Outgoing Pier 39 CEO cherishes a decades-long love affair with famed tourist spot
SAN FRANCISCO -- Pier 39 may be the center of the Bay Area tourist world, but it's been so much more for Taylor Safford.
After four decades, he's stepping down as the Pier's CEO.
"Once I sort of was here, and landed, and got to feel the energy, got to look at the people, and everybody's having fun, they're on vacation," explained Safford. "I said that's where I wanted to be. And from there decisions were easy."
Safford moved to San Francisco in 1979 to play music. He took a job pushing quarters at the arcade to make some money. This week, he will retire as the Pier's CEO.
Over that span, the memories have been plentiful.
"So we got a call from the London Times, from Pravda, newspapers, all over the world wanting to cover this human/animal interest story," he said of 1990 when a wayward group of sea lions took over the Pier's K-Dock, much to the exasperation of facility's Marina tenants. .
To this day, the sea lions remain -- much to the joy of the Pier's visitors.
"This is a global draw," he said of the crowds that come to see the mammals. "Look, as far as you can see, there are people lined up at the railing."
The second biggest development in his tenure, he says, was the Aquarium of the Bay.
"I think there are between 600,000 and 800,000 visitors a year who come to the aquarium," he explained in the underwater tube. "It's a major attraction, people love it."
And it's clear that people still love this San Francisco postcard spot. Safford says this tourist landmark is having a moment.
"I think with the advent of experiential retail," he said. "Where people are interacting with the things that they're going to buy. It's tactile."
It may be just a couple miles away, but it might as well be a world away from what has been called the most deserted downtown in America. Pier 39 is nothing but people. There are few vacant storefronts, and if anyone hoping to eat at a restaurant had better be ready to wait in a line.
"The Fisherman's Wharf area is historically where tourists congregate," Safford said of the crowds. "So they're still coming. People want to be out on the water, looking at the views."
"New Zealand," said Bruce Van Brundt when asked where he's visiting from. "Palmerston North. Well, actually, north of that. Out in the hills just below the mountains."
"I'm from Madison Wisconsin," said Shoba, another visitor. "And she's from Zambia."
What does Safford say to the locals in the city who maybe don't get over here very often?
"We are aware that for locals, this is the place that they hate to love," he laughed. "But they do. They love it."
One in five visitors is a Bay Area local, he added, proudly. And as he winds down his time as CEO, he says he's proud to have held a dream job.
"I'm the luckiest guy in the world," Safford said. "This has been an incredible 43 years. I came in as an arcade attendant and I'll leave as a CEO. It's a fairytale."
