Kearny Street
Kearny Street, pronounced
kar'nee (car'knee), in
San Francisco, California runs from
Market Street on the south to
The Embarcadero on the north. Along its southern end, the street serves as the border separating the
Financial District from the city's
Union Square and
Chinatown districts. Further north, it passes over the top of
Telegraph Hill.
Kearny Street was named for
Stephen W. Kearny.[
1] Landmarks along Kearny Street include
Lotta's Fountain at Market Street, where
1906 Earthquake commemorations are held; the
Bank of America Center, the city's second tallest skyscraper; the location of the old
Hall of Justice at Kearny and Clay Streets now occupied by the Holiday Inn; the eastern border of
Portsmouth Square, the original
Plaza of the
pueblo of
Yerba Buena; and
Coit Tower, at the top of Telegraph Hill.
At Kearny and Clay, the first
cable car in America, invented by
Andrew S. Hallidie, on
August 2,
1873, climbed five blocks up the Clay Street hill.
*O'Brien, Robert,
This is San Francisco. 1948. 1994 Chronicle Books ISBN 0-8118-0578-6
