Downtown Downtown includes Civic Center, Union Square the hub of San Francisco hotels and shopping and Nob Hill with its fabulous views of the city. In the heart of downtown San Francisco, big-city bustle, lights and color cheer crowds of shoppers and theater patrons far into the evening. The Powell Street cable car begins its hilly, clanging run to Fisherman s Wharf at Hallidie Plaza, three blocks south of the square, while to the east, the world s most elegant boutiques hold court. Surrounding the square are many of the City s finest department stores.
Union square is within walking distance of most downtown hotels.
Few cities rival San Francisco s Civic Center in architectural splendor. The great dome of City Hall meets its aural counterparts across the street at the ornate War Memorial Opera House and at Davies Symphony Hall. The symphony, opera and ballet all make their homes among these grand beaux arts edifices. Market and Powell Sts. The City s nineteenth-century nabobs made themselves at home on Nob Hill, where those little cable cars climb halfway to the stars and which still turns in a bravura performance with its grand hotels and breathtaking view of the waterfront.