The first state-owned Fisherman's Wharf was built in 1884 at the foot of Union Street -- a long, narrow rectangle jutting into the bay, about 450 feet long and 150 feet wide. In 1900, California set aside the waterfront between Taylor and Leavenworth streets specifically for commercial fishing boats. Italian, Chinese, and other immigrant fishermen worked these docks for generations, and their legacy survives in restaurants that have not changed hands. Fishermen's Grotto, Pompei's Grotto, and Alioto's all go back three generations of the same family ownership. When business leaders debated allowing an In-N-Out Burger into the neighborhood, they approved it only because the chain was family-owned -- unlike every other fast food operation they had rejected over the years.

Fisherman's Wharf is home to one of the richest clusters of maritime history in the country. Hyde Street Pier, part of the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, berths a fleet of preserved vessels including the Eureka, the largest wooden passenger ferry ever built; the Balclutha, a nineteenth-century full-rigged cargo ship; and the USS Pampanito, a World War II submarine open for tours. Nearby Pier 45 holds a chapel dedicated to the "Lost Fishermen" of San Francisco and Northern California -- a reminder that commercial fishing was, and for some still is, a dangerous livelihood. The Musee Mecanique, a collection of antique coin-operated machines, sits at the pier alongside Ghirardelli Square, the Cannery Shopping Center, and Pier 39 with its resident colony of California sea lions.

The neighborhood is served by two of San Francisco's iconic cable car lines. The Powell/Mason line, dating to 1888, terminates at Bay and Mason Streets. The Powell/Hyde line, added in 1957, ends at Aquatic Park. Both routes climb over Russian and Nob Hills from their southern terminus at Powell and Market Streets. Heritage streetcars were added along the Embarcadero in 2000, connecting the wharf to the Ferry Building and downtown. The Blue and Gold Fleet runs ferry service from Pier 39 to Sausalito. Until the early 2020s, ferries also departed from Pier 41 for Tiburon, Angel Island, and Vallejo. The SkyStar Wheel began operating in November 2023, relocating from Golden Gate Park to coincide with the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.

Despite its redevelopment into a tourist attraction during the 1970s and 1980s, the wharf remained home to active fishermen and their fleets. A $15 million plan proposed in 2010 aimed to revitalize the area's appeal to residents as well as visitors. The tension is real: locals avoid the wharf, yet the neighborhood contains genuine historic fabric that most tourist districts cannot match. The 1962 film noir Experiment in Terror, the 1985 James Bond film A View to a Kill, and the 1970s police drama The Streets of San Francisco all used the wharf as a filming location. Tower Records operated a flagship store at Bay and Columbus for years. Williams-Sonoma has its world headquarters at the foot of Van Ness. The wharf is simultaneously the most visited and most dismissed neighborhood in San Francisco -- a place where three generations of family-owned restaurants serve clam chowder in sourdough bowls next to the very docks where their grandparents once hauled in the day's catch.