December 11, 1976
On a Saturday morning, a ferry terminal in the city of Larkspur (located north of San Francisco) was opened with considerable fanfare. Larkspur Landing, which is also called Larkspur Ferry Terminal, provides commuter ferry services to downtown San Francisco via the North Bay.
This terminal is operated by the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation. The facility was constructed with an 18,000-square foot (1,700-square-meter) canopy that had been designed by architect Jacques de Brer.
The dignitaries on hand for the inauguration of the terminal included Charles Curley, mayor of Larkspur. Jim Wood, reporting for the San Francisco Examiner, described the celebratory atmosphere of Larkspur Landing’s grand debut. He noted, “There were speeches (it was, of course, ‘an historic occasion’) and people shook hands and there were balloons and bunting and raspberry buttons reading ‘I Love the Ferry.’”
Wood also stated, “The crowd began lining up outside the Larkspur Ferry Terminal shortly after 8 a.m. A gasoline-station sized American flag whipped at the top of the terminal mast, and bike riders in jogging suite and safety helmets wheeled up to pay $1 for a 32-minute boat ride to San Francisco.”
The first ferry departing that morning from Larkspur Landing was GT (Gas Turbine) Marin. Wood reported, “Except for 21-month-old Chandra Curtice, who seemed more interested in her cloth rabbit, most of the 530 passengers appeared eager to board the aluminum-hulled, turbine-powered people’s yacht capable of a 25-knot [46.3-kilometer-per-hour] service speed.”
Along with continuing to provide direct connections with the San Francisco Ferry Building and the city’s Financial District, Larkspur Landing offers rides to Oracle Park for San Francisco Giants games played there. (The accompanying photo of the ferry NV Del Norte at Larkspur Landing was taken in 2018.)
Photo Credit: Pi.1415926535 (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pi.1415926535) – licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en
For more information on Larkspur Landing (also known as Larkspur Ferry Terminal), please check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larkspur_Landing
Transportation History 
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