It’s a great place to spend the day – and a lot of money – but the quality… oh…my…goodness… The quality is unbelievable. Fresh. Organic. Wonderful.

The Ferry Building opened in 1898 as the main departure/arrival point for the billions of ferries that plied the bay before the Bay and Golden Gate Bridges were built. In 1957, the Embarcadero Freeway went up in front of it, and sealed its fate for the next 42 years – until the 1989 earthquake. The freeway was supposed to circle the city and connect the bay and Golden Gate bridges, but when the folks saw what it had done to the waterfront, they said NFW! and it became a long offramp to Broadway Street. I have vague recollections of it being built. the plan was also to make 19th Avenue a freeway from the peninsula to the GG Bridge. (We lived on 19th Avenue at the time!) Anyway… The freeway came down, the Ferry Building went through a multi-million dollar renovation, and the Ferry Plaza Marketplace was born!

The shops are all high-end inside, with an organic farmer’s market outside 4 days a week. Everything from Stonehouse Olive Oil (I LOVE their Blood Orange Olive Oil!!) to Caviar, and Cowgirl Creamery to Peets Coffe and other great foods. A fun side note.. I used to work for Tsar Nicholai! Well – I worked for California Sunshile Fine Foods – which is the umbrella company for all the different ventures. I was the shipping manager, shipping gourmet foods all over the world, as well as purchasing all of the specialty produce at the produce terminals in SF and at thr airport every morning at 4:00am. I also ate a LOT of really, really, really good caviar!!! It was a fun job!

But I digress – again…

The Farmer’s Market itself is just plain awesome. There are scores of booths set up selling everything from Watermelon Radishes to Brussell’s Sprouts still on their stalk. Every imaginable (and a few unimaginable!) fruit and vegetable all lovingly grown in Northern California.

It’s a must-stop and must-see if you’re ever in San Francisco!