San Francisco's vibrant and colorful maritime legacy survives in this bustling and extremely popular district on the northeastern tip of the peninsula. A carnival atmosphere prevails on the rowdier east end of the wharf, especially at the Pier 39 Festival Marketplace, where there's a pod of vociferous and amusing sea lions, scores of souvenir shops, an aquarium with an underwater tunnel, and rides for kids. Street performers and sidewalk seafood stands add to the chaos along Jefferson Street, where you'll find two novelty museums and many T-shirt shops. Extending into the bay are a number of piers from which you can get a boat to take you to Alcatraz or cruise the bay; the large seafood restaurants here are named after some of the Italian families that dominated the fishing industry here generations ago. The quieter western end of the wharf has historic sailing ships, a maritime museum, some art galleries, a relaxing park and two popular shopping centers housed in historic old factories, The Cannery and Ghirardelli Square. This is also where the turnaround is for the Powell-Hyde cable car line.