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You Are Here, The Vioget Plan
In 1839 San Francisco, then called Yerba Buena, was a sleepy little harbor settlement when the Mexican authorities decided the growing collection of buildings needed some structure. They approached a Swiss grocer named Jean-Jacques Vioget who owned some surveying equipment and asked him to lay out the village. Vioget, using the Spanish pueblo model, mapped out seven streets around Portsmouth Square as a central plaza, he then gridded out the rest of the area.

Unfortunately due to lack of experience Vioget simply laid down a strict grid over the map, ignoring hills that were too steep for horses and people to climb. The result of his work was the creation of many streets that wouldn't be useable until the invention of cable cars, 35 years later. Still the Vioget Plan with its strict gridiron is the basis for the much of modern day San Francisco.
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