Fifty places to stand in the Marina, the Presidio and the city where something of the 1915 fair happened, with what stood there and how to find the spot. Each has the code the film uses for the shot of it. Start at the top of the Lyon Street steps and end at the Marina Safeway, or pick a group.
Stand here: Broadway at Lyon, top of the steps, looking straight down Lyon to the palace and the Bay · Open in Maps
The whole west end of the fair lay below this hill: the palace, the lagoon, the state and foreign buildings on the flats.
In the gazetteer: Palace of Fine Arts
Stand here: North edge of Alta Plaza Park at Jackson and Scott, looking north down Scott St · Open in Maps
Scott St was the fair's spine. From up here the Tower of Jewels would have stood dead center on the axis, 435 ft tall.
In the gazetteer: Tower of Jewels
Stand here: Scott St near Capra Way (about here; other accounts say nearer Chestnut). Shoot from the sidewalk or the crosswalk, looking north down Scott toward the Bay · Open in Maps
The 435-ft Tower of Jewels stood over this intersection, straddling the entrance from the South Gardens into the Court of the Universe. Everything important lay on this line north to the water.
In the gazetteer: Tower of Jewels
Stand here: Scott St at Chestnut, north-east corner, looking north up Scott · Open in Maps
The Scott Street gate, the fair's main entrance, with the South Gardens and Calder's Fountain of Energy just inside. The Official Guide's streetcar directions ran to 'Scott, to Chestnut'.
In the gazetteer: South Gardens · Fountain of Energy
Stand here: Scott St between North Point and Beach (about here) · Open in Maps
The center of the fair: the great oval court with the Arches of the Rising and Setting Sun, the Nations of the East and West on top, the Column of Progress framed to the north.
In the gazetteer: Court of the Universe
Stand here: Marina Blvd at Cervantes Blvd, stand on the Marina Green side, looking south across Marina Blvd up the Scott St line · Open in Maps
The 185-ft Column of Progress stood in what became this intersection and was not pulled down until the 1920s, the last piece of the main group to go.
In the gazetteer: Column of Progress
Stand here: Beach St at Divisadero (about here) · Open in Maps
The Court of the Four Seasons, Henry Bacon's quiet western court. In the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake this part of the fill liquefied; the Marina's worst damage was on the old fairground.
In the gazetteer: Court of the Four Seasons
Stand here: Divisadero St at Chestnut (about here), looking north · Open in Maps
Bakewell & Brown's Palace of Horticulture, with its 186-ft glass dome, closed the west end of the South Gardens. A centennial photo pairing puts it near this corner.
In the gazetteer: Palace of Horticulture
Stand here: Pierce St between Chestnut and Francisco (about here), looking west down the line of the gardens · Open in Maps
Festival Hall, the fair's concert hall, stood here at the east end of the South Gardens facing west toward the Fountain of Energy. Its Austin organ went to the Civic Auditorium.
In the gazetteer: Festival Hall
Stand here: Fillmore St at Bay, by Marina Middle School · Open in Maps
The largest building at the fair, 968 by 368 ft, stood here with its long axis north–south. Part of its footprint is under the school.
In the gazetteer: Palace of Machinery
Stand here: East bank of the lagoon, on the path off Baker St between North Point and Bay, the rotunda dead ahead across the water · Open in Maps
The one fair building still standing where it was built. In 1915 you would have been standing in the Palace of Education's forecourt, looking west over the lagoon exactly as fairgoers did.
In the gazetteer: Palace of Fine Arts · Fine Arts Lagoon
Stand here: Inside the colonnade on the lagoon side, starting at the south end and walking north toward the rotunda · Open in Maps
Maybeck's colonnade, rebuilt in concrete 1964–67 on the original plan. The weeping figures on the boxes atop the columns look inward, as they did in 1915.
In the gazetteer: Palace of Fine Arts
Stand here: Centre of the rotunda floor · Open in Maps
The rotunda is 163½ ft to the top of the dome. Under it in 1915 stood the loan sculpture, with Grafly's Pioneer Mother before the gallery doors.
In the gazetteer: Palace of Fine Arts
Stand here: Anywhere on the palace: the rotunda drum, column bases, the coffers, the lagoon railings, the planting boxes · Open in Maps
The fair was the first exposition with a single color scheme. Jules Guérin chose every color, from the old-ivory travertine of the walls to the French green of the lattices and the pink of the flagpoles. The rebuilt palace still wears his travertine tint, the closest surviving swatch.
In the gazetteer: Palace of Fine Arts
Stand here: Same spot as pfa-across-lagoon · Open in Maps
Ryan floodlit the palace in 1915 as part of the illumination. The modern lighting is the closest thing in the city to the fair's look, we dissolve from this into the 3D night.
In the gazetteer: Palace of Fine Arts · Fine Arts Lagoon
Stand here: Middle of Marina Green, near the flagpole · Open in Maps
The fair's North Gardens and esplanade. Crowds stood here for the auto races, Art Smith's flights and the fireworks. Behind you, where the houses are, rose the north fronts of the palaces.
In the gazetteer: The Marina, the Esplanade and the North Gardens
Stand here: Marina Blvd at the harbor, by the St. Francis Yacht Club · Open in Maps
Left to the city by the Exposition as a permanent harbor, along with its riprap seawall. The breakwater to the north was the Scintillator's pier.
In the gazetteer: Yacht Harbor
Stand here: Out on the breakwater east of the St. Francis Yacht Club, toward the Wave Organ · Open in Maps
Forty-eight searchlights stood on this mole in 1915 and swept the sky over the fair every night. From here the whole illuminated city faced you across the harbor.
In the gazetteer: The Scintillator and the Exposition Illumination · Yacht Harbor
Stand here: East Beach at Crissy Field, at the water's edge · Open in Maps
In 1915 the Golden Gate was an open strait; the bridge came in 1937. The fair's visitors looked out on empty water and the Marin hills.
In the gazetteer: The Marina, the Esplanade and the North Gardens
Stand here: Yacht Rd at Old Mason St, east end of Crissy Field · Open in Maps
The foreign pavilions stood along here from about Lyon St westward. A centennial pairing puts the Netherlands pavilion near this corner; France (the Legion of Honor's original) and Japan were up the slope to the south-west.
In the gazetteer: Avenue of Nations · Netherlands Pavilion
Stand here: The middle of the grass airfield at Crissy Field (walk in from the promenade) · Open in Maps
The fair's racetrack, drill ground and polo field. The Army chose the site for an airfield in 1919, and the Park Service says the oval can still be traced at the edge of the grass.
In the gazetteer: Race Track, Aviation Field, Drill Grounds, Polo Field and Stadium · Live Stock Section
Stand here: The boardwalk and footbridge over the marsh at the east end of Crissy Field, off Mason St by the Crissy Field Center · Open in Maps
The fair filled this marsh for its live-stock pens and drill ground; the Army kept it filled for the airfield. In 2001 the Presidio Trust and the Parks Conservancy dug the marsh out again, the one piece of the fairground returned to what it was before 1912.
Stand here: West end of the grass airfield at Crissy Field, by the old hangars on Mason St · Open in Maps
The fair's race track and polo field, then the Army's runway from 1921, now the lawn. Everything in the distance, the palace dome, the Marina's roofs, was the Exposition.
Stand here: Mason St at Crissy Field, the row of restored Army hangars · Open in Maps
Built for the air station that replaced the fair's race track. The Presidio Trust restored them; the fair's live-stock pavilion stood a few hundred feet east.
Stand here: Lyon St at Bay St, looking north along the Presidio wall toward the palace · Open in Maps
Lyon St was the seam between the city's land and the Army's. The fair ran straight across it, palace to the east, the nations to the west.
In the gazetteer: Inside Inn
Stand here: Chestnut St at Fillmore, looking east along Chestnut · Open in Maps
The Fillmore Street gate. East of here the Zone, the fair's 3,000-ft amusement street, ran along the line of Chestnut. Today it is still the neighborhood's busiest street.
In the gazetteer: The Zone
Stand here: Moscone Rec Center, from the Chestnut St side looking across the fields · Open in Maps
Lobos Square sat inside the Zone; the Exposition had to give it back as a park. It is the one open block of the Zone that is still open.
In the gazetteer: The Zone
Stand here: Gough St at Francisco · Open in Maps
The Zone bent at Laguna and opened into a circular plaza here at Gough, with Japan Beautiful facing it from the north.
In the gazetteer: The Zone · Japan Beautiful
Stand here: Van Ness Ave at Bay St, looking west · Open in Maps
The Van Ness Avenue gate led straight onto the Zone. The Army lent 18 acres of Fort Mason for the fair's eastern end.
In the gazetteer: The Zone
Stand here: West portal, behind the Marina Safeway at Laguna and Marina Blvd (east portal is at Aquatic Park by Van Ness) · Open in Maps
Dug largely for the fair to bring the Belt Line railroad to the grounds. The Park Service says it still exists.
In the gazetteer: Exposition Ferry Slip and Ferry Building
Stand here: The Black Point bluff at upper Fort Mason, above the piers, west edge of the Great Meadow · Open in Maps
The 1915 panoramas of the fair were taken from this hill. Everything from here to the Golden Gate was the Exposition.
In the gazetteer: The Zone · The Marina, the Esplanade and the North Gardens
Stand here: The Fort Mason Center piers, from the pier apron looking out · Open in Maps
The Army transports Logan and Crook were moored off here on March 14, 1915, when Lincoln Beachey's plane came down in the water between them.
In the gazetteer: Exposition Ferry Slip and Ferry Building
Stand here: Chestnut St at Divisadero, south-east corner, looking north up Divisadero · Open in Maps
A block north of here the south wall of the Palace of Education began; the Palace of Horticulture's glass dome rose to the west across the gardens. Divisadero ran straight into the fair's south fence.
Stand here: The north sidewalk of Chestnut, Divisadero to Fillmore, six blocks · Open in Maps
The whole south front of the walled city stood one block north of this sidewalk for its entire length: Education, Liberal Arts, the Tower of Jewels over the gate at Scott, Manufactures, Varied Industries, then the Zone beyond Fillmore.
Stand here: Chestnut St at Scott, south-west corner, looking north-east across the intersection · Open in Maps
The main gate. Turnstiles, the South Gardens and the Fountain of Energy a block in, the Tower of Jewels straddling the axis beyond. This is the corner every 1915 streetcar map pointed to.
Stand here: Chestnut St at Fillmore, south-east corner, looking north up Fillmore · Open in Maps
The Fillmore Street entrance, with the Zone starting a block north on the right · John Barry's 'Zone shrieking at you at one side'. The Palace of Varied Industries closed the view to the left.
Stand here: Marina Safeway, 15 Marina Blvd, from the lot, and from the Marina Green side looking back at the store · Open in Maps
The store stands on the esplanade at the north-east corner of the Palace of Machinery, on made land; the aviation field where Beachey and Art Smith flew lay just beyond it along the water.
Stand here: Beach St or North Point St between Divisadero and Scott, any block of the stucco rows; also Marina Blvd's row facing the Green · Open in Maps
These blocks were the Court of the Four Seasons and the Palace of Liberal Arts. The fair came down in 1916; the streets were cut across the fill in the early 1920s and the Mediterranean-revival houses and apartments went up through the 1920s and 30s.
Stand here: Civic Center Plaza, facing the auditorium across Grove St (City Hall at your back) · Open in Maps
The one large permanent building the Exposition put up. Opened with a masked ball January 9, 1915; Festival Hall's organ was moved here in 1917; the 1920 Democratic convention met here.
In the gazetteer: Exposition Auditorium (Civic Center)
Stand here: War Memorial Veterans Building, 401 Van Ness, inside the Herbst Theatre · Open in Maps
Frank Brangwyn's eight murals from the Court of Abundance hang here.
In the gazetteer: Court of Abundance (Court of Ages) and the Tower of Ages
Stand here: Lincoln Park, the Court of Honor in front of the museum, with The Thinker · Open in Maps
A permanent copy of the fair's French Pavilion, opened Armistice Day 1924. Rodin's Thinker greeted visitors at the 1915 pavilion; it sits in the courtyard now.
In the gazetteer: French Pavilion (Palace of the Legion of Honor)
Stand here: Golden Gate Park near Stow Lake (search 'Pioneer Mother Monument') · Open in Maps
Charles Grafly's bronze, the one big sculpture at the fair that was always meant to last. Installed here in 1940 after decades of neglect.
In the gazetteer: Pioneer Mother Monument
Stand here: The public atrium at One Sansome St (Sutter and Sansome) · Open in Maps
A bronze of the Star Maiden from the Court of the Universe colonnades, a 1983 replica according to the Chronicle.
In the gazetteer: Court of the Universe
Stand here: Fifth St at Mission, looking at the Mint's Fifth St front · Open in Maps
The 1915 commemorative coins, including the octagonal $50, were struck at the San Francisco Mint, this building, the Granite Lady, was the Mint in 1915.
Stand here: Foot of Market St, from the Embarcadero plaza · Open in Maps
Most of the fair's visitors from across the Bay arrived here, then rode the streetcars out to Scott and Chestnut.
Stand here: Launch from Baker St / the Palace grounds side (San Francisco Recreation and Parks property, film permit and drone authorization required); orbit the rotunda at 150–250 ft · Open in Maps
The one fair building still standing where it was built. Seen from above, the lagoon, colonnade and rotunda are exactly Maybeck's 1915 plan.
In the gazetteer: Palace of Fine Arts · Fine Arts Lagoon
Stand here: Launch from the Marina Green side (SF Rec & Park) or a boat; fly north of the seawall over the water at 300–400 ft, looking south over the Marina to Pacific Heights · Open in Maps
Everything in frame from the yacht harbor to Fort Mason and up to Chestnut Street was the Exposition. From this height the grid of the Marina is the fair's ghost.
In the gazetteer: The Marina, the Esplanade and the North Gardens · Court of the Universe
Stand here: Launch on the Broadway / Lyon St public right-of-way at the top of the steps (city street, not the Presidio, the Presidio wall is the west edge of Lyon and is off limits) · Open in Maps
Keith's own view of the fair: the steps run down to Lyon Street, and Lyon ran straight into the Exposition. The palace, the lagoon and the Bay lie at the bottom.
In the gazetteer: Palace of Fine Arts
Stand here: Launch from Scott St (city street) between Chestnut and Marina Blvd; fly the axis at 200–350 ft · Open in Maps
The fair's spine: gate at Chestnut, Tower of Jewels, Court of the Universe, Column of Progress at the water. All of it is under the houses of Scott Street now.
In the gazetteer: Tower of Jewels · Court of the Universe
Stand here: Cannot be flown from Fort Mason (national park). Fly from over Aquatic Park's water or from a boat off the Fort Mason piers, at 250–400 ft, looking west along the whole shoreline · Open in Maps
The 1915 panoramas were made from Fort Mason's hill. This is that view with the modern city, and the master dissolve into the 3D overview of the fair.
In the gazetteer: The Zone · The Marina, the Esplanade and the North Gardens
The 1915 photographs are from the gazetteer; the present-day photographs are by Wikimedia Commons contributors, credited in the film. Stops marked in the film as "shot pending" are being filmed by the production.