commuters want a less painful drive when journalists were there to whine about it.
4 posted on 03/04/2021 2:55:51 PM PST by AnotherUnixGeek
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To: Vendome

A Koyaanisqatsi mention!


5 posted on 03/04/2021 2:57:48 PM PST by Meatspace
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To: Vendome

From everything I hear, the City is much uglier now than it was back then.


6 posted on 03/04/2021 2:58:54 PM PST by kaehurowing
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To: Vendome

Most older cities got ruined by the new expressways.

The routes seem ill planned and often destroyed once beautiful neighborhoods. Walling off neighborhoods into ghettos which became slums and are now war zones


7 posted on 03/04/2021 3:03:46 PM PST by Ouderkirk (Life is about ass, you're either covering, hauling, laughing, kicking, kissing, or behaving like one)
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Now that area is the worlds largest toilet


8 posted on 03/04/2021 3:06:30 PM PST by dsrtsage (Complexity is merely simplicity lacking imagination)
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To: BenLurkin

At the point wherethe Bay Bridge meets Teasure Island westbound, they are building an apartment building

Odd place


9 posted on 03/04/2021 3:10:55 PM PST by Vendome (I've Gotta Be Me https://youtu.be/wH-pk2vZG2M)
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To: Vendome; BobL; sphinx; GreenLanternCorps; oldvirginian; Haiku Guy; napscoordinator; ...

BTTT!


10 posted on 03/04/2021 3:10:59 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (GOP-free since 10/9/20)
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To: AnotherUnixGeek

Long ago I was one of those residents. Getting from the North Beach area across the bridge to the East Bay was an effortless snap - a matter of minutes. Now it’s a nightmare.


11 posted on 03/04/2021 3:12:56 PM PST by AndyJackson
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To: Vendome
"... the ugliest thing San Francisco ever built..."


12 posted on 03/04/2021 3:17:51 PM PST by Bonemaker (invictus maneo)
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To: Vendome

Just once I’m gonna agree with SFGate.

That was a nasty looking freeway. In exactly the wrong place. Shoulda been a tunnel.

Current iteration is slow as you said, but far nicer.


13 posted on 03/04/2021 3:30:05 PM PST by Regulator (It's Fraud, Jim)
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To: Vendome

The endless homeless camps?


14 posted on 03/04/2021 3:32:25 PM PST by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now its your turn)
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To: Robert A Cook PE
Ryan aborting the election in 2018 , and dragging 25 other RINO-GROPElites with him.

Thank you! Sometimes I feel like I'm the only person who realizes that the GOP threw the 2018 house election so they could let the dems take over the work of blocking Trump so they wouldn't have to keep explaining why they aren't doing anything they promised to but you should still donate to them.

It's a key point to realizing that they are rotten to the core and how much they really do loathe us.

15 posted on 03/04/2021 3:37:14 PM PST by pepsi_junkie (Often wrong, but never in doubt!)
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To: Bonemaker

Well-stated BUMP!


16 posted on 03/04/2021 3:39:18 PM PST by PGalt (past peak civilization?)
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To: Vendome

I believe that SF is the only major city that you can’t drive through on an Interstate.


17 posted on 03/04/2021 3:52:05 PM PST by hanamizu
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To: hanamizu

Umm, doesn’t I-5 and the 101 stll go through SF?
We lived in Sunnyvale in the 70s but haven’t been there in over 40 years.


18 posted on 03/04/2021 4:08:29 PM PST by Afterguard (Deplorable me! )
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To: Vendome
Isn’t that the most hideous structure sitting right on the freeway? How the hell did that get proposed and approved? Well anybody want to live in that? All that land on TI and they chose THAT spot?

BTW, have you tried Aracely Cafe on TI? Is a great spot.

19 posted on 03/04/2021 4:17:30 PM PST by ProtectOurFreedom (The Weak Never Started, The Cowards fail along the way, Only the Strong Survive)
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To: Bonemaker

That ugly thing was made in Baltimore.


20 posted on 03/04/2021 4:18:35 PM PST by ProtectOurFreedom (The Weak Never Started, The Cowards fail along the way, Only the Strong Survive)
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