On the south-side base of the staircase, the plaque reads:

The Grand Staircase of San Francisco City Hall is named
in honor of Charlotte Mailliard Shultz in recognition of the
many memorable civic celebrations she hosted in the Rotunda
during her notable service as Chief of Protocol for San Francisco.
A dedication ceremony was held on December 14, 2003 with
Mayor Willie L. Brown, Jr. , Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger,
U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein and Mayor-elect Gavin Newsom.

These stairs were the site of an anti-demonstrator police action during hearings by the en:House Un-American Activities Committee, held in May, 1960. About 200 chanting protesters occupying the stairs and upper level were blasted with water from fire hoses and dragged down these stairs.

HUAC had made and promoted a movie, en:Operation Abolition^[1][2][3][4], which was shown to military and governmental personnel. Events were placed out of sequence and out of context in this movie, as shown by a counter-production, en:Operation Correction, which became a popular exhibition on college campuses.

While San Francisco is still a place of protests and demonsrations, both liberal and consevative, most typically occur out in the Mall, where there is room for any number of crowds to gather.

• Closeup of the gleaming steps