[4] It is sometimes erroneously assumed to be named after the (differently spelled) labor leader Denis Kearney, known for his racist anti-Chinese agitation.

On election nights it was the scene of torch-light parades and brass bands", as summarized in the 1940 WPA guide to San Francisco.

[6] From the turn of the twentieth century until 1977, the area around the intersection of Kearny and Jackson Streets was home to a large Filipino population, and earned the nickname Manilatown.

The hotel and other buildings to the south of it on that block were quickly torn down, after which the land lay vacant for over a quarter of a century.

The San Francisco Chronicle's urban design critic John King observed in 2006 that while Kearny Street's "architectural mish-mash" includes a number of skyscrapers, "several blocks survive ramshackle and low, delightful blurs of pre-World War II architecture that mix their styles but maintain sturdy-looking masonry facades [...] These low blocks exist because of city efforts in the 1970s and '80s to preserve older buildings and keep the Financial District from devouring everything around it.