Panama–Pacific International Exposition

The site beneath your feet was once a sprawling city of burlap, plaster, and optimism. In 1915, this area was transformed into the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, a massive world fair designed to signal to the globe that San Francisco had fully risen from the ashes of the 1906 earthquake. Builders constructed an entire temporary metropolis here in record time, filling the landscape with ornate palaces, gardens, and fountains meant to dazzle millions of visitors. Because the structures were intended only for a nine-month celebration, they were largely built from a mixture of fiber and plaster of Paris, a choice that left almost nothing behind once the fair concluded.