Pacific Street went through many transformations from its early days of the 1860s when it was the main thoroughfare for the vice-ridden Barbary Coast. The Barbary Coast was born during the California Gold Rush of 1849 when the population of San Francisco was growing at an exponential rate due to a rapid influx of tens of thousands of miners trying to find gold. The early decades of the Barbary Coast were marred by persistent lawlessness, gambling, administrative graft, vigilante justice, and prostitution. The Barbary Coast's most violent and vice-ridden days occurred between the 1860s to the 1880s, when its theft, harassment issues, and violence caused most San Franciscans to avoid the area.