The Changing Geography of San Francisco

If the hills create an immutable geography in their rising and then plunging down to the bay, the changing tides of economic growth and contraction, technological innovation and constant development create a different geography. You can see the city and feel its meaning in this ever changing pattern of economic activity.

Of course there was always the downtown financial district, depending how far back you wish to go with “always”, where banks and the Pacific Coast Stock Exchange ruled supreme. Bank of America put up its iconic granite structure on California and Kearny, back when A.P. Gianinni’s home was still San Francisco, before banking interests in North Carolina spirited away one of our key businesses and left us comparatively powerless and mute.

They also left the large B of A branch network to fend for itself: many ugly visual spaces from yesteryear with an equally ugly carpeting and paint scheme and blow-up photos on the walls featuring California agricultural scenes. This is not to say that the staff are not accommodating and helpful, but I suspect more rapid turnover has taken its toll.

Back to banking branches and financial services headquarters in the city (of course the Transamerica Pyramid stands assertive and tall). There was and still is Wells Fargo headquarters, not far away from Bank of America, with its iconic stagecoach (isn’t San Francisco one big iconic showroom?).

Now Wells puts forth its living-room merchandising face in city branches: welcome, come in, walk past rows of friendly Wells Fargo staff and do your banking at the teller stations deep in the rear. While this is probably a good device to discourage hold-ups since the hapless robber would have an obstacle course to transit on his way out of the banking living room, it also enables multiple customer service opportunities as well. If one person doesn’t help you, including the one currently on duty inside the door, another will. This is reinforced by Wells Fargo’s community activities, from hosting professional receptions in the Castro, for example, to having its officers and agents participate in job fairs and information forums throughout the year.

More to come.

There are innumerable things to say about the geographies of San Francisco, but these will have to wait for a next day. Subjects include the new transportation behemoth at First and Mission currently under construction (and what came before that); the various moves of the usually smaller technology start-ups from around South Beach and Second to now Twitter and others at mid-Market; the whole South of Market and mid-Market phenomena; plans for the World Cup facilities and the comparatively recent advent of gigantic cruise ships; and other ways to slice this delightful town of ours. This leaves out the important cultural and entertainment venues and makes no pretense of mapping the ever-changing and highly sophisticated culinary geography of San Francisco the city.