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Portsmouth Square pedestrian bridge

Brutalist architecture in CaliforniaChinatown, San FranciscoIncomplete lists from December 2022Pages containing links to subscription-only contentPedestrian bridges in California
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Portsmouth Square pedestrian bridge
Portsmouth Square pedestrian bridge

The Portsmouth Square pedestrian bridge is a prominent architectural landmark in Chinatown, San Francisco that spans over Kearny Street from Portsmouth Square to the second floor and third floor of the Hilton San Francisco Financial District hotel, which houses the Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco.While the bridge is ostensibly meant for pedestrian access to cross the road to the Chinese Culture Center, surveys show that it is rarely used as such, and it gets denigrated by some residents as a "bridge to nowhere." Nevertheless, its brutalist architectural elements and banked sides have made it an attractive space for street skateboarders, from whom it has seen continuous use since the late 1970s, and has been a mainstay in skate media. Skateboarders colloquially call it China Banks. It is also used as a public and private community space. The bridge is currently under consideration for being demolished as part of a complete redesign of Portsmouth Square.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Portsmouth Square pedestrian bridge (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Portsmouth Square pedestrian bridge
Portsmouth Square, San Francisco

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Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 37.795 ° E -122.40472222222 °
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Dr. Rolland and Kathryn Lowe Community Bridge

Portsmouth Square
94113 San Francisco
California, United States
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Portsmouth Square pedestrian bridge
Portsmouth Square pedestrian bridge
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Montgomery Block
Montgomery Block

The Montgomery Block built in 1853 was San Francisco's first fireproof and earthquake resistant building. It came to be known as a Bohemian center from the late 19th to the middle of the 20th century. It was located at 628 Montgomery Street, on the southeast corner of its intersection with Washington Street, today the location of the Transamerica Pyramid. The four-story building was erected in 1853 by Henry Wager Halleck, later general in chief of the Union Army in the Civil War, in the "Barbary Coast" red-light district. Also known as the Monkey Block, it housed many well-known lawyers, financiers, writers, actors, and artists. It also hosted many illustrious visitors, among them Jack London, George Sterling, Lola Montez, Lotta Crabtree, Gelett Burgess, Maynard Dixon, Frank Norris, Ambrose Bierce, Bret Harte, the Booths, and Mark Twain. The site of Montgomery Block is now registered as a California Historical Landmark.The four-stories Montgomery Block was the tallest building west of the Mississippi River when it was built in 1853. It was designed by architect G.P. Cummings. San Franciscans called it "Halleck's Folly" because it was built on a raft of redwood logs.On May 14, 1856, the editor of the Daily Evening Bulletin, James King of William, died in the Montgomery Block, having been shot by James P. Casey, a city supervisor who felt slighted by King's anti-corruption crusading journalism.The building survived the 1906 earthquake and fire.The Montgomery Block was demolished in 1959, even though a preservation movement had begun to emerge in San Francisco. It was replaced by a parking lot and later, the Transamerica Pyramid. The building is remembered for its historic importance as a bohemian center of the city. At his inauguration as Poet Laureate of San Francisco in 1998, Lawrence Ferlinghetti mentioned "the classic old Montgomery Block building, the most famous literary and artistic structure in the West".