Union Square
Virtually every fashion label in the world has set up shop in and around Union Square, a landmark park in the heart of the downtown shopping and hotel district. Granite plazas, a stage, a café and four grand entrance corner plazas bordered by the park's signature palms, pay tribute to the Square's distinctive history and offer a forum for civic celebrations. The cable cars head up Powell Street from here and flowerstands brighten corners. Thousands originally from Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam have given the Tenderloin, a 20-square-block district west of Union Square new life. A landmark church, an experimental theatre house, jazz and blues clubs, restaurants and cafes point to a neighborhood renaissance.
