I was walking exactly where you are walking during the late 1970s, throughout the 1980s, and into the 1990s and early 2000s. I was a well-paid professional person living my life in a thriving San Francisco. Never, for a minute, even after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake that I experienced on the 35th floor of the Shaklee Terraces Building (now called One Front Street), did I believe that San Franciso, the City where I was born, would turn into an abandoned ghost town during my lifetime. This is tragic and sad beyond belief...
Your comment kinda tore me up. So damn sad! I didn’t grow up there but my wife and I spent a lot of time there when we were first dating and I have such great memories. Now memories are all that’s left. Sucks!
Although I lived in Palo Alto (from 1995-2010) and only occasionally would drive up to The City, watching this has me in tears. I feel so much empathy for everyone who lived and worked in this area at some point during their lives and devoted their talents and hard work to make SF a city to be proud of. The pain that all of us are going through watching videos like this is a real thing.
Ya, I worked at 1 Rincon center for 4 years, and I used to walk to Embarcadero center 1 almost daily, either to see my Chiropractor or to eat. That was from 2009-2013. I got laid off, Was working for AT&T Yellowpages Formerly the SBC/Pacbell YP. Boy did I enjoy my time in SF. But by 2013 the city was definitly starting slow down. It was becoming less safe. The first time I ever step foot in SF was in 1998 in the summer and it was even better back then. Now I won't even go to SF for any reason. I'm considering going to a party called decompression which is a Burning Man After Party. But that's it, and I might not even go, just visiting SF is risky.
Apparently the San Francisco voters think that criminals should have more rights than taxpayers. Glad I moved out of SF and California. What used to be a very beautiful and enjoyable city is GONE NOW!
@@helloitsmehb You are kidding yourself. Visit other states, other cities. Many of them have thriving downtown shopping areas. Not SF. Prop 47 is to blame, and POS thieves, not Covid.
I bet it is a lot more than $1.2 billion. They will have to write the values down a lot. I wonder how empty the office buildings are. The empty stores probably also mean empty offices.
There was a company that was going to build a multi million dollar building but canceled due to all the business closing down. That forced the company I worked for to close down.
@@NormanStansfield1 Yes and as to the retail people are offloading goods from a different location or from homes of workers. That would be a smarter choice for overhead cost factors changing and lessening hopefully from their standpoint, if a smaller family owned business. The retail chains are just going online as well as eliminating that stress of theft reduction.
@@davepage2466 Votes haven't mattered in California for quite a few years. The D's have control of the system and do whatever they want, without regard to the desires of the people.
In the late 90's The Embarcadero used to be a vibrant, fun place to hang out for shopping, lunch, coffee and the movie theater in that complex was also really nice. Its proximity right within the financial district also made it a great place for dining and entertaining. What a shame to see its decline.
These videos make me so sad. I lived in SF from 1974-1994. I loved all the wonderful vibrant neighborhoods with fantastic diverse shopping as well as tons of arts and culture all packed into a very walkable distance. I spent lots of time at Embarcadero Center with its beautiful architecture, great places to eat and plazas where one could just hang out. It's almost impossible for me to wrap my head around the way the city has been abandoned. Prayers for a revival of what once made SF such a wonderful place to live.
I agree with you- it's unbelievable and heartbreaking. loved living in SF...and had always planned to go back one day- but obviously I don't want to go back now
The neighborhoods are still very much alive. It’s just downtown that looks like this. Go to Clement, Union, Columbus, Chestnut, Diviz, Fillmore, 24th St. they’re all as busy as they used to be
To people like my brother, and my Mother, there is nothing to see here. No News! Everything is the same as it ever was. Nothing to see here! All Good! Everyone is a "Fruitcake" for thinking otherwise.
You are right. Vinyl wraps and the windows business are taking off right now. All those broken windows for businesses, homes, and cars because of crime has led the way for more business.
Thank you for posting another informative video. The US mainstream media does not report on the issues that your videos document for youtube viewers. ... John Russell Batchelder ... Davis, CA
The main reasons all the shut downs no longer report about is because they are hiding their demise!!! They don't want us to know of their punishment! Well, FJ the Most has everything handled!!!!!! Watch out folks! You already know they are on your heels & closing in!
@@GINZO4849 Look at all the idiots wearing their face diapers. Tells us everything we need to know. Yeah, they voted for this. And they’ll keep voting for it. They’ll vote for more until long after San FranSicko and Commifornia have run out of other peoples’ money. And they’ll still keep voting for it.
This is really sad. I don't know whether it's a matter of policy. It seems to me that this was probably started from the Covid crisis. This isn't unique to SF. There are malls closing all over the country. Was the E Center ever filled, I imagine if it was, it must have been a cool place to be when it was bustling.
@@ShovelMonkey I just follow Lyndon LaRouche who forecast all the financial crisis's that have struck since the collapse of the Bretton Woods system in 1971. I was campaigning in the Bay Area in the late 1990's on economic policies that would have wiped out all the speculative debt.
That is going on nationwide. The large city near me has HUGE crime, but most people don't bother reporting it because all the cops fled to surrounding communities that DON'T like crime. So the city reports how crime is down! I was an auxiliary down there a few years ago and would NEVER NOT carry my protective device if I were FORCED to go into the city.
Your governor, your mayor, and police chief don't care about anything except taking their salary, scheming to make few millions here and there to line their pockets and then stand in front of the TV cameras of their sycophant media people to speak nothing but noble deeds and noble motives while SF and California are rotting. All things happening are expected because they are DemocRats.
Am surprised it isn't more. Probably only offices left are Bankruptcy attorneys and Politically connected Dem...O...Demon law firms for the idiot city Gooberment.
Indeed. Importantly, SF stands out among major cities--most other major cities have recovered office utilization rates. SF stands out as a massive outlier. City leaders don't seem to care at all. They can't be bothered.
To be honest, I think SF will rebound big time in the next year or two. If I had the money to, I would open a business in Embarcadero. I loved that shopping center and it's likely very reduced to lease right now. I am sad to see it in this condition.
@@empiregone what makes you think sf will rebound in one of two years? I have lived there for 19 years and I can tell you, there is no way it's coming back anytime soon
Embarcadero 1,2,3,&4 were built by the Herrick Corporation back in the 70s and I had a hand in building those back in the day. Sad to see they are nothing but a ghost town now 😕. They were the place to go and spend all day shopping or just hanging out. Oh well 🫤
I am a native of San Francisco. Lived there for 26 years but left in 2000. I thought it was bad then. I worked in Embarcadero 2 at McDonald's in 1984-85 2nd level by the restrooms. I was 20. It is long gone. Extremely hard to see the city look so shockingly empty and dystopian. But if you know San Fran and its history it sadly is not a surprise.
Retail in development like the Embarcadero wasn't necessarily too healthy even before online, Covid, shoplifting, homelessness. But those things make the Embarcadero seem even worse. The complex was designed by an architect out of Atlanta. His shopping centers in other cities, like the Bonaventure Hotel in LA, have for over 30 years also struggled. The owners should try to convert such spaces to live-work housing. But that would require very reasonable rents. Even then, not sure if converted retail as homes would attract enough residents. If so, it wouldn't justify the cost of conversion.
I'm a native and worked at that same McDonald's in 1977 when I was 17. I think the store manager was Don Pfeifer a bald guy. It had about 6 or 7 registers as I recall. I remember we got a Banana records gift certificate for a Christmas bonus.
@@beachcomber1505 Missed you by about 7 years. 😊 All the workers would come down from upstairs for lunch. Lines would be 6 deep. Do you still live in SF?
I used to live in downtown SF back in the 90s. Embarcadero Center was one of my favorite places to go. Especially on a Sunday afternoon. It was within walking distance of my apartment. It may not have had the same vibe it had on a Friday or Saturday night, but even on a lazy Sunday afternoon there were stores open, restaurants, cafes, etc.. And it used to have a cool little movie theater that showed independent movies. There was usually always something going on at Justin Herman Plaza, which kept the rest of the shopping center relatively busy. Totally unrecognizable now.
@RadiowenSacramento as well. I don't know if it was this channel or who...somebody did a tour like this of downtown sac. Very similar, lots of closed businesses
San Francisco was my first home and this makes me sad. I worked in the Embarcadero for 16 years and was considered back then a shopping destination with amazing restaurants.
Ten years ago we stayed the weekend. Junkees passed out in the bushes, beggars and pickpockets everywhere, but Chinatown was four deep both sidewalks, we were pulled out of the chaos by a young girl and ushered into an upstairs resterauant. We had the best food in our life there. Gone now…😢
Leo, I worked in the financial district in the 90s when the embarcadero was a vibrant, charming place for businesses to chat, lunch, people watch and just enjoy the bustle. Your walk through is very depressing, like a zombie movie or a futuristic bombing.
My boyfriend and I used to walk from the Ferry building to Land's End every weekend, and the Embarcadero was always PACKED with crowds. Wow, still can't believe San Francisco has died. Haven't been there in years...
Take your happy memories and don’t go back to SF. Outside if Sales Force area, North Beach and Marina it is just sad. If I am on Market and I see 100 people in either direction it is a busy day. Dream Force wasn’t even packing most bars and restaurants.
@@cladinshadow The last time I was in San Francisco (2002) Market Street was ALWAYS crowded, especially by the cable car turn around at Powell. My God, it's so hard to believe that it's nearly a ghost town now. This is crazy!
@@melanienattefrost2447 Count yourself lucky you didn't see the death spiral of SF. It is both maddening and heartbreaking. I retired from working in SF in 2022 and I don't want to even pass by that city on the way to Colma to visit my parent's grave, coming in from Napa.
I was born in SF and raised in Daly City. I watched both go down the toilet and moved to Kentucky in 2013. I miss my home but just cannot live there anymore. Too heartbreaking. Glad I was able to enjoy the 70's, 80's & 90's in SF.
Wow, 30 years ago, i use to work at 44 Montgomery Street where I would sometimes go there for lunch and it was busy with business. What a contrast and indicative of our crumbling empire.
I still remember clearly the days I spent with friends or by myself strolling and enjoy the time just simply walking around or even people watching. It just very sad same with SF Westfield Centre. Thank you for sharing! 😢
So strange how clean, attractive, well maintained it is. Blooming plants, canned Muzak. No trash. Who is paying to keep this in such good condition? Very creepy.
London Breed asked over $6 million from the state for optics and propaganda to sell SF as a city turning around and making a comeback from decline. She then asked the local news media to help. There are several YT bloggers here showing this supposedly miraculous comeback, complete with propaganda how business and real state is thriving and booming. Your choice whether to believe the BS or not.
@@lonewolfprepper9740 Foreign travelers would think it's how many of us remember it to be.... Those empty stores mean lost jobs and people going away. Depopulation is in effect!
Having worked in downtown SF for 10 years, I can say Embarcadero Center, Crocker Galleria, etc were on their way out before the pandemic. Many spaces were vacant in Embarcadero Center before the pandemic. Crocker Galleria, 100% retail, had welcomed a dentist’s office, a private club, and other non-retail tenants before the pandemic, along with a number of vacancies.
By the way, the stupid people who are permanent san francisco residents of san francisco county, are still voting for london bridge is falling down inbreed for re-election for san francisco mayor in 2024.
@@edprestoza4099they couldn't vote them out if they wanted to. When you only count blue votes you always win. Here in Massachusetts we can't get rid of Pocahontas. When they control the counting you can't get rid of them. Voting now is just a farce. Not even real.😮😅😅
Like you said, it's "eerie." 100 + stores closed?! "Coming Soon" = Another Lie. Cleanest ghost town I've ever seen. Not even any security...I wonder how many people still work in those 4 buildings above that abandoned retail. My guess is barely any. ZERO foot traffic.
@@유성수-t3w Defund the police, decriminalization of public drug use , boys in girls sports,....... Kamala had a direct role in promoting the soft on crime and woke agenda. We are doomed if she is elected
@@유성수-t3w Not the entire county; only in those cities & states governed by Democrats, as proven time & again in example after example across the country. (And no, I don't believe re-electing the Great Orange Windbag is going to work any miracles, either...)
The Embarcadero Place was a landmark designed by famous architect John Portman who designed Atlanta Peachtree Center Office Complex and Hotels, Detroit Renaissance Center (currently GM Headquarters, Los Angeles Bonaventure Hotel and many other memorable and modern classic buildings all over the world. He is (was since he passed away) modern day Frank Loyd Wright. It is so sad to see SF basically destroyed masterpieces while other buildings are doing better.😊
I used to work there in the early 2000s. the area was thriving back then. So sad to see it so empty. the City can no longer collect taxes from businesses, conventions, or tourists. the city is gonna need to fund itself so I guess the residents will see an increase in taxes.
They're maintaining it really well. I bet that's not cheap. It may take a few years but once many of the office buildings that can be converted to housing occur the Embarcadero will come back alive. It's a really nice complex.
@user-cg3bg3hy7j It's no fantasy. Shopping in stores for non-food items is coming to an end; It's all delivered to us now. Except for legal offices and a few other sundry businesses, office spaces are never going to come back. At some point the cost of having those empty buildings there will be to much not to convert them to other uses.
Yes, I agree that the Embarcadero will come back, not as it was before, but in a new form. I’m not sure why so many people think it should revert back to exactly how it was pre-COVID.
I remember this place back in the 80s and 90s. It was so fun exploring it as a kid! There was a live band that would play upstairs on Friday or Saturday nights. I believe it was Eddie and the Boppers. I remember the crowds and how it was such a fun place to be. I always felt safe there too. I miss pizzeria Uno and Chevy's! So sad to see what has happened to this place. The floor tiles impress me till this day!
Makes me cry, I remember U2 playing a free concert in the 90’s at the fountains,steps from where your at. The place was booming, shopping dining and business people everywhere. 😢
I lived in the Bay Area (East Bay - Fremont/Union City) for the first 55 years of my life, moved to Las Vegas 2+ years ago. Once upon a time, I felt like Ca was the greatest place to live in the world. Well that clearly changed and I got out of Ca for economic, political and quality of life reasons. As I watch the post-pandemic Ca they seem to be on some kind of weird suicide mission to destroy many of their once beloved areas. This isn't an accident that this is happening. Most of this is a direct result of the policies put in place by Ca politicians. I don't understand. This looks so illogical it seems to have some kind of religious fanaticism that drives decision making regardless of its effects on society, commerce, quality of life, etc. Ca nowadays is a pretty scary place when logic, common sense or even evidence cannot penetrate the political or policy decision making even when the evidence is right in front of you. I no longer understand Ca and am glad to not be living in a place I don't understand.
These shops closed before the recent spate of thefts. Any shop that was able to pay the insane rents didn’t survive Covid. But before that they died because the rents are not only too high, but the Financial District died when tech workers were fed catered lunches, then everyone got laid off. I’m sure theft wouldn’t have helped if these stores had been open during the riots, but they haven’t been for a long time
I had just purchased a cup of coffee at Embarcadero One for my commute back on the Larkspur ferry when the Loma Prieta earthquake hit at 5:04 pm on a beautiful Tuesday, Oct. 17, 1989. I looked up and saw the Embarcadero tower above me shake, threw down my coffee and hurled down the spiral staircase to Justin Herman Plaza where I joined a skateboarder looking up at the Hyatt Regency and the Embarcadero Center. I then had to figure out how to safely get under the freeway to nowhere that had crumbled during the earthquake to reach the Ferry Building. A couple from Scandinavia walking on the Embarcadero asked me what had just happened, and I replied "earthquake". While I was waiting for the Larkspur ferry, I wondered if there was going to be a tsunami. I looked at the Goodyear Blimp, in town for the World Series, floating over the Bay Bridge. On the ferry, people on the upper deck were drinking their wine; I went down below and looked out the window at the Marina District burning. I wondered if the Golden Gate Bridge had been damaged. I prayed. The next day, I took the ferry back and picked up a tile which had fallen from Embarcadero One during the earthquake and bought a San Francisco Chronicle, which somehow had been published and distributed from a newsstand in the Embarcadero Center. Before I started watching Metal Leo's reporting post-Covid, it was the only time during the week that I had seen the Financial District so empty. I returned to the midwest in 1990. When I started working in the Financial District in 1980, there was a blind man with dignity who wore a brown suit holding a can for donations near the bus terminal to the East Bay. When I stopped working in the Financial District, there was one man who was begging near the Embarcadero Center where people crossed to the Ferry Building. I heard him say that it was his "preferred lifestyle." I wonder if he still is alive. Thank you for your reporting, Metal Leo. Excellent citizen journalism.
Stayed on Nob Hill with friends from Oregon and Switzerland in the early 80s, SF was so much fun back then...this is like another planet ...we sadly left California in 2019, saw the writing on the wall ...
I married in 1985 and we honeymooned in San Francisco. Our hotel was near the Embarcadero so we spent a lot of time shopping at the EC. It was a beehive of activity then.
When you realize that electricity is literally absorbed straight out of the air around us, and that it is FREE, you understand how they keep the lights on continually.
Very sad. I remember having lunch with a friend several years back, and the place was packed with people. Lots of places to eat, lots of places to shop. California Prop 47. You reap what you sow.
I worked up the street on California, but would walk down to Embarcadero Center to go shopping during lunch in 90s. It’s such a shame that the Financial District is dead. I feel sad because the people who still work in those offices will never experience how wonderful and alive the area was once. Gone now.
Thanks for the video and for going back there despite the fact it's still empty (and will no doubt stay that way.) I wondered if requesting you to visit again next year would make any sense, then I realized I can just replay this video (especially the parts where you said "for lease") to see what the future holds for The Embarcadero Center. 😥Such a drastic change from the 80's and 90's when I remember it most fondly. Thanks again.
Oh you can also blame republicans. Our politicians have failed us, the government has failed us, and they don’t have to care because there is nothing a tax payer can do except pay what the owe the government. The wings are attached to the same bird.
If you lived here you would know that we didn't vote for this. A totally corrupt political mafia has ruled California for many years. Elections have not meant much for the 25 years that I have been here. Soon the last generation of players in Pelosi's generation will be gone. The next generation is not involved in politics except for Newsom. And we know what he is. Feinsteins, Browns, gone. Pelosis and Newsoms going.
I feel like the main player in GTA as I watch this. Sf is a few towns over from me and it’s weird af seeing such vacancy in a place I once dreamed of calling home when I was little
![Seungmin "그렇게, 천천히, 우리(As we are)" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kAzmhLHePqU/mqdefault.jpg)
Never in my life would I have thought I would see the day SF died. So sad.
Somalia. Or, pick a country. Vxnzuela.
US in decline, but not yet complete.
@@dks13827- Why pick. SF is slowly becoming like Somalia and Venezuela.
Newsom isnt sad its his ticket for 2028: I ruined the most succesful state we had!
Irresponsible, non caring politicians and American voters have destroyed CA. The US is being destroyed now
I was walking exactly where you are walking during the late 1970s, throughout the 1980s, and into the 1990s and early 2000s. I was a well-paid professional person living my life in a thriving San Francisco. Never, for a minute, even after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake that I experienced on the 35th floor of the Shaklee Terraces Building (now called One Front Street), did I believe that San Franciso, the City where I was born, would turn into an abandoned ghost town during my lifetime. This is tragic and sad beyond belief...
Voting matters.
Your comment kinda tore me up. So damn sad! I didn’t grow up there but my wife and I spent a lot of time there when we were first dating and I have such great memories. Now memories are all that’s left. Sucks!
Although I lived in Palo Alto (from 1995-2010) and only occasionally would drive up to The City, watching this has me in tears. I feel so much empathy for everyone who lived and worked in this area at some point during their lives and devoted their talents and hard work to make SF a city to be proud of. The pain that all of us are going through watching videos like this is a real thing.
Ya, I worked at 1 Rincon center for 4 years, and I used to walk to Embarcadero center 1 almost daily, either to see my Chiropractor or to eat. That was from 2009-2013. I got laid off, Was working for AT&T Yellowpages Formerly the SBC/Pacbell YP. Boy did I enjoy my time in SF. But by 2013 the city was definitly starting slow down. It was becoming less safe. The first time I ever step foot in SF was in 1998 in the summer and it was even better back then. Now I won't even go to SF for any reason. I'm considering going to a party called decompression which is a Burning Man After Party. But that's it, and I might not even go, just visiting SF is risky.
This is what liberal progressive culture does to a city like SF.
Hey Leo I was just up there last week.....your right it has totally changed. so many businesses are now GONE!!!!
You’re
Closed nooooow.
Gone Now!
GONE NOW!
your’e…learn to spell dummy
All those workers, all the suppliers they used to pay, all the taxes they used to all contribute to the city: GONE NOW. Incredibly sad.
Apparently the San Francisco voters think that criminals should have more rights than taxpayers. Glad I moved out of SF and California. What used to be a very beautiful and enjoyable city is GONE NOW!
Thousands of jobs in all ranges, from min wage to 6 figures - GONE now.
No. They just work from home. We had a pandemic and no one has returned
@@helloitsmehb You are kidding yourself. Visit other states, other cities. Many of them have thriving downtown shopping areas. Not SF. Prop 47 is to blame, and POS thieves, not Covid.
@@helloitsmehb 32% work from home, and the rest, "gone now".
$1.2 billion dollars worth of worthless real estate.
The Landmark Theater is now The Skid-Mark Theater.
I bet it is a lot more than $1.2 billion. They will have to write the values down a lot. I wonder how empty the office buildings are. The empty stores probably also mean empty offices.
There was a company that was going to build a multi million dollar building but canceled due to all the business closing down. That forced the company I worked for to close down.
@@NormanStansfield1 Yes and as to the retail people are offloading goods from a different location or from homes of workers. That would be a smarter choice for overhead cost factors changing and lessening hopefully from their standpoint, if a smaller family owned business. The retail chains are just going online as well as eliminating that stress of theft reduction.
Saw lots of movies 🍿 there.
Office vacancy rates around 35%, in SF, among the highest of major cities in the USA.
Imagine being so stubborn that you watch your society degrade for decades and STILL refuse to vote differently.
It's not about voting. It's about corruption and D control.
@@davepage2466 Votes haven't mattered in California for quite a few years. The D's have control of the system and do whatever they want, without regard to the desires of the people.
The future Chinese Embassy.
Imagine being so brain dead that you directly observe your society collapsing for decades and still believe voting will solve anything.
Democrats cheat and lie to win every election.
San Francisco is...GONE NOW!
(...) "all boarded up!"
Boards, boards, boards.😕
Mentally and policy wise-San Francisco was GONE years ago.
X WILL BE GONE FRIDAY THE SEPT 13
for lease!
The majority of people are happy to sit in a box, stare at a screen, and stew in their own juices. Different society today.
In the late 90's The Embarcadero used to be a vibrant, fun place to hang out for shopping, lunch, coffee and the movie theater in that complex was also really nice. Its proximity right within the financial district also made it a great place for dining and entertaining. What a shame to see its decline.
Financial district is reason for American chaos.....its gangsters capitalism....😊😊😊
Decline? It's GONE NOW!!!
and in the 70s and 80s and 2000s
@@scotttild Yeah, they had a lot of indie, art and foreign films. Fun place to see new things.
I agree, 100%. I miss San Francisco of the 1990s and early 2000s.
These videos make me so sad. I lived in SF from 1974-1994. I loved all the wonderful vibrant neighborhoods with fantastic diverse shopping as well as tons of arts and culture all packed into a very walkable distance. I spent lots of time at Embarcadero Center with its beautiful architecture, great places to eat and plazas where one could just hang out. It's almost impossible for me to wrap my head around the way the city has been abandoned. Prayers for a revival of what once made SF such a wonderful place to live.
Will not happen.
don't be sad. these videos are propaganda and aren't really true ruclips.net/video/wAZ4DtWui_0/видео.htmlsi=WZpqWOi5K6KE-YEa
I agree with you- it's unbelievable and heartbreaking.
loved living in SF...and had always planned to go back one day- but obviously I don't want to go back now
The neighborhoods are still very much alive. It’s just downtown that looks like this. Go to Clement, Union, Columbus, Chestnut, Diviz, Fillmore, 24th St. they’re all as busy as they used to be
Will never happen as the place is filled with San Francisco voters.
This one hits different and HARD. I started working at the Gap in Embarcadero 3 in 1994 when I was a teen. 30 years later...shits sad.
VERY sad!
@@cam-xt9uhThis is just freaking unbelievable, and it's been on purpose.😡
Those people that did this will pay!
To people like my brother, and my Mother, there is nothing to see here. No News! Everything is the same as it ever was. Nothing to see here! All Good! Everyone is a "Fruitcake" for thinking otherwise.
@@brian8830 Thanks for the insight, because this born and bred Texan can't wrap his head around it.
I don’t see any of those commenters complaing you didn’t go at the “right time”. Even they are “Gone Now”. Another great video, Leo.
Great point!
Ha. Tell it like it is!
Leo, please turn out the lights when you are the last one to leave.
He won't have to. The power will be out.
Whoever is selling the vinyl wraps for closed storefronts has a very prosperous future in the soon-to-be ghosttown of San Francisco.
You are right. Vinyl wraps and the windows business are taking off right now. All those broken windows for businesses, homes, and cars because of crime has led the way for more business.
@@ConcernedNinerFansaddest comment I have seen in a while. What a statement of where civil society is…gone now.
Thank you for posting another informative video. The US mainstream media does not report on the issues that your videos document for youtube viewers. ... John Russell Batchelder ... Davis, CA
The main reasons all the shut downs no longer report about is because they are hiding their demise!!! They don't want us to know of their punishment! Well, FJ the Most has everything handled!!!!!! Watch out folks! You already know they are on your heels & closing in!
Main stream media is part of the problem.
it's wild that people in the city keep voting for policies that make their own lives worse
We don't vote for them. Elections don't matter here. The D's do whatever they want.
@@GINZO4849 A lot of people who talk about SF don't know about the corruption.
@@GINZO4849 Look at all the idiots wearing their face diapers. Tells us everything we need to know. Yeah, they voted for this. And they’ll keep voting for it.
They’ll vote for more until long after San FranSicko and Commifornia have run out of other peoples’ money. And they’ll still keep voting for it.
@@GINZO4849 "A remnant shall be saved."
This is really sad. I don't know whether it's a matter of policy. It seems to me that this was probably started from the Covid crisis. This isn't unique to SF. There are malls closing all over the country. Was the E Center ever filled, I imagine if it was, it must have been a cool place to be when it was bustling.
I swear, the debt load on these properties is going to go off like a nuclear bomb.
Yep. Look up The Economic Ninja and The Uneducated Economist.
@@ShovelMonkeyand some other great ones as well. Chris real world.
@@ShovelMonkey I just follow Lyndon LaRouche who forecast all the financial crisis's that have struck since the collapse of the Bretton Woods system in 1971. I was campaigning in the Bay Area in the late 1990's on economic policies that would have wiped out all the speculative debt.
🤪😝🤣🤑🤷♂️⚡️🦄⚡️
@@ShovelMonkeyall they do is spread fear p o r n for clicks ⚠️
Fewer retail stores, fewer retail crimes. Our governor, mayor and police chief would love to take credit for lower retail crime rates.
That is going on nationwide. The large city near me has HUGE crime, but most people don't bother reporting it because all the cops fled to surrounding communities that DON'T like crime. So the city reports how crime is down! I was an auxiliary down there a few years ago and would NEVER NOT carry my protective device if I were FORCED to go into the city.
CRIME IS GONE NOW
What a joke.
Your governor, your mayor, and police chief don't care about anything except taking their salary, scheming to make few millions here and there to line their pockets and then stand in front of the TV cameras of their sycophant media people to speak nothing but noble deeds and noble motives while SF and California are rotting. All things happening are expected because they are DemocRats.
Fewer taxes to be collected too
It was reported this week that nearly 40% of San Francisco office spaces are now vacant.
Am surprised it isn't more. Probably only offices left are Bankruptcy attorneys and Politically connected Dem...O...Demon law firms for the idiot city Gooberment.
Indeed. Importantly, SF stands out among major cities--most other major cities have recovered office utilization rates. SF stands out as a massive outlier. City leaders don't seem to care at all. They can't be bothered.
That's what they are reporting? The real numbers are probably even higher.
To be honest, I think SF will rebound big time in the next year or two. If I had the money to, I would open a business in Embarcadero. I loved that shopping center and it's likely very reduced to lease right now. I am sad to see it in this condition.
@@empiregone what makes you think sf will rebound in one of two years? I have lived there for 19 years and I can tell you, there is no way it's coming back anytime soon
Embarcadero 1,2,3,&4 were built by the Herrick Corporation back in the 70s and I had a hand in building those back in the day. Sad to see they are nothing but a ghost town now 😕. They were the place to go and spend all day shopping or just hanging out. Oh well 🫤
LA is just like this. How will they accommodate the Olympics is 2028? Insanity.
That’s what I immediately thought because my family wants to go and we are planning now. 😮
Chances are real estate will have a boom in 2026 with shops setting up and opening in 2027 and then they’ll leave again by 2029.
coming to LA to get robbed, more free watches
@@mikewu9483san Fransisco stolen jewelry for sale on LA streets. They will fake the olympics like Texas cleaned El Paso for Bidens four hour visit
they import cops from other countries and they bus out the unwanted before travelers arrive for the event.
Tragic. I remember how vibrant this place was. Well designed. Interesting signature art. I can't believe this!
Thanks for the re-visit! No improvements.
Exactly
I am a native of San Francisco. Lived there for 26 years but left in 2000. I thought it was bad then. I worked in Embarcadero 2 at McDonald's in 1984-85 2nd level by the restrooms. I was 20. It is long gone. Extremely hard to see the city look so shockingly empty and dystopian. But if you know San Fran and its history it sadly is not a surprise.
Retail in development like the Embarcadero wasn't necessarily too healthy even before online, Covid, shoplifting, homelessness. But those things make the Embarcadero seem even worse. The complex was designed by an architect out of Atlanta. His shopping centers in other cities, like the Bonaventure Hotel in LA, have for over 30 years also struggled. The owners should try to convert such spaces to live-work housing. But that would require very reasonable rents. Even then, not sure if converted retail as homes would attract enough residents. If so, it wouldn't justify the cost of conversion.
I'm a native and worked at that same McDonald's in 1977 when I was 17. I think the store manager was Don Pfeifer a bald guy. It had about 6 or 7 registers as I recall. I remember we got a Banana records gift certificate for a Christmas bonus.
@@beachcomber1505 Missed you by about 7 years. 😊 All the workers would come down from upstairs for lunch. Lines would be 6 deep. Do you still live in SF?
@@noodlesmama9096 yep, still hanging in.
@@beachcomber1505well don is long dead I'm sure
Looks like the peeps walking through are just using the mall as a short cut
Exactly
@@LeoMetalTraveler keep up the good work Metal Leo 😀
I used to live in downtown SF back in the 90s. Embarcadero Center was one of my favorite places to go. Especially on a Sunday afternoon. It was within walking distance of my apartment. It may not have had the same vibe it had on a Friday or Saturday night, but even on a lazy Sunday afternoon there were stores open, restaurants, cafes, etc.. And it used to have a cool little movie theater that showed independent movies. There was usually always something going on at Justin Herman Plaza, which kept the rest of the shopping center relatively busy. Totally unrecognizable now.
In 1992 I worked at Embarcadero One on the 35th floor. I loved working there. It's such a shame what has happened to that once great city.
San Francisco is now the Detroit of California.
Well said!
And neighboring Oakland is the now the Chicago of California.
Yeah, that’s Oakland
@RadiowenSacramento as well. I don't know if it was this channel or who...somebody did a tour like this of downtown sac. Very similar, lots of closed businesses
They are similar, but at least Detroit is being rebuilt.
The cardio center had a heart attack ... gone now 😅 great video as always ❤
Corrupt one party government always the same result!
💯%
San Francisco was my first home and this makes me sad. I worked in the Embarcadero for 16 years and was considered back then a shopping destination with amazing restaurants.
Ten years ago we stayed the weekend. Junkees passed out in the bushes, beggars and pickpockets everywhere, but Chinatown was four deep both sidewalks, we were pulled out of the chaos by a young girl and ushered into an upstairs resterauant. We had the best food in our life there. Gone now…😢
Outsiders are in denial this is happening. Only the ignorant say the city is thriving
Your videos are very good METAL LEO and well done. Thank you for doing them. They are helpful and informative. Thank you.
You are very welcome
Leo, I worked in the financial district in the 90s when the embarcadero was a vibrant, charming place for businesses to chat, lunch, people watch and just enjoy the bustle. Your walk through is very depressing, like a zombie movie or a futuristic bombing.
My boyfriend and I used to walk from the Ferry building to Land's End every weekend, and the Embarcadero was always PACKED with crowds. Wow, still can't believe San Francisco has died. Haven't been there in years...
Take your happy memories and don’t go back to SF. Outside if Sales Force area, North Beach and Marina it is just sad. If I am on Market and I see 100 people in either direction it is a busy day. Dream Force wasn’t even packing most bars and restaurants.
@@cladinshadow The last time I was in San Francisco (2002) Market Street was ALWAYS crowded, especially by the cable car turn around at Powell. My God, it's so hard to believe that it's nearly a ghost town now. This is crazy!
@@melanienattefrost2447 Count yourself lucky you didn't see the death spiral of SF. It is both maddening and heartbreaking. I retired from working in SF in 2022 and I don't want to even pass by that city on the way to Colma to visit my parent's grave, coming in from Napa.
Nearly everything is gone now!!! I hope the voters remember this during the election but won't hold my breath.
Get woke! Go broke! Gone now!
@@jimmyr204exactly!
I know, what the hell is going thru their heads. Why would anyone want this, and more of it.
This is way much bigger than that...We can wote all day long.. 😊😊😊😊
THEY WILL STILL VOTE FOR THE SAME PEOPLE ........ WATCH ..
I was born in SF and raised in Daly City. I watched both go down the toilet and moved to Kentucky in 2013. I miss my home but just cannot live there anymore. Too heartbreaking. Glad I was able to enjoy the 70's, 80's & 90's in SF.
I was born and raised in San Francisco now ashamed to admit it.
Oh god. Are you filipino 😂 Lil Manila Daly city.
i wish you would show something positive, not everything in SF is doom and gloom.
used to go to the Landmark for movies and dinner at the Embarcaero.... GONE NOW!!!! : (
I never heard of it 😂, and I'm 54
Wow, 30 years ago, i use to work at 44 Montgomery Street where I would sometimes go there for lunch and it was busy with business. What a contrast and indicative of our crumbling empire.
Hi Leo. Amazon acquired One Medical for roughly $3.9 billion in July 2022, the third-biggest deal in its history.
I used One Medical twice. Learned Amazon owned it. Never, ever going back to it.
Thanks!
Thank you!
I still remember clearly the days I spent with friends or by myself strolling and enjoy the time just simply walking around or even people watching. It just very sad same with SF Westfield Centre. Thank you for sharing! 😢
The band is playing ,the Titanic is singing...Goodbye....
The background music still playing makes this place even more eerie. Like in the movie "Shining". Everything Blackrock touches turns into shit.
Yes!🤣
So strange how clean, attractive, well maintained it is. Blooming plants, canned Muzak. No trash. Who is paying to keep this in such good condition? Very creepy.
London Breed asked over $6 million from the state for optics and propaganda to sell SF as a city turning around and making a comeback from decline. She then asked the local news media to help. There are several YT bloggers here showing this supposedly miraculous comeback, complete with propaganda how business and real state is thriving and booming. Your choice whether to believe the BS or not.
My guess is that some major retailers are still paying on long term leases.
Still has to be kept clean for the office tenants.
The city will fine $$ the landlord for not maintaining the property adding insult to injury
!🤬
We are Tax Dollars!
Tourists would think they entered The Twilight Zone.
Why even go there ?
@@lonewolfprepper9740
Foreign travelers would think it's how many of us remember it to be....
Those empty stores mean lost jobs and people going away.
Depopulation is in effect!
@@lonewolfprepper9740 Because they are too stupid to know better.
There is only one place in The Twilight Zone I’d ever want to live: Willoughby.
Having worked in downtown SF for 10 years, I can say Embarcadero Center, Crocker Galleria, etc were on their way out before the pandemic. Many spaces were vacant in Embarcadero Center before the pandemic. Crocker Galleria, 100% retail, had welcomed a dentist’s office, a private club, and other non-retail tenants before the pandemic, along with a number of vacancies.
Why don't you admit this is the result of socialist policies. San Franciscan's are very naive and don't understand how they did this.
San Francisco will never again be the great City it once was.
It was great? Yeah if you’re liberal, corrupt or a heathen.
, weather - wise , it's certainly got my vote ! 😂 , it can be steamy hot a Bart stop or 3 away - but in the city , 15 - 20 degree cooler,
@Radiowen not in our life time bro. That's forever, to us...
@@user_abcxyzz yup I agree with you, and it's so sad to see this happening to a once great city.
This is happening in all US cities. A tribute to. Foresighted governance. They can convert the city centers to homeless housing
Nunca había visto una pesadilla distópica como este lugar en toda mi chingada vida. Gracias Leo por otro vídeo fantástico y realista. Suerte.
Those libs got what they voted for. I have a hard time feeling sorry for them.
You speak too kindly of them. If translated from my native language into English, the slur against liberals would sound something like libtard
You should never ever feel sorry for them at all because they already made their worst stupid mistake.
By the way, the stupid people who are permanent san francisco residents of san francisco county, are still voting for london bridge is falling down inbreed for re-election for san francisco mayor in 2024.
@@edprestoza4099they couldn't vote them out if they wanted to. When you only count blue votes you always win. Here in Massachusetts we can't get rid of Pocahontas. When they control the counting you can't get rid of them. Voting now is just a farce. Not even real.😮😅😅
Even seeing all this, they will vote the exact same way again like mindless automatons...
In the 1980s…. The place was filled with shops and people and life. That’s the version I still remember.
Like you said, it's "eerie." 100 + stores closed?!
"Coming Soon" = Another Lie. Cleanest ghost town I've ever seen. Not even any security...I wonder how many people still work in those 4 buildings above that abandoned retail. My guess is barely any. ZERO foot traffic.
Nothing left to steal...
If this is SF present, Where has the old good U.S. of America gone ? It's the sign that U.S.A. is falling down.
@@유성수-t3w Defund the police, decriminalization of public drug use , boys in girls sports,....... Kamala had a direct role in promoting the soft on crime and woke agenda. We are doomed if she is elected
@@유성수-t3w Not the entire county; only in those cities & states governed by Democrats, as proven time & again in example after example across the country. (And no, I don't believe re-electing the Great Orange Windbag is going to work any miracles, either...)
@@유성수-t3w Absofuckinglutely.
used to be that you couldn't get an outdoor table to sit and have lunch - now there's no one
“Progressivism” looks to be a smashing success.
The Embarcadero Place was a landmark designed by famous architect John Portman who designed Atlanta Peachtree Center Office Complex and Hotels, Detroit Renaissance Center (currently GM Headquarters, Los Angeles Bonaventure Hotel and many other memorable and modern classic buildings all over the world. He is (was since he passed away) modern day Frank Loyd Wright. It is so sad to see SF basically destroyed masterpieces while other buildings are doing better.😊
its always been a generic ugly building with zero character
please don’t insult Frank Lloyd Wright
If I was homeless, that would be my spot 24/7
Imagine paying high rent to live in a zombie, empty city. Dystopian.
I used to work there in the early 2000s. the area was thriving back then. So sad to see it so empty. the City can no longer collect taxes from businesses, conventions, or tourists. the city is gonna need to fund itself so I guess the residents will see an increase in taxes.
The SF democrats could convert the empty units into luxury rent free apartments for their imported migrant friends
NIMBY Democrats don't want them in their own areas - no - the ship them to the welfare state districts.
They're maintaining it really well. I bet that's not cheap.
It may take a few years but once many of the office buildings that can be converted to housing occur the Embarcadero will come back alive. It's a really nice complex.
I am laughing at you. What fantasy land do you live in?
@user-cg3bg3hy7j It's no fantasy. Shopping in stores for non-food items is coming to an end; It's all delivered to us now. Except for legal offices and a few other sundry businesses, office spaces are never going to come back. At some point the cost of having those empty buildings there will be to much not to convert them to other uses.
Yes, I agree that the Embarcadero will come back, not as it was before, but in a new form. I’m not sure why so many people think it should revert back to exactly how it was pre-COVID.
I remember this place back in the 80s and 90s. It was so fun exploring it as a kid! There was a live band that would play upstairs on Friday or Saturday nights. I believe it was Eddie and the Boppers. I remember the crowds and how it was such a fun place to be. I always felt safe there too. I miss pizzeria Uno and Chevy's! So sad to see what has happened to this place. The floor tiles impress me till this day!
"They aren't gonna rent this theater just give up already"....you are brutal sir but I love it!
Makes me cry, I remember U2 playing a free concert in the 90’s at the fountains,steps from where your at. The place was booming, shopping dining and business people everywhere. 😢
Metal Leo,--you must have "Worn-out"-an incredible amount of Shoes,-filming S.F.-&-San-Pedro !!??
"Good luck with that" Leo is the Man!
The property owner still portrays this place as having 125 stores with tons of foot traffic.
😮
I lived in the Bay Area (East Bay - Fremont/Union City) for the first 55 years of my life, moved to Las Vegas 2+ years ago. Once upon a time, I felt like Ca was the greatest place to live in the world. Well that clearly changed and I got out of Ca for economic, political and quality of life reasons. As I watch the post-pandemic Ca they seem to be on some kind of weird suicide mission to destroy many of their once beloved areas. This isn't an accident that this is happening. Most of this is a direct result of the policies put in place by Ca politicians. I don't understand. This looks so illogical it seems to have some kind of religious fanaticism that drives decision making regardless of its effects on society, commerce, quality of life, etc. Ca nowadays is a pretty scary place when logic, common sense or even evidence cannot penetrate the political or policy decision making even when the evidence is right in front of you. I no longer understand Ca and am glad to not be living in a place I don't understand.
Thanks for leaving.
@@ratfinkie62 your welcome. Best decision of my life.
@@ratfinkie62You are stil suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome Stage 5!
The politicians are now in DC running for top offices and dumb people from pennsylvania love them
"religious fanaticism" nothing to do with decay capitalism.
These shops closed before the recent spate of thefts. Any shop that was able to pay the insane rents didn’t survive Covid. But before that they died because the rents are not only too high, but the Financial District died when tech workers were fed catered lunches, then everyone got laid off. I’m sure theft wouldn’t have helped if these stores had been open during the riots, but they haven’t been for a long time
The sign at 11:42 🤣🤣🤣 "Supporting local manufacturers for a thriving Bay Area" 🤣🤣🤣 Priceless!
I had just purchased a cup of coffee at Embarcadero One for my commute back on the Larkspur ferry when the Loma Prieta earthquake hit at 5:04 pm on a beautiful Tuesday, Oct. 17, 1989. I looked up and saw the Embarcadero tower above me shake, threw down my coffee and hurled down the spiral staircase to Justin Herman Plaza where I joined a skateboarder looking up at the Hyatt Regency and the Embarcadero Center. I then had to figure out how to safely get under the freeway to nowhere that had crumbled during the earthquake to reach the Ferry Building. A couple from Scandinavia walking on the Embarcadero asked me what had just happened, and I replied "earthquake". While I was waiting for the Larkspur ferry, I wondered if there was going to be a tsunami. I looked at the Goodyear Blimp, in town for the World Series, floating over the Bay Bridge. On the ferry, people on the upper deck were drinking their wine; I went down below and looked out the window at the Marina District burning. I wondered if the Golden Gate Bridge had been damaged. I prayed. The next day, I took the ferry back and picked up a tile which had fallen from Embarcadero One during the earthquake and bought a San Francisco Chronicle, which somehow had been published and distributed from a newsstand in the Embarcadero Center. Before I started watching Metal Leo's reporting post-Covid, it was the only time during the week that I had seen the Financial District so empty. I returned to the midwest in 1990. When I started working in the Financial District in 1980, there was a blind man with dignity who wore a brown suit holding a can for donations near the bus terminal to the East Bay. When I stopped working in the Financial District, there was one man who was begging near the Embarcadero Center where people crossed to the Ferry Building. I heard him say that it was his "preferred lifestyle." I wonder if he still is alive. Thank you for your reporting, Metal Leo. Excellent citizen journalism.
Thank you…. Appreciate the Embarcadeo update!
Stayed on Nob Hill with friends from Oregon and Switzerland in the early 80s, SF was so much fun back then...this is like another planet ...we sadly left California in 2019, saw the writing on the wall ...
🎉2 PEOPLE THERE... ONE TAKING A NAP
One taking a nap and one taking a crap. Welcome to sf
I married in 1985 and we honeymooned in San Francisco. Our hotel was near the Embarcadero so we spent a lot of time shopping at the EC. It was a beehive of activity then.
Can't imagine how much electricity bills are each month to keep lights on in this ghost town.
are they written off as business expense?
When you realize that electricity is literally absorbed straight out of the air around us, and that it is FREE, you understand how they keep the lights on continually.
Not the escalators. Emb 4 has the deli but it is basically closed. Some AI conventioners pass through.
@@katsiduzynski488absolutely. They're running negative on the books forsure
While we all get mafia robbed by PG&E for every second my nightlight is on, is all such a scam.
What a beautiful piece of real estate. What a shame.
Very sad. I remember having lunch with a friend several years back, and the place was packed with people. Lots of places to eat, lots of places to shop. California Prop 47. You reap what you sow.
Who the F voted for it 🤔
The people behind the proposition spent $9,000,000 to get it passed. They must really hate us.@@user_abcxyzz
I love how you say "for lease". What a sad place...
I knew SF was in the crapper with theft but wow it’s much worse. Scary stuff.
I worked up the street on California, but would walk down to Embarcadero Center to go shopping during lunch in 90s. It’s such a shame that the Financial District is dead. I feel sad because the people who still work in those offices will never experience how wonderful and alive the area was once. Gone now.
Not only theft but empty offices and buildings . Less workers walking around.
Thanks for the video and for going back there despite the fact it's still empty (and will no doubt stay that way.) I wondered if requesting you to visit again next year would make any sense, then I realized I can just replay this video (especially the parts where you said "for lease") to see what the future holds for The Embarcadero Center. 😥Such a drastic change from the 80's and 90's when I remember it most fondly. Thanks again.
I used to love going to that cinema. It was awesome. My dentist was there and I used to love going to Victoria's Secret. This is so sad.
Thanks to you my kids love to say: Gone now! Whenever they see a vacant shop😂
😁
The music playing in this giant retail tomb is eerie. Like horror movie eerie
I was thinking the same thing❗️😂
Sf voters love it. Cant blame republicans
But...Dems can now claim that crime in downtown is reduced by 70%. Kind of hard to steal when there are no businesses to steal from.
Yes , this happens when one's vote for libtards, again and again 😂
Oh you can also blame republicans. Our politicians have failed us, the government has failed us, and they don’t have to care because there is nothing a tax payer can do except pay what the owe the government. The wings are attached to the same bird.
If you lived here you would know that we didn't vote for this. A totally corrupt political mafia has ruled California for many years. Elections have not meant much for the 25 years that I have been here. Soon the last generation of players in Pelosi's generation will be gone. The next generation is not involved in politics except for Newsom. And we know what he is. Feinsteins, Browns, gone. Pelosis and Newsoms going.
Repugs can ALWAYS be blamed.
Complimenting your excellent video work. You have what it takes!
Thank you very much!
I can remember a time when all of those spaces had stores. I used to eat lunch on the walkways.
I don’t ever go to SF anymore.
I had a guy using right next to me while I was on Market St.
Plus the people on street are like zombie. :(
The Omega Man is a 1971 American post-apocalyptic action film starring
Charlton Heston as a survivor of a pandemic.
The Alpha Man is one of the unjabbed people who lived to build America 2.0.
👏👏👏👏cia planned programming
" Due to the economic crisis , the light at the end of the tunnel has being turned off ." Gone NOW ... 👀
Leo, stay safe out there. We worry for your safety Bro 😊
I feel like the main player in GTA as I watch this. Sf is a few towns over from me and it’s weird af seeing such vacancy in a place I once dreamed of calling home when I was little
So Amazon and a Nail shop is left. Two different ends of money laundry....
Wow - i remember it as a hustling -bustling place! Tons of people working and shopping!! Dang how sad
Wow thanks for showing what’s happening…hopefully someday will turn around 🙏
I liked how the skinny sides of the Embarcadero Buildings looked like stacked books on a shelf!
The Black Plague has destroyed San Frangonenow.
More like the Chixulub dinosaur killing asteroid than any mere plague.
More like the "Blue Plague" from years of Democrats in charge.
WTF are you talking about?
Online shopping and the Work from Home corporate culture killed downtown SF.
@@JohnDoe-lw2nm With the GREAT HELP of the Toxic Black Culture.
@@JohnDoe-lw2nm Only 32% working from home makes a poor excuse.
Unbelievable. Spent many good times in SF in the 80'ds and 90'ds. Sad bro. Great Post.
Thanks for listening