36
Hours in San Francisco
June, 1996
With only 36 hours to
explore we began our adventure soon after
arriving and checking into our hotel central to
the Civic Center, as we were attending the Imagination
Convergence at
the Bill Graham Auditorium in the evening.
Walking along McAllister
from Market we passed City Hall, with it's huge
dome and Baroque stairs. We walked along Van Ness
Avenue to California Street, climbed Nob Hill,
then descended upon Chinatown.
After a few hours of impulse buying, and a quick
refreshment at Red's Bar, we began our walk back
to the Renoir. We wandered through an art show at
Union Square, and continued along Market Street.
As we readied ourselves
for the Imagination event, we were kept
entertained by the goings on outside our hotel
room window. San Francisco does offer many types
of views, ours was of the back entrance to the police station.
We started early on
Sunday. We decided time-wise the best thing to do
was book a tour. As we awaited our ride a
Phillipine parade commenced down Market Street,
we took a few photos. Our guide Lyle soon arrived
and we were off.
On the way to the tour
office at Fisherman's Wharf, we passed by some
very interesting Victorian buildings. The Victorian architecture
in San Francisco amazing.
Lyle took us through the
Marina and North Beach areas, pointing out the
Stinking Rose, a restaurant for the garlic lover.
He told us that all of this area
was once waterfront and was filled in to make
more land.
We passed by Coit Tower.
At the top of Nob Hill we saw Grace
Cathedral,
modeled after Notre Dame in Paris. It took 53
years to build and was consecrated in 1964. The Doors
of Paradise by Ghiberti were
taken from the same mold used for the doors of II
Duomo in Florence. The Flood Mansion was
originally built in 1886. It is one of the great
landmarks of San Francisco. It was the only Nob
Hill mansion built of stone rather than wood.
This was one of the few buildings to survive the earthquake and
fire of 1906. The house of Flood's mistress is
across the street, it is rumored there is a
tunnel leading from the Flood Mansion.
We continued through
Chinatown, the Financial District
and then into the Tenderloin and Civic Center.
There was quite a bit of renovation going on,
apparently City Hall, the Library and other
surrounding buildings were damaged by the earthquake in
1989.
Heading away from the city
center we drove through the Mission District,
pointing out Mission
Delores. We passed
through Haight-Ashbury, Lyle told us most of the
hippies had given up the lifestyle to become,
computer programmers, accountants and tour bus
drivers. Still, this was quite the place in the
sixties.
Next stop was Golden Gate Park.
The park is huge, with a
large variety of plants, trees, waterways. We
stopped at the Cliff House,
and took a look at the ruins of the Sutro Bath
House. Near the Presidio
we took some great pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge.
The bridge was named Golden
Gate be cause it was the
gateway to the California Gold Rush.
We drove through Pacific Heights, and then Lyle
kindly let us off at the Exploratorium.
During Imagination Brian Eno
convinced us that we must visit the
Exploratorium. The Palace of Fine Arts was
originally built for the Panama-Pacific
International Exposition in 1915. Presently it
houses a terrific hands-on science museum. After
a few hours of play
and creativity we started back to the hotel. We
walked along Marina Blvd., took a photo of Alcatraz
then up to Van Ness Ave. Along the way we saw a
motorcade with President Clinton.
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