Pier 70

The Dogpatch neighborhood surrounds Potrero Hill and Potrero Point. Here you are in the center of San Francisco's industry.This used to be Mission pasture land, and then part of a ranch owned by de Haro twins, sons of Don Francisco de Haro, first and fifth Alcalde of San Francisco. They were brutally murdered by Kit Carson on the orders of General Frémont^{1Founder of the California Republican Party and first Republican presidential candidate, known for his expeditions that opened the way to the West for USA, his massacres of indigenous people of California, and the short-lived Frémont Emancipation in Missouri.} and the land judicially stolen from the family by an anti-Californio Supreme Court. Starting with the Gold Rush Potrero Point became an important ship-building and manufacturing site. Here waves of cheap immigrant labor produced everything from locomotives and sugar to blasting powder, mining equipment, and cordage. The workers' houses, constructed between 1870 and 1930, form the core of the neighborhood. During WWI the Potrero Point shipyards were one of the largest U. S. ship producers ^{2The shipyards were then owned by Bethelem Steel, which was owned by Charles M. Schwab. Mr. Schwab was tasked by President Wilson with running the Emergency Fleet Corporation that had authority over all U. S. shipbuilding.}, launching an average of three destroyers per month. WWII brought another increase in shipbuilding. After the war, as heavy industry declined, the neighborhood became colonized by artists, craftspeople, and start-ups. Building 12, in particular, is an art space where one can frequently find something new and unexpected. Don't just stop here - go all the way out to the water to sit in the sun and revel in not having to rivet iron plates or pour molten steel today. ^{1Founder of the California Republican Party and first Republican presidential candidate, known for his expeditions that opened the way to the West for USA, his massacres of indigenous people of California, and the short-lived Frémont Emancipation in Missouri.}Founder of the California Republican Party and first Republican presidential candidate, known for his expeditions that opened the way to the West for USA, his massacres of indigenous people of California, and the short-lived Frémont Emancipation in Missouri. ^{2The shipyards were then owned by Bethelem Steel, which was owned by Charles M. Schwab. Mr. Schwab was tasked by President Wilson with running the Emergency Fleet Corporation that had authority over all U. S. shipbuilding.}The shipyards were then owned by Bethelem Steel, which was owned by Charles M. Schwab. Mr. Schwab was tasked by President Wilson with running the Emergency Fleet Corporation that had authority over all U. S. shipbuilding.