Moscone Center is the largest convention and exhibition complex in
San Francisco,
California. It comprises three main halls: Two underground halls underneath
Yerba Buena Gardens, known as Moscone North and Moscone South, and a three-level Moscone West exhibition hall across 4th Street. It was initially built in 1981 by architects Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum as one single hall, Moscone South, and named after San Francisco former mayor George Moscone, who was assassinated in November 1978.
History
Although named after the slain former mayor, Moscone opposed the development of the area when he served on the SF Board of Supervisors in the 1960's because he felt it would displace middle-class residents. As mayor, Moscone convened a special committee of proponents and opponents of a convention center. Hearings were held throughout SF seeking citizen input. A compromise was reached which was supported by Moscone. He put the matter on the ballot and it passed overwhelmingly. The expansion of Moscone North and Moscone West in 1992 and 2003 added an additional 600,000 square feet (56,000 m²) to its original 300,000 square feet (28,000 m²) of exhibit space.
Convention Center
Moscone Center is known for hosting several large professional gatherings, such as the VMworld, Oracle OpenWorld, Macworld Expo, RSA Conference, American Geophysical Union's fall meeting, American Bar Association's annual meeting, the Game Developers Conference, the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, Google I/O, JavaOne and public gated events such as WonderCon and the 1984 Democratic National Convention.
The Democratic Party of the
United States held its 1984 convention at the Convention Center, nominating Walter Mondale for President of the United States and Geraldine Ferraro for Vice President (the first time a woman had ever been nominated by a major party for either office); they went on to lose the election to Republican incumbents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush by the second-largest electoral margin ever.
