A walking tour.
Mar. 24th, 2012 03:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
peterbirksOn Thursday evening I deliberately left my camera behind and went for a walk up through Chinatown. As I said, it's useful to develop a three-dimensional map of SF. Whereas in most cities if you go 'up and then right' it's roughly on a par with going 'right and then up', in San Francisco one choice can entail you walking up a steep hill and down another, while the other choice consists of a gentle decline followed by a flat road. From where I am on Bush St, if I want to head north and east, then it's best for me to walk east and then north. But if I want to head north and west, then it's better (just!) for me to head north and then west. Unless, of course, it's more than a mile west, in which case it's better to head west then north. Well, you get my drift. Routes are complicated if you are travelling by foot or bicycle.
Most Chinatowns look roughly the same, which must be comforting for the Chinese diaspora. If I had been plonked down here with9out knowing what country I was in, it would have taken a while to figure out that it was San Francisco rather than London's Chinatown.
I got to the top of Chinatown and bore left from Grant St to Columbus. I was aiming for the Caffe Sport, a "genuine" Italian restaurant, I was informed. It was certainly characterful, and unique in several respects (thus, of course, qualifying as 'very unique' - a qualifier as apt as 'very pregnant'). The penne with a basil sauce was excellent, as was the other sauce I was given with bread. This consisted of tomatoes, basil, anchovies, capers, jalapeno peppers and olive oil (and probably something else that I have forgotten). Delicious.
Then again, SF, as I have said, is not cheap. Even a fairly basic single course with a bottle of sparkling water is going to be about $25. This town is probably not the best place for people holidaying on a budget.
After that it was nice to head back to the hotelo and to bed.
On Friday I somewhat retraced my steps of Thursday night, although I went via the historical district around Jackson and Washington. I've not included many of the fascincating bits of architecture here because if I did the post would become too unwieldy. But it's superb for a glimps of 'old' San Francisco, and it's remarkably quiet, considering how central it is (just north of the financial district, just to the west of the bottom of Fisherman's Wharf, and just to the east of the start of Columbus).
Me in Portsmouth Square, the public park home of Chinatown. Many of the Chinese here seem rather old.
The downside of public parks in SF.
In Portsmouth Square
In Portsmouth Square
A view up Kearny St. The bridge over the road links Portsmouth Sq and the Chinese Cultural Centre.
Note also that Coit Tower can be seen atop telegraph Hill, due north of here.
The Bank of America Tower. Controversial because of its orange colour. A rather strange protest, I thought, given the colour of the Golden Gate Bridge
The Church of Scientology. Mad people come out of here. Great building, though. Better than the one in Tottenham Court Road.
Many of the greats in history are celebrated in San Francisco street names. As well as Grant, Washington and Lincoln, there's Jack Kerouac, and this one, Dashiell Hammett.
And here's another.
A fire engine! The Coit who financed the Tower was a bit of a mad woman. She was rescued from a hotel fire at the age of eight and spent much of her adult life dressed as a fireman, chasing any fire engine going to a fire. In the UK I expect they would have had her locked up. In SF, rather more tolerant of eccentricity, they accorded her a near-official fireman's burial (and they even waited for her to die first).
Me at Columbus
Columbus gets in the way of roads that run in a proper direction.
City Lights. Jack Kerouac St to the left
A view of Columbus and Broadway.
Cafe Zoetrope explanation
Cafe Zoetrope
The Pacific Heritage Building has a mid-19th century building integrated into a skyscraper.
The "public space" near Chinatown.
But this is the view looking back!
The Transamerica tower from the bottom
An 'arty' picture. No more, I promise.
I spotted this car while waiting for the 38 bus. This was a wedding, I think, except that the women were wearing shirts rather too short for the seats of the cable car. As a result, most chose to remain standing!
The Lincoln Park Golf Course
The Legion of Honour
In front of Legion of Honour
The Coastal Trail. Unfdortunately I didn't take quite the right route to get to Land's End Point, and by the time I realized I was too tired to retrace my steps.
The Pacific
The Cliff Top Restaurant from the Coastal Trail
The Sutro Baths from the Coastal Trail
The Sutro Baths, Ground level
The Sutro Baths, by sunlight.
By the Cliff Top restautrant
What a difference a couple of days (or perhaps even a couple of hours, given the extent to which it has clouded over since I got on the bus to come back) makes.
Severe sanddrift.
I caught the 5 bus back along Fulton, by which time I was getting rather self-conscious about my forehead, which was peeling as a result of the sun these past few days. Unless you knew this, I probably made a rather good impersonation of Michael Gambon in 'The Singing Detective', perhaps suffering from some horrific eczema attack.
Luckily it's mainly peeled away this morning, although it's still a rather bright red rather than cool brown.
Lori's Diner
Having not eaten since breakfast, I reckon I deserved a burger. I could probably have eaten another sundae (I was very hungry!) but I've eaten far too much bad stuff this trip as it is.
And I followed it up last night while typing the previous entry with some doritos, salsa, and chocolate for dessert! But I was watching the baseball, so I reckon that's okay.
It's now Saturday morning and at about 10.30am I am going to head for the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transportation, I think) to go to Oakland for Napoleon, which kicks off at 1.30pm, has three intermissions (including a very long one for an early dinner) and then finishes at 9.40pm. The weather forecast for today is for constant light rain, while for tomorrrow it is for occasional heavy showers.
My plane is not until 4.55pm, so I don't need to leave the centre before 1.30pm. That should give me time to hit the SF Museum of Modern Art for a short tour, plus something else a bit earlier if the weather is not to bad (MOMA doesn't open until 11am, I fear).
______________________
Most Chinatowns look roughly the same, which must be comforting for the Chinese diaspora. If I had been plonked down here with9out knowing what country I was in, it would have taken a while to figure out that it was San Francisco rather than London's Chinatown.
I got to the top of Chinatown and bore left from Grant St to Columbus. I was aiming for the Caffe Sport, a "genuine" Italian restaurant, I was informed. It was certainly characterful, and unique in several respects (thus, of course, qualifying as 'very unique' - a qualifier as apt as 'very pregnant'). The penne with a basil sauce was excellent, as was the other sauce I was given with bread. This consisted of tomatoes, basil, anchovies, capers, jalapeno peppers and olive oil (and probably something else that I have forgotten). Delicious.
Then again, SF, as I have said, is not cheap. Even a fairly basic single course with a bottle of sparkling water is going to be about $25. This town is probably not the best place for people holidaying on a budget.
After that it was nice to head back to the hotelo and to bed.
On Friday I somewhat retraced my steps of Thursday night, although I went via the historical district around Jackson and Washington. I've not included many of the fascincating bits of architecture here because if I did the post would become too unwieldy. But it's superb for a glimps of 'old' San Francisco, and it's remarkably quiet, considering how central it is (just north of the financial district, just to the west of the bottom of Fisherman's Wharf, and just to the east of the start of Columbus).
Me in Portsmouth Square, the public park home of Chinatown. Many of the Chinese here seem rather old.
The downside of public parks in SF.
In Portsmouth Square
In Portsmouth Square
A view up Kearny St. The bridge over the road links Portsmouth Sq and the Chinese Cultural Centre.
Note also that Coit Tower can be seen atop telegraph Hill, due north of here.
The Bank of America Tower. Controversial because of its orange colour. A rather strange protest, I thought, given the colour of the Golden Gate Bridge
The Church of Scientology. Mad people come out of here. Great building, though. Better than the one in Tottenham Court Road.
Many of the greats in history are celebrated in San Francisco street names. As well as Grant, Washington and Lincoln, there's Jack Kerouac, and this one, Dashiell Hammett.
And here's another.
A fire engine! The Coit who financed the Tower was a bit of a mad woman. She was rescued from a hotel fire at the age of eight and spent much of her adult life dressed as a fireman, chasing any fire engine going to a fire. In the UK I expect they would have had her locked up. In SF, rather more tolerant of eccentricity, they accorded her a near-official fireman's burial (and they even waited for her to die first).
Me at Columbus
Columbus gets in the way of roads that run in a proper direction.
City Lights. Jack Kerouac St to the left
A view of Columbus and Broadway.
Cafe Zoetrope explanation
Cafe Zoetrope
The Pacific Heritage Building has a mid-19th century building integrated into a skyscraper.
The "public space" near Chinatown.
But this is the view looking back!
The Transamerica tower from the bottom
An 'arty' picture. No more, I promise.
I spotted this car while waiting for the 38 bus. This was a wedding, I think, except that the women were wearing shirts rather too short for the seats of the cable car. As a result, most chose to remain standing!
The Lincoln Park Golf Course
The Legion of Honour
In front of Legion of Honour
The Coastal Trail. Unfdortunately I didn't take quite the right route to get to Land's End Point, and by the time I realized I was too tired to retrace my steps.
The Pacific
The Cliff Top Restaurant from the Coastal Trail
The Sutro Baths from the Coastal Trail
The Sutro Baths, Ground level
The Sutro Baths, by sunlight.
By the Cliff Top restautrant
What a difference a couple of days (or perhaps even a couple of hours, given the extent to which it has clouded over since I got on the bus to come back) makes.
Severe sanddrift.
I caught the 5 bus back along Fulton, by which time I was getting rather self-conscious about my forehead, which was peeling as a result of the sun these past few days. Unless you knew this, I probably made a rather good impersonation of Michael Gambon in 'The Singing Detective', perhaps suffering from some horrific eczema attack.
Luckily it's mainly peeled away this morning, although it's still a rather bright red rather than cool brown.
Lori's Diner
Having not eaten since breakfast, I reckon I deserved a burger. I could probably have eaten another sundae (I was very hungry!) but I've eaten far too much bad stuff this trip as it is.
And I followed it up last night while typing the previous entry with some doritos, salsa, and chocolate for dessert! But I was watching the baseball, so I reckon that's okay.
It's now Saturday morning and at about 10.30am I am going to head for the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transportation, I think) to go to Oakland for Napoleon, which kicks off at 1.30pm, has three intermissions (including a very long one for an early dinner) and then finishes at 9.40pm. The weather forecast for today is for constant light rain, while for tomorrrow it is for occasional heavy showers.
My plane is not until 4.55pm, so I don't need to leave the centre before 1.30pm. That should give me time to hit the SF Museum of Modern Art for a short tour, plus something else a bit earlier if the weather is not to bad (MOMA doesn't open until 11am, I fear).
______________________
