Pilings - on San Francisco Bay. Standing here - I could suddenly picture the piers that once stood here, the chaotic loading and off-loading ships.
Sweating, tattooed, muscular men, brandishing grappling hooks and pushing hand-trucks. Draft-horses straining the weight of loaded wagons.
Coal-fired steamships and tug boats. A cacophony of noise laced with dense odors. A scene of great commerce and harsh toil - lost upon this place in the passage of time - above a calm sea.