Maiden Lane (San Francisco)

Maiden Lane (San Francisco)
A section of Maiden Lane

Coordinates: 37°47′17.23″N 122°24′21.67″W / 37.7881194°N 122.4060194°W / 37.7881194; -122.4060194 Maiden Lane is a short, pedestrian-only street in San Francisco, California. It is notable for its proximity to Union Square and its concentration of upscale retailers, including Chanel, Marc Jacobs, and Yves Saint Laurent. It is also home to Frank Lloyd Wright's V. C. Morris Gift Shop, built in 1948 and currently occupied by Xanadu Gallery.

Prior to the 1906 earthquake, the street was called Morton Street and was the center of San Francisco's red-light district. The earthquake, which leveled much of the city, rendered this two-block stretch rubble. It was renamed Maiden Lane by an enterprising jeweler who wanted to conjure the Maiden Lanes of London and New York.[1]

Jane Jacobs described the street:

Starting with nothing more remarkable than the dirty, neglected back sides of department stores and nondescript buildings, a group of merchants made this alley into one of the finest shopping streets in America. Maiden Lane has trees along its sidewalks, redwood benches to invite the sightseer or window shopper or buyer to linger, sidewalks of colored paving, sidewalk umbrellas when the sun gets hot. All the merchants do things differently: some put out tables with their wares, some hang out window boxes and grow vines. All the buildings, old and new, look individual; the most celebrated is an expanse of tan brick with a curved doorway, by architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The pedestrian's welfare is supreme; during the rush of the day, he has the street. Maiden Lane is an oasis with an irresistible sense of intimacy, cheerfulness, and spontaneity. It is one of San Francisco's most powerful downtown magnets. Downtown can't be remade into a bunch of Maiden Lanes; and it would be insufferably quaint if it were. But the potential illustrated can be realized by any city and in its own particular way.[2]
—Jane Jacobs, Fortune, 1958

References

  1. ^ http://www.concierge.com/cntraveler/articles/500472
  2. ^ Jacobs, Jane (1958). "Downtown is for People (Fortune Classic, 1958)". CNN. http://features.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2011/09/18/downtown-is-for-people-fortune-classic-1958/. Retrieved 9 November 2011. 

External links


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