Another SF Secret: There was an article in a recent San Francisco Chronicle by Peter Hartlaub about the old ferryboat, the Klamath, retired from service in 1956. She’s now tied up at Pier 9 on the Embarcadero, open to the public and free. It’s a great spot to have your lunch, like I did last week. (Thumbnail images)
The Klamath is second from the bottom in the 1957 picture from the Chronicle.
An F Line Streetcar drops you off right by Pier 9.
The Klamath is docked on the south side of Pier 9 where the SS Momacdawn was docked in the opensfhistory.org picture from 1949.
The south side of Pier 9 in 1966: (opensfhistory.org)
Another view of Pier 9 from the north side in the 1960s: (San Francisco Library Archives)
Pier 9 used to be Pier 11, built at the end of the Nineteenth Century. It was demolished in 1935 and rebuilt as Pier 9. The old photo is Pier 11 in 1907. (Vintage picture from Port City by Michael R. Corbett)
Let’s go aboard the Klamath.
The second deck is open for people to sit and relax as long as they want. There weren’t many people on the boat last Wednesday; I don’t think a lot of people are aware that the Klamath is open to the public.
There are some interesting pictures and stories on the walls of the boat, like this newspaper story of when the Klamath collided with a submarine in the Bay in 1944.
The views from the third deck are the best part of the visit.
The Ferry Building, Salesforce Tower, and the Embarcadero Center, among others, seen from the Third deck:
And a great view of the Bay Bridge.
Pier 9 under construction, looking toward Telegraph Hill in 1935: (San Francisco Library Archives)
I’ll close with a television drama scene near Pier 9 in a 1957 episode of in a little known series that ran from 1957 to 1958, ‘Harbor Command’. Although the show only ran for one season, it has some great San Francisco locations from the 1950s. Here, in an episode entitled ‘Gold Smugglers’ two dental assistants have been forging the dentist’s name to order gold that they’ve been stockpiling. They murder the doctor when he finds out what they’ve been doing, and they attempt to smuggle the gold out of San Francisco. Here, they’re trying to make their escape in a taxi on the Embarcadero; Pier 9 is in the background. Of course, they didn’t get away. You can see construction work on the soon to be finished Embarcadero Freeway in the right background of the show scenes.
San Francisco Film Locations Then & Now 
‘Forest Safety Need Stressed’ – Although irrelevant to the topic, it got my attention. It is such an unpleasant issue nowadays, but that is a long story. ferries are not part of the history of the Santa Clara Valley, for obvious reasons. This regions never utilized ferries like those on the water did.
I found that interesting too. (Even more interesting than the decapitated body murder charge article that followed)
Well, that was a bit . . . odd. This is California, though.