The fairgrounds are now the Marina District, Marina Green and the east end of the Presidio. Almost nothing from 1915 is left on the ground except the Palace of Fine Arts, which was rebuilt in the 1960s, and the line of the shore. Even so, a walk from the palace east toward Fort Mason passes over where the courts, the Tower of Jewels and the Zone stood. This guide gives the best locations the sources support. Most are approximate, and we say so where they are.
1. The Palace of Fine Arts
Where: 3301 Lyon Street, at the west edge of the Marina. Confidence: certain.
Start at the Palace of Fine Arts, the only fair structure still standing on its original site. The rotunda and colonnade were rebuilt in concrete between 1964 and 1967, and the curving exhibition hall behind them keeps its original steel frame. The lagoon dates from 1915, though its edges have been reshaped. In 1915 the palace closed the west end of the main group of exhibit palaces. Just east of it, roughly across today's Baker Street, stood the Palace of Education and then the Court of the Four Seasons. The fair's Baker Street entrance was near here, at the edge of the Presidio. For the palace's history, see The Art Exhibition.
2. Detour west: Crissy Field
Where: the east end of Crissy Field and the Presidio flats, west of Lyon Street. Confidence: the general area is well established; individual pavilion sites are approximate.
The fair continued west into the Presidio. The pavilions of the foreign nations and the states stood from about Lyon Street westward, along the Avenue of Nations and the Avenue of States (see Nations and States, Avenue of Nations and Avenue of States). Farther west were the livestock section and the racetrack, with its drill ground and polo field (see Live Stock Section and Race Track, Aviation Field, Drill Grounds, Polo Field and Stadium). All of that land was government property, filled by the Exposition from the soft Presidio marsh. The Park Service places the state and foreign buildings at the east end of today's Crissy Field. The racetrack became the Army's Crissy Field airfield in 1919–21, and the Park Service says its oval can still be traced at the edge of the grassy airfield. A centennial photo pairing puts the Netherlands pavilion near today's Yacht Road and Old Mason Street, but treat that as approximate.
3. Marina Green and the harbor
Where: Marina Boulevard between the harbor and Webster Street. Confidence: good.
Head back east along the water. The long lawn of Marina Green was the fair's North Gardens and esplanade, where crowds watched the auto races, Art Smith's flights and the fireworks over the bay. Todd's Marina, the drive along the shore, bounded them on the north (see The Marina, the Esplanade and the North Gardens). After the fair the Exposition bought the blocks along this shore so that the waterfront would stay public, and the Park Service calls the green a surviving garden element of the fair. The Yacht Harbor survives too. In 1915 the Scintillator's 48 searchlights stood on the mole that formed its breakwater, and Todd says both were left to the city as a permanent harbor. From here the palaces would have filled the view to the south, behind the gardens.
4. The Scott Street axis
Where: Scott Street, from Marina Boulevard south to Chestnut Street. Confidence: the axis is certain; exact points along it are approximate.
Scott Street was the spine of the fair. The main entrance, the Scott Street gate, was at its south end, near Chestnut Street. The Official Guide's own streetcar directions ran to "Scott, to Chestnut." Everything important lay on a line north from that gate. At the gate were the South Gardens and Calder's Fountain of Energy. North of them was the 435-foot Tower of Jewels, which served as the entrance into the palaces. Beyond it came the Court of the Universe, and at the water's edge the 185-foot Column of Progress.
Walk south from the water along Scott. According to the historian Gray Brechin, the Column of Progress stood at the foot of Scott Street and was not pulled down until the 1920s. The Court of the Universe filled the blocks between the water and the Tower. For the Tower itself, the Museum of the City of San Francisco's map puts it at about Scott Street and Capra Way, and other accounts say near Chestnut and Scott. The truth is probably somewhere between. The Fountain of Energy and the grandstand where the opening ceremonies were held stood in the gardens just inside the gate. The Y.W.C.A. building was just west of the gate and the Press Building just east, according to the Official Guide.
The south edge of the fair ran roughly along Chestnut Street, where the private land Todd describes began. Todd says the great green hedge of ice plant ran from the Fillmore gate four blocks past the Scott Street entrance and then turned south along the line of Divisadero. The Museum of the City of San Francisco's map suggests some gates stood as far south as Lombard.
5. Divisadero and Beach: the western courts
Where: around Divisadero Street between Chestnut and Beach. Confidence: approximate.
West of the Scott Street axis lay the western half of the main group. According to the annotated map, the Court of the Four Seasons was about where Beach and Divisadero streets meet today. The Official Guide puts the Palace of Horticulture with its great glass dome at the west end of the South Gardens, and a centennial photo pairing places it near Divisadero and Chestnut. Kelham's Court of Palms opened off the south wall in this half of the group, with Fraser's End of the Trail at its entrance.
6. Fillmore Street: Machinery and Festival Hall
Where: Fillmore Street between Chestnut and Marina Boulevard. Confidence: approximate.
East of Scott, the eastern courts (Abundance and Flowers) and the eastern palaces ran toward Fillmore Street. The enormous Palace of Machinery closed the east end of the group near the Fillmore Street gate. Several modern sources place it around Fillmore and Beach, with part of its footprint now under Marina Middle School. Festival Hall stood at the east end of the South Gardens. We have not found a source that pins it to a modern address. Todd says the Exposition's ferry slip, where railroad cars were floated across the bay and run straight into the palaces, was built off the foot of Fillmore Street. The ferry slip is gone (see Exposition Ferry Slip and Ferry Building).
7. The Zone: Fillmore to Van Ness
Where: roughly along Chestnut and Francisco streets from Fillmore east to Van Ness Avenue, south of Fort Mason. Confidence: the district is well established; individual shows are approximate.
East of Fillmore began the Zone, the fair's amusement street, which ran about 3,000 feet from Fillmore to Van Ness. Todd describes it as starting south of Fort Mason and running west to Fillmore. The street bent at Laguna Street and had a circular plaza at Gough. The best survivor here is a park. Lobos Square, the block bounded by Laguna, Webster, Bay and Chestnut streets, was inside the concessions district. The Exposition had to return it to the city as a park. It is now the Moscone Recreation Center. Centennial photo pairings place the Japan Beautiful concession near Gough and Bay and the Dayton Flood show near Francisco and Laguna. The Van Ness Avenue gate led straight onto the Zone, and Todd says a good part of the fair's eastern end, including 18 acres, was lent by the Army from Fort Mason. See The Zone.
8. Fort Mason
Where: Fort Mason, at the foot of Van Ness Avenue and Laguna Street. Confidence: good.
End the walk at Fort Mason, now part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The railway tunnel under the Fort Mason hill was dug largely because of the fair, to link the Belt Line railroad to the grounds and the Presidio. According to the Park Service, it still exists. Todd notes that the fair also gave the government a new road to the Fort Mason transport docks. The Army transports Logan and Crook were moored there on March 14, 1915, when Lincoln Beachey's plane fell into the water between them (see People and Days).
Beyond the Marina
For survivors of the fair elsewhere, see What Survived. In short: the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in the Civic Center, which the Exposition built; the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park, a permanent copy of the French Pavilion; the Pioneer Mother in Golden Gate Park near Stow Lake; Calder's Star Maiden at One Sansome Street; and Frank Brangwyn's murals in the Herbst Theatre.
Sources
- Frank Morton Todd, The Story of the Exposition (1921): vol. 1, chs. XXXII–XXXIII (site, entrances), LVI (land and Lobos Square), LXII (gardens and the hedge), LXIX (ferry slip and railway); vol. 5, ch. XXXVIII (the Marina purchase; the Fort Mason tunnel and roads).
- Official Guide of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition (1915): South Gardens; Y.W.C.A. and Press buildings; streetcar lines.
- Museum of the City of San Francisco, "Map of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition" (sfmuseum.org/hist/ppiemap.html).
- National Park Service, "Legacy of the PPIE," "Crissy Field," and "The 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition" (Presidio of San Francisco); NPS PPIE brochure (2021).
- Gray Brechin, "Destruction of the Fair," FoundSF.
- San Francisco Heritage, "The Marina District" and "Moscone Field House."
- SFist, "Check Out These Restored Postcards" (February 9, 2015), then-and-now photo pairings.
- California Office of Historic Preservation, California Historical Landmark nomination, "Palace of Fine Arts" (2021).
The fairground today
Present-day photographs and video, made for the film 288 Days, of where the fair stood and what survives of it around the city. Frames without a picture yet are slots for shots still to be taken.
Palace of Fine Arts
East bank of the lagoon, on the path off Baker St between North Point and Bay, the rotunda dead ahead across the water
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Inside the colonnade on the lagoon side, starting at the south end and walking north toward the rotunda
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Centre of the rotunda floor
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Anywhere on the palace: the rotunda drum, column bases, the coffers, the lagoon railings, the planting boxes
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Same spot as pfa-across-lagoon
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Chestnut Street, then and now
Chestnut St at Divisadero, south-east corner, looking north up Divisadero
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The north sidewalk of Chestnut, Divisadero to Fillmore, six blocks
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Chestnut St at Scott, south-west corner, looking north-east across the intersection
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Chestnut St at Fillmore, south-east corner, looking north up Fillmore
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Marina Safeway, 15 Marina Blvd, from the lot, and from the Marina Green side looking back at the store
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Beach St or North Point St between Divisadero and Scott, any block of the stucco rows; also Marina Blvd's row facing the Green
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The Scott Street axis
Scott St near Capra Way (about here; other accounts say nearer Chestnut). Shoot from the sidewalk or the crosswalk, looking north down Scott toward the Bay
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Scott St at Chestnut, north-east corner, looking north up Scott
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Scott St between North Point and Beach (about here)
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Marina Blvd at Cervantes Blvd, stand on the Marina Green side, looking south across Marina Blvd up the Scott St line
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The vanished palaces
Beach St at Divisadero (about here)
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Divisadero St at Chestnut (about here), looking north
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Pierce St between Chestnut and Francisco (about here), looking west down the line of the gardens
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Fillmore St at Bay, by Marina Middle School
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The shore
Middle of Marina Green, near the flagpole
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Marina Blvd at the harbor, by the St. Francis Yacht Club
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Out on the breakwater east of the St. Francis Yacht Club, toward the Wave Organ
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East Beach at Crissy Field, at the water's edge
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Crissy Field
Yacht Rd at Old Mason St, east end of Crissy Field
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The middle of the grass airfield at Crissy Field (walk in from the promenade)
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The boardwalk and footbridge over the marsh at the east end of Crissy Field, off Mason St by the Crissy Field Center
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West end of the grass airfield at Crissy Field, by the old hangars on Mason St
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Mason St at Crissy Field, the row of restored Army hangars
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Lyon St at Bay St, looking north along the Presidio wall toward the palace
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The Zone
Chestnut St at Fillmore, looking east along Chestnut
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Moscone Rec Center, from the Chestnut St side looking across the fields
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Gough St at Francisco
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Van Ness Ave at Bay St, looking west
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West portal, behind the Marina Safeway at Laguna and Marina Blvd (east portal is at Aquatic Park by Van Ness)
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The Black Point bluff at upper Fort Mason, above the piers, west edge of the Great Meadow
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The Fort Mason Center piers, from the pier apron looking out
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Aerials (drone)
Launch from Baker St / the Palace grounds side (San Francisco Recreation and Parks property, film permit and drone authorization required); orbit the rotunda at 150–250 ft
Aerial placeholder. Drone footage is flown under permit by the production; not accepting submissions.
Launch from the Marina Green side (SF Rec & Park) or a boat; fly north of the seawall over the water at 300–400 ft, looking south over the Marina to Pacific Heights
Aerial placeholder. Drone footage is flown under permit by the production; not accepting submissions.
Launch on the Broadway / Lyon St public right-of-way at the top of the steps (city street, not the Presidio, the Presidio wall is the west edge of Lyon and is off limits)
Aerial placeholder. Drone footage is flown under permit by the production; not accepting submissions.
Launch from Scott St (city street) between Chestnut and Marina Blvd; fly the axis at 200–350 ft
Aerial placeholder. Drone footage is flown under permit by the production; not accepting submissions.
Cannot be flown from Fort Mason (national park). Fly from over Aquatic Park's water or from a boat off the Fort Mason piers, at 250–400 ft, looking west along the whole shoreline
Aerial placeholder. Drone footage is flown under permit by the production; not accepting submissions.
Overlooks
Broadway at Lyon, top of the steps, looking straight down Lyon to the palace and the Bay
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North edge of Alta Plaza Park at Jackson and Scott, looking north down Scott St
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Elsewhere in the city
Civic Center Plaza, facing the auditorium across Grove St (City Hall at your back)
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War Memorial Veterans Building, 401 Van Ness, inside the Herbst Theatre
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Lincoln Park, the Court of Honor in front of the museum, with The Thinker
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Golden Gate Park near Stow Lake (search 'Pioneer Mother Monument')
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The public atrium at One Sansome St (Sutter and Sansome)
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Fifth St at Mission, looking at the Mint's Fifth St front
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Foot of Market St, from the Embarcadero plaza
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