High-end stores ring Union Square now, but this people-watching plaza was once a hotbed of protest – it's named for pro-Union Civil War rallies held here. Atop the central pillar is the Goddess of Victory, who's apparently having a wardrobe malfunction. This bare-breasted deity is modeled after Big Alma Spreckles, who volunteered her nude-modeling services when she heard sugar-baron Adolph Spreckels was heading the monument committee. Spreckles became her 'sugar daddy,' and Alma donated her fortune to build the Legion of Honor.
