Recently, I rose with the sun and went to Pier 45 hoping to see the fisherpeople working. Great luck…the Lucky Lady was unloading nearly 300 swordfish taken 1,000 miles due west in the Pacific. Each, up to 300 pounds, was pulled from the hold, emptied of ice, hoisted to the wharf, weighed, and laid on pallets.
San Francisco’s fishing business began in 1850 when fishermen moored their boats between Clay and Commercial Streets at Montgomery Street, now known as the Financial District. Over the years, Fisherman’s Wharf moved to the west along the bay arriving, in 1900, at Taylor and Jefferson Streets. Through much of its history it was called “Italy Harbour.”
In 1926, Pier 45 rose at the wharf to accomodate the largest commercial ships. It moved war material during WWII, was Foreign Trade Zone 3 after, and today is the center of San Francisco’s fishing business and a historical entertainment venue. Take a walk back in time playing 19th and 20th century arcade machines at Musee Mecanique and look through a window to 20th century war on the WWII U.S.S. Jeremiah O’Brien and submarine U.S.S. Pampanito.