The State - News from April 30, 1987

Fisherman’s Wharf may draw more tourists than any other San Francisco attraction, but city planners say the maritime and fishing enterprises are being overwhelmed and crowded out of existence by tacky, unrelated businesses. A report released by the San Francisco Planning Department characterized the 150-acre area as bland, boring, hard to find and inhospitable. The report said Fish Alley--heart of the city’s fishing industry--is all but hidden and “views down the narrow alleyways penetrating the area give only a small idea about the function.” Planners complained that unrelated businesses take up 96% of the wharf’s space, while new architecture was of a “visually bland roadside commercial quality, unsuitable for a major tourist destination.”