Historical site standing tall in our own backyard

By Anna Baldasty

San Francisco welcomes many thousands of visitors every day, but Saturday morning brings locals and tourists alike to the farmers' market at the historic Ferry Building at the foot of Market Street.

Here, city life meets country bounty. Booths dedicated to educating the public on locally sustainable agriculture offer displays outside shops with imported pottery, wine, chocolates, spices and caviar.

Part street fair, part giant outdoor tasting room, the Saturday market makes a colorful stage with sailboats on the Bay as its splendid backdrop and traveling musicians as its house band.

The Ferry Building is a survivor. When it was only a decade old, the great 1906 earthquake stopped its clock but left the 240-foot clock tower standing.

A greater and more lasting threat came by the late 1930s. Ferries had been central to San Francisco's economic life.

From the era of the Gold Rush onward, north and east access to the city was exclusively by water, but construction of the Golden Gate Bridge and the Bay Bridge made ground transportation primary.

The Ferry Building, though never abandoned, entered into long years of neglect and decline.

It was not until it endured another major earthquake in 1989 that preservationists decided to renovate it as a city landmark and destination.

In 2003 major restoration was complete, and the old Ferry Building began its second life as one of the newest and liveliest of urban spaces.

The building's most dramatic features are the majestic clock tower, modeled after the Spanish Renaissance campanile of the Giralda Cathedral of Seville and the vast central nave with its 660-foot skylight, its 34 massive windows and its richly decorated mosaic floors.

Illuminating natural light pours into the building that flows out to a city-side plaza and a bay-side promenade.

Despite its popularity, even on a day when fair weather brings a throng, the indoor and outdoor spaces and the many areas for dining, strolling or just people-watching never feel congested.

Only the long lines for the restrooms suggest that the renovators failed to fully imagine how many would gather to see their architectural achievement.

Visitors sample hummus, learn about rare mushrooms, buy potted herbs and festive bouquets, linger at Peet's Coffee & Tea or Imperial Tea Court, listen to the hum and buzz of professional knife sharpening, browse travel and boating titles at Book Passage, select from 200 rotating flavors -- 36 available each day -- of gelato and sorbet at Ciao Bella or luxuriate in the scent of botanical essences in candles at Mill Valley Candleworks, all in a day at the Ferry Building.

If they wish, they can follow the route from shop to stall and chat with merchants and growers as Prince Charles and his Duchess Camilla did in autumn 2005, a royal visit that brought international attention to San Francisco's role in the movement for organic and sustainable practices, historic preservation and artisanal production, all causes championed by the Prince of Wales.

And, once again, it is even possible to book a ferry ride.

Cruises currently depart several times throughout late morning and afternoon on Saturday. Additional days and hours become available in spring and summer.

The stately Ferry Building, the place that veteran San Francisco journalist Herb Caen called the candle on the city's birthday cake, celebrates the present without forgetting its past.

Contact Anna Baldasty at (408) 551-1918 or abaldasty