Ghirardelli Square

Ghirardelli Square is a major tourist attraction near Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. There are many shops and restaurants that attract thousands throughout the year. The entire city block where Ghirardelli Square sits was purchased in 1893 by Domingo Ghirardelli. He wanted to make the city block the headquarters of his company, the Ghirardelli Chocolate Company. The headquarters stayed here until the early 1960s when the company was bought out by the Golden Grain Macaroni Company. They moved the headquarters offsite and sold the square. The Square was soon to be saved by William Roth and his mother who did not want the place to be converted to rows of apartment buildings. Instead, they hired landscape architect Lawrence Halprin to convert the square to a restaurant and retail complex. And it is so that the square and its brick buildings could be preserved. In 1983 Ghirardelli Square was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. But the view of the square without housing will soon be a thing of the past, because there are plans to have upscale housing installed on the square. There are many hotels in San Francisco that are just a few steps away from Fisherman’s Wharf and Ghirardelli Square. These hotels will all be able to accommodate your trip and put you in a prime location for sightseeing.

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