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It is orange and black as far as the eye can see in San Francisco’s Civic Center Plaza this morning, where fans arrived early to get a good view of their heroes, the Giants.
A parade to honor the Giants for their World Series win will begin at 11 a.m. at Montgomery and Washington streets and conclude at Civic Center Plaza.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will participate in a ceremony to honor the team, in which Mayor Gavin Newsom will present the Giants with a key to the city.
Fans are converging on San Francisco from near and far, clogging roadways and filling buses, trains and BART.
The lines of San Francisco-bound riders waiting to buy Caltrain tickets were so long that the agency began letting riders on for free.
By 9:30 a.m., Civic Center Plaza was nearly full. Some families had arrived with blankets to sit on, but the edges of the blankets were muddied with footprints from people trying to squeeze through the massive crowd.
Chants of “Let’s go Giants” filled the air as the crowd waited patiently for what will likely be hours before the players show up.
The parade begins at Montgomery and Washington streets, and will proceed up Montgomery Street to Market Street then up Market to McAllister Street, and finally to Civic Center Plaza.
The route is nostalgic of that first traveled by the Giants when the team first came from New York in 1958.
Leading the players along the route will be the command staff of the San Francisco Police Department’s Traffic Company.
Capt. Al Casciato, Lt. Jim Calonico and Lt. Mike Favetti will ride motorcycles in front of the team, dressed in vintage uniforms worn in 1958.
The uniforms include a jacket with a Sam Browne belt, complete with a shoulder strap.
Photo: Bay City News
