San Francisco - The West Coast Jewel

As many great cities are, San Francisco is built on hills. Several city neighborhoods are named for the hills on which they stand - Nob Hill, Pacific Heights, Russian Hill, Potrero Hill, and Telegraph Hill. The names are evocative and familiar, even if we have never been to the city by the Bay.

From its magnificent bayside vistas to the intimate cafes, San Francisco offers the tourist a vacation experience par excellence. Fisherman's Wharf and the Golden Gate Bridge may be the city's two most well known attractions - and well deserving of their reputations - but the city at the lower edge of Northern California offers much more.

Rides on the famed cable cars may not be the fastest way to get around (they never go more than 10 miles per hour), but they are one of the most fun. Up and down the steep hills near Pier 39 and through Union Square, they provide a wonderful glance back at history while seeing the latest sights.

Opera and ballet second to none are here, but the artistic delights don't stop there. The Legion of Honor and the M.H. de Young museum provide all the fine visual art one could take in during one vacation.

But the city offers young scientists something rare and delightful as well. The Exploratorium inside the Palace of Fine Arts has over 650 interactive and hands-on exhibits. Ranging from tornadoes you can touch to electrical experiments you shouldn't, kids and adults both will find something of interest here. The many aquariums and the zoo give everyone a chance to experience the wonders of nature close up and even underneath. The Aquarium of the Bay offers views under the bay of local species, while on top seals offer applause to the penguins. The San Francisco Zoo remains one of the highlights of a visit. Over 200 species - including rare lemurs and monkeys, snow leopards and white tigers, and other exotic types - populate the 100-acres of exhibits.

Down on Fisherman's Wharf there's much more to do than eat shrimp. Ghiradelli Square houses the famous chocolate factory and ice cream shop that continues to pack them in a hundred years after its founding. Shopping is still one of the most popular reasons for a San Francisco visit. And, justly so. Union Square and the surrounding blocks offer department store designers as well as outlet houses for clothing, shoes, bags, jewelry and many other top drawer consumer goods, making the San Francisco retail sector fourth in volume in the whole country.

Dining and clubbing has been a treat in San Francisco since before it was even a city. Whether your appetite warrants a t-bone at Ruth's Chris Steak House, vegetarian at Millennium, or the laid back atmosphere and gypsy violins at Zingari, there's something for everyone. And, of course, down on the pier there's more fish than even locals or residents can consume.

Spend a couple of hours touring the famed, some would say infamous, Haight Ashbury district. Once home to the Grateful Dead and Janis Joplin, the area still has tie-dyed T-shirts alongside Victorian homes. For a view of real infamy, take a tour of Alcatraz. The prison, empty since 1963, still retains its grim allure. Not for nothing was it called, by inmates and guards alike, The Rock.

And, of course, don't leave without seeing - and walking across - the Golden Gate Bridge. This magnificent orange-vermilion structure fully deserves its reputation as the symbol of San Francisco. One of the world's largest and most beautiful bridges, it continues to attract thousands of visitors, just as it has since the turn of the century. You may not leave your heart here, but you're certain to take some of San Francisco's with you when you go.
 
Fisherman's Wharf

One of the world's great tourist destinations is San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf. The fact is, between the wharf and Pier 39 there's enough to see and do to consume an entire vacation. The area is one of the stopping points of the famous cable car rides and houses a Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum, the Aquarium of the Bay at Pier 39, and the USS Pampanito Submarine Museum to name just a few of the attractions there.

Fisherman's Wharf is just one edge of the northern waterfront that blossoms out to include Ghiradelli Square near Van Ness Street to Pier 35 and Kearney Street. In the heart of the wharf can still be found the seafood vendors whose fishermen forefathers gave the area its name. Here you can get a delicious helping of shrimp and tangy cocktail sauce or stop into one of the many small restaurants for steamer clams, calamari, mussels, dungeness crab or any other seafood your heart desires.

Nearby is the disembarkation point for the Alcatraz tours. Be sure to get tickets in advance of your visit. It can be sold out days, and sometimes weeks, ahead, depending on the season. You can also take trips around the bay to Angel Island or Sausalito.

Just down the block is The Green Room, a comedy club that packs them in. Here, anyone you see is likely to be on TV in a few months. If they haven't been already! The Wax Museum, too, continues to attract crowds. Take a walk by Keanu Reeves looking more lifelike than he does in films. Or enjoy a photo-op with Presidents past and present.

Spend some time at the excellent Aquarium of the Bay. Here you can see everything from nearly invisible miniature jelly fish to all too visible sharks. Outside in the marina see and hear some of the local sea lions lounging on the vacant moorings, come to visit their cousins.

One of the more unusual sights, not generally duplicated in other large cities, is the Musee Mechanique - The Mechanical Museum of San Francisco. The museum displays a large and fascinating collection of antique music boxes and arcade artifacts. Anyone interested in seeing what amusement was like before video games should definitely take a look. Located at Pier 45.

Come see a different side of the turn of the century and visit the indoor Maritime Museum and the historic sailing ships outdoors. See for yourself what life was like when all that stood between a sailor and starvation was his net and his two strong hands. Marvel at the beauty of the large sails and the tiny cabins. Tours include ships that made trips around Cape Horn and schooners that hauled lumber in 1895. While you're there check out the WWII-era USS Pampanito and the Liberty Ship Jeremiah O'Brian.

Pay a visit to The Cannery shopping mall and pick up some of the history of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake along with gifts. You'll learn, among other things, that post-quake fire did more damage than the shaking. And be sure not to miss the Ripley's Believe It Or Not museum. Full of odd artifacts and purveying dozens of unusual sights and stories, the museum is a large collection gathered by one of San Francisco's oddest characters. And, in San Francisco, that's saying something.

 
The Golden Gate Bridge

In 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt pressed a telegraph key in the White House. That simple action officially announced an event much of the world was already anticipating: the opening of The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. After four years of construction and a cost of millions of dollars and many lives, one of the world's greatest bridges had been born.

With a span of 4,200 feet (1280m), a record that stood for 27 years, and two 746 ft (227m) towers the six lane bridge crosses the Golden Gate strait in San Francisco Bay. The span record lasted until the completion of the Verrazano Narrows bridge connecting Brooklyn to Staten Island in 1964 and is still disputed owing to differences in the way measurements are made.

Stretching across some of the most treacherous waters in the world, it connects the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula to Marin County near Sausalito. The Art Deco-themed suspension bridge masterfully conquers that challenge with aesthetic grace and brilliant engineering. The brainchild of Joseph Strauss, who outlived his creation by only a year, and who overcame obstacles nearly everyone had declared insurmountable in the construction of the Golden Gate. At the time of its construction it was the largest suspension bridge in the world erected over a body of cold, swift-current water 400 ft (122m) deep.

The bridge towers remained the world's tallest until recently. Strauss spent over 10 years attempting to get approval for the project. The financing alone took three years to arrange and wasn't entirely paid off until 34 years later. The $35 million bonds paid their holders $39 million additional in interest over the period entirely covered by bridge tolls. But money was the least of Strauss' problems in erecting the structure.

Always concerned with safety, Strauss reduced the death toll on construction by stringing a large net under the entire span. Though 11 men were killed during construction, 19 were saved by its use. 10 of the deaths occurred as a result of net failure after a scaffolding fell.

Painted in a brilliant orange, the roadway was so popular that even prior to the official opening hundreds of thousands of visitors crowded the span for a look. It remains so today. Millions of vehicles have crossed since 1937. As it is the only road exiting north of San Francisco, traffic on the bridge is constant day and night. Its walkways are still often traversed by pedestrians and bicyclists.

Built to withstand some of the strongest winds buffeting any bridge in the world, the span survives the challenge by aid of its enormous cables and massive anchorages. The cables are 36.5 inches (92.7cm) thick, the anchors sunk in solid rock filled with 30,000 cubic yards of concrete to hold the towers. Strauss' confidence in his design was vindicated long after his passing. In 1951 the bridge had to be closed to traffic due to gale force winds of seventy miles per hour. Though the deck swayed twenty-four feet (7.3m) from side-to-side and five feet (1.5m) up and down, it survived with only minor damage. The Golden Gate Bridge forms part of U.S. Highway 101, California Highway 1, but can be reached via Route 30 from Fisherman's Wharf to Route 28.
 
Chinatown

There are over seven million people in the San Francisco Bay area, with 750,000 inhabiting the city and county of San Franmcisco itself. Nestled within that vast sea of individuals is a conclave known around the world as Chinatown. Most large North American cities have a Chinatown... Los Angeles, New York, Toronto... but the oldest and one of the largest, most authentic of them is unquestionably that of San Francisco.

In an area near North Beach, bound roughly by Grant Avenue and Bush Street, Broadway and Larkin Street, lies the largest Asian population outside China, many of them descendents of 19th century Chinese immigrants. They arrived literally by the boatload, seeking freedom and fortune during the post-1849 Gold Rush and the building of the Transcontinental Railroads.

The exact number is virtually impossible to calculate. As a consequence of legislation to limit Chinese immigration via the archaic Chinese Exclusion Act, and other social factors, the residents have often avoid census taking. Passed in 1882, and extended and revised several times, the Act wasn't completely voided until 1965. Today the area still holds many people, shops, temples and housing that would not look odd to a visitor from those bygone days. Even so, virtually everything was rebuilt from scratch after the great earthquake of 1906.

Along Grant Street there are souvenir shops and restaurants with English translations on the menu. One block west on Stockton the visitor can find Chinese Chinatown... crowded, noisy and bursting at the seams with the exotic and outlandish, sights and sounds (and smells) guaranteed to shoehorn you right out of your comfort zone. It's delightful. Among the acupuncturists and purveyors of eastern medicinal herbs and roots and tinctures, there are many restaurants where completely authentic Chinese dishes can be had. Here, too, is the famous Mee Mee Bakery (at 1328 Stockton between Broadway and Vallejo), reputed to be the originator of the fortune cookie. Looking around, one can easily believe it.

But Chinatown has much more than food and colorful trinkets. These dozen square blocks house a busy hospital, highly rated Chinese and American schools, newspaper publishers and even tennis courts. On Waverly Street visitors can find a 'joss' (good luck) paper store or see authentic Chinese architectural designs. The street still bears signs of its former existence as home to opium dens and brothels, but only architecturally. Many were housed under pagoda style roofs of intricate design. Socially, the residents mingle and trade stories about when you could get a haircut for 15 cents. Listen carefully and you'll hear the outpourings of one of the neighborhood music clubs.

Be sure to visit the Buddha's Universal Church. One of the younger structures (it was dedicated in 1962), the concrete and steel, marble and wood exterior holds many unusual sights. The gold leaf and mosaic tiles on the interior lend a cool contrast to the teak paneled walls. Finally, the rooftop garden makes for a perfect winding down of your visit to San Francisco's Chinatown. Bring your walking shoes and be prepared to take back lots of gifts and a full stomach. Chinatown is the real deal.
 
Haight Ashbury

Chinatown isn't San Francisco's only culturally distinct neighborhood. From an area uptown near the corner of Haight and Ashbury streets sprawls "The Haight". Several blocks of record shops, restaurants, antique stores and more, which still bear the look and feel of the mid-60s 'Hippie Revolution'. Parts of The Haight have changed little since 1967 and the Summer of Love.

The restaurant names have changed, and there are now tours where once there was just aimiable stoned wandering. But if you're looking for an original Jefferson Airplane or Grateful Dead album on vinyl, this is the place to come. Brightly painted Victorian homes dot the area among the shops and theaters. And the Red Victorian hotel offers themed suites, including the 'Flower Child room'. The architecture is actually Edwardian, but never mind. Historical accuracy isn't what the neighborhood is about.

The proprietor herself, Sami, is the genuine article (even though she only bought the house in 1978). Eighty and still full of the activist vigor she displayed 40 years earlier, you can have a 'Peace Breakfast' and discuss the issues of the day. Visit the 60s-themed Magnolia Pub & Brewery. Have a beer and listen in to the latest heated rhetoric about... whatever is heated today. If you get a little worked up, don't worry. The Free Medical Clinic is still in its original building nearby and still free.

Have some organic snacks, then head to a head shop to check out the artisan crafts. 'Head shops' traditionally sold paraphernalia for consuming illegal drugs. These days, they offer jewelry, decorative items and all manner of clothing. Though many of the shops are faux-hippie, offering Che Guevara T-shirts and ceramic peace symbols to decorate million dollar homes, there still remain the genuine article here and there.

Once advertised by tour companies as the only 'foreign excursion on U.S. soil' the area retains the iconoclastic bent for which it became famous. There's a 2.5 hour offering called the Flower Power Walking Tour that provides an accurate overview of the history of the neighborhood. The Herb'n Inn offers a bed-and-breakfast that's an interesting mixture of old and new. Traces of Woodstock and the Vietnam War can be found among the residents and the decor. There's even evidence of the pre-Hippie era - the one that gave birth to it - in the few Beatnik shops where a first edition of On The Road sells at a 'slightly higher than the original' price.

Ballet fans might even be interested in checking out 42 Belvedere Street where Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev were busted at a pot party in July 1967. Just down the street at 710 Ashbury is the former home of members of the Grateful Dead from 1965 to 1968. 'Dead Heads' visit it as others would a shrine. That's the Haight, man. To find Haight and Ashbury, just ask anyone who doesn't look too stoned. They'll point you in the right direction.
 
Golden Gate Park

At over 1,000 acres Golden Gate Park is larger than Central Park in Manhattan. And, no less impressive too! In the center of one of America's busiest cities, visitors can enjoy archery, basketball, biking, skating and a host of other activities. There are tennis courts, a golf course, even flycasting pools. Or you can take a break from all the hustle and bustle and simply relax and enjoy viewing the many sculptures, bridges and flowers and let the dogs do all the running around.

Since the end of the 19th century, where once there was only barren sand dunes, the site has been cultivated by a succession of creative entrepreneurs. Beginning even before John McLaren, who shaped the first gardens, the park has offered both natural and man-made art of dizzying variety. Since 1879 the Victorian Conservatory of Flowers has provided visitors with a refreshing walk through what are now over 10,000 plants from around the world.

Enjoying a recent $25 million restoration after damage from a 1995 storm, the greenhouse is one of the oldest extant in the Western Hemisphere. The Strybing Arboretum continues the theme with 70 acres housing more than 600 species. The enclosed Shakespeare Garden - a popular theme with botanical garden designers - has on display over 200 flowers and plants mentioned in the works of the Bard.

For a more minimalist style, visit the Japanese Tea Garden. The curving paths and low arching bridges pass around and over small pools and precisely kept flower beds in delightful traditional Japanese style. Enjoy a cup of tea and rest a while. Nearby, the Asian Art Museum offers an ever changing selection of over 10,000 paintings, sculptures and pottery from throughout Asia.

For those who prefer Western art, spend some time at the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum. Here you'll find a large collection of American art from colonial times to the present. Stow Lake in the center of the park is a wonderful place to take a mid-tour rest and watch paddleboats glide by or enjoy a noontime picnic. Just a little further west, at Spreckels Lake, visitors can watch the locals as they demonstrate their expertise with radio-controlled model motorboats and sailboats.

But no visit to Golden Gate Park is complete without spending at least a little time checking out the live buffalo that wander around the meadow. Long a fixture, these amazing animals would be unexpected residents of a park anywhere else but San Francisco.

Finding Golden Gate Park is easy. Located at 9th Ave at Lincoln Way there are numerous car and bus routes. Admission to most museums is no more than a few dollars and many are free. Incidentally, Golden Gate Park has no connection to the Golden Gate Bridge.
 
Alcatraz

For a structure that served the purpose that made it famous for less than 30 years, Alcatraz is an enduring monument to a bygone era. By the time it first came into use as a U.S. Federal Penitentiary in 1934 prohibition had already ended. (Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to outlaw the sale of alcoholic beverages was passed in January 1919, and repealed in December 1933.) Nonetheless, Alcatraz' most famous figure from that activity, Al Capone, took up 'residence' from 1934 to 1939, when he was released.

Arriving not long after Capone's release was another prisoner, almost as well known. Robert Stroud was transferred from Leavenworth in 1942. Nicknamed the 'Birdman of Alcatraz', he wrote several books both before and during his incarceration. (The nickname was popularized by a best-selling book and subsequent film starring Burt Lancaster.) Ironically, Stroud kept no birds at Alcatraz.

But apart from its inmates, the prison offered several reasons for its fame, or infamy. Long isolated, the island a few miles off the coast of San Francisco housed a military prison beginning in 1907. In the early 1930s Federal prison system officials decided to use the location to hold its most hardened criminal detainees. It was thought that the cold, rapidly moving currents surrounding the island would discourage escape attempts. Even so, many tried. Evidence of the results - bullet holes and blood stains - can still be seen on some of the walls. Guards were hired that were thought to be much less subject to bribes. When Capone arrived and attempted it, he was thrown into solitary confinement. Prisoner's were entitled to food, clothing, shelter and medical attention. All else was a privilege to be earned by good behavior.

After its closure in 1963 (among other problems, the facility was twice as costly to maintain as other prisons), the island was mostly unused for the next 10 years. In 1973, Alcatraz was incorporated into the burgeoning National Parks system and began its career as a tourist attraction. Since then, over 14 million visitors have taken the 10-minute boat ride from Pier 41 to see 'The Rock'. The tour encompasses an introductory video explaining the history of the prison and the island. At the site are books, audio guides and other items. Tour guides then direct the group up the hill to the cellhouse.

The audio guide contains former correctional officers and inmates describing what life was like at the prison. Tour guides provide interesting commentary while visitors explore Al Capone's cell and other areas. Touring after dark is especially good for getting a sense of the grim living conditions. Since San Francisco stays light in the summer long after the tour leaves, that can only be done in winter. But conditions then are particularly unpleasant, so decide how much authenticity you want to experience.

Both the boat rides to and from, as well as the island itself can be windy and cold, so dress appropriately. Of course, San Francisco can get quite warm in the summer, as well. Dress in layers. Between the ride and the tour a great deal of standing and walking is involved, not all of it on level ground. Be prepared for some exercise. Tickets generally sell out, so plan ahead by purchasing from Blue and Gold Fleet at www.blueandgoldfleet.com or call the number listed at the site.
 
Union Square

San Francisco is a tourist's delight and never more so than for those shopaholics among us drawn by the irresistable poetry of designer brand names... Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue will soon be competing with Bloomingdale's in this west coast hub of fashion. And Prada, Ralph Lauren, Christian Dior, Gucci and Versace will gladly wear out the numbers on your plastic. Tiffany & Co. offer jewelry that will challenge any budget. And Bulgari, Cartier and Swatch also have stores here. (Swatch may be known for some lower-end watches, but they also happen to own Hamilton, makers of the 1957 Hamilton Ventura chronograph, for those seeking something more upscale.) Also, don't overlook Sephora if you're interested in some genuine French perfume. They offer over 275 brands.

Yes, we are on Union Square in San Francisco. Built in 1847, the square was designated from the outset as a public plaza. A $25 million renovation, completed in 2002, has brought the area to its current high point. The piazza retains a monument of the goddess of Victory built in 1903 and still dominates the square from atop a 97-foot Corinthian column.

There are dozens of shops, art galleries, restaurants and - of course - hordes of people. Cable cars provide a delightful way to arrive or leave the area, but waits can be long unless you board early in the morning. Sometimes even then. Both the Powell-Mason and the Powell-Hyde lines begin and end at Powell and Market.

Shopping aside, the San Francisco restaurant scene is second to none. Everything from Morton's Steakhouse and Postrio to the Daily Grill is here. Dining with a view of the square is available at The Cheesecake Factory in Macy's or at the Rotunda on the top floor of Neiman Marcus. Ruby's is a dining and theatrical experience for both the food and decor. And don't miss a visit to the San Francisco Soup Co. Of course, if all you have time for is a hot dog, you can even pick up that from one of the street carts.

The theater district is nearby and offers many Broadway imports as well as several home-grown plays and musicals. The renowned American Conservatory Theater is here (at the Geary Theater). The 1909 facade is a show no matter what's going on inside. Similar to New York's TKTS, there's a TIX booth that offers half-price theater tickets and passes for several attractions in the area. Many of the shows and attractions also offer tickets and passes online.

While you're in the area, check out the view from the Sir Francis Drake Hotel's Starlight Room at 450 Powell. A landmark since 1904, it's THE place to have a drink and take in some cool jazz just the way it might have sounded 50 years ago. And while you're taking in the buildings, visit San Francisco's only Frank Lloyd Wright at 140 Maiden Lane. Built in 1949, prior to the Guggenheim in Manhattan, it holds the same style circular interior.

Union Square is easy to find. Bound by Stockton, Powell, Post and Geary several buses run to the area and it's a short walk from many of the most commonly used hotels. There's also a BART (subway) exit at Market Street.
 

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