Main Street Historic Enclave and Sailors' Union of the Pacific: Maritime Roots

Why is it significant?

Pause at the corner of Main and Harrison Streets outside the striking Streamline Moderne headquarters of the Sailors' Union of the Pacific.

Key Facts

Open the walk

Pause at the corner of Main and Harrison Streets outside the striking Streamline Moderne headquarters of the Sailors' Union of the Pacific. Dedicated in 1950, this handsome concrete structure was designed by architect William Gladstone Merchant as the administrative and hiring hall for the union founded in 1885 by legendary maritime labor organizer Andrew Furuseth. Furuseth, known as the 'Abraham Lincoln of the Sea', dedicated his life to freeing merchant sailors from the brutal indentured servitude and corporal punishment that plagued nineteenth-century sailing ships.

Look closely at the building's nautical architectural detailing. Curved glass brick corners, porthole windows, and a stainless-steel ship's mast rising above the parapet evoke the forward bridge of an ocean liner slicing through heavy seas. In the grand central hiring hall, merchant mariners historically gathered beneath a two-story skylight to bid on shipping voyages to Asia, Alaska, and South America, based on a democratic hiring board that eliminated employer favoritism and kickbacks.

This union hall stands as a monument to the monumental 1934 West Coast Waterfront Strike, when longshoremen and maritime sailors struck for eighty-three days. On July 5, 1934, known as 'Bloody Thursday', police fired into picketing workers just blocks from here, killing two men and sparking a four-day San Francisco General Strike that paralyzed the city and secured union representation for maritime labor forever. Taking time to absorb this physical setting connects you directly with the generations of master builders, civil rights pioneers, and community advocates whose perseverance shaped San Francisco into a global capital of artistic diversity and cultural freedom. Taking time to absorb this physical setting connects you directly with the generations of master builders, civil rights pioneers, and community advocates whose perseverance shaped San Francisco into a global capital of artistic diversity and cultural freedom.

Look above the doorway at the bronze bas-relief sculpted by Jacques Schnier, depicting heroic merchant seamen hauling ropes and navigating ocean waves.

Walk north along Spear Street for two blocks to Mission Street, entering the historic atrium of Rincon Center.