The San Francisco Edition
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
it’s another world-famous Christopher Drake non-tourist tour! you are here the San Francisco edition TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface ....................................................................................................................... 4 Orientation .................................................................................................................. 6 A brief history of San Francisco ................................................................................. 8 Map of the chapter divisions .................................................................................... 16 THE NEIGHBORHOODS OF SAN FRANCISCO .......................................................... 18 1: Jackson Square, Embarcadero, Financial District & Rincon Hill ...................... 20 2: Fisherman’s Wharf, Russian Hill, North Beach & Telegraph Hill ...................... 38 3: Nob Hill, Chinatown & Union Square ................................................................ 48 4: Civic Center, South of Market & Mission Bay ................................................... 58 5: Marina, Cow Hollow & Pacific Heights .............................................................. 70 6: Presidio, Richmond, Land’s End, Ocean Beach & Golden Gate Park ............. 80 7: Haight, Hayes Valley, Japantown, Fillmore & Western Addition ...................... 92 8: Twin Peaks, Castro, Mission, Noe Valley & Bernal Heights ........................... 100 9: Dogpatch, Potrero Hill, Hunters Point & Bayview ........................................... 106 10: Sunset, West Portal, Excelsior & Visitacion Valley ....................................... 110 THE OUTSIDE LANDS OF SAN FRANCISCO .......................................................... 116 Alcatraz Island ....................................................................................................... 118 Angel Island ........................................................................................................... 120 Treasure Island & Yerba Buena Island ................................................................. 122 The world north of San Francisco.......................................................................... 126 The world south of San Francisco ......................................................................... 128 THE REFERENCES ......................................................................................................... 130 PREFACE AUTHOR’S NOTE: this book is a result of my love of this great city and my pleasure at introducing people to it (and more than a few mentions from friends that I should “put a tour together”). This has also been a great excuse to learn more about San Francisco, under the guise of “research”. I wanted to create a tour that was more than just a list of the obvious & famous touristy stuff; I wanted something with a little cultural & historical bite to it. I wanted to highlight the unusual stuff that most tourists (and even some residents) don’t know about, as well as show off the fascinating history & culture of this unique land over the last couple centuries. This isn’t meant to be just a tour of buildings, but of the space between them & the histories behind them. Enjoy! DISCLAIMER: this document was created primarily through “adaptation” [okay, plagiarizing] from numerous sources. Having admitted that, if imitation is supposed to be a sincere form of flattery… Well, I prefer to think of the following as less a “rip-off” than an “abridgement” of far superior works. (And of course it was always for purely personal use. So, there’s no need to sue me now, right?) ORIENTATION A few pointers for the non-residents amongst us… A) "The City" vs. “the city” – San Franciscans call their town The City. San Fran is also acceptable, even SF. But whatever you do, don’t call it “Frisco” – that’s just not acceptable to the natives (though I’ve not been able to discover quite why). B) Its cool dude – true to its liberal roots and “live & let live” mentality, unlike many densely-populated cities, most everyone here is pretty nice and friendly, and they will usually be very helpful if you need it. They love & enjoy their city, and they want you to too. C) Weather – the weather can change a lot. It can be comfortable or even warm during the day (or in just one section of the city) and then be freezing cold & windy an hour later or somewhere else just a few miles away. As Mark Twain appropriately said, “The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.” Dress accordingly, ideally in layers. D) Eat, eat! – SF is known for its quantity & quality of restaurants – it’s been estimated that if everyone in The City went out to dinner on the same night, they’d all get a seat. So be adventurous & try small, neighborhood joints – there are a lot of great little hole-in-the-wall spots that can really impress. E) Move around – SF is a transit-first town. Many residents walk, bike or take public transport almost everywhere possible (especially in the downtown area). Park your car someplace & walk or take MUNI buses & trains – they have extensive & convenient coverage and it’ll give you a native’s feel for The City and the people. There’s almost no place on this tour that isn’t within a few blocks of a bus or train line. But enough of all that “present day” stuff – let’s go back in time to learn more about this magical land called San Francisco… A BRIEF HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO The city & county of San Francisco currently has more than 800,000 residents in about 47 square miles (just under 7 miles across by 7 miles long). It is the 12th largest city in the US, and the entire Bay Area has 7.5 million people, making it the 5th largest metro area in the US. San Francisco currently has 5,321 blocks and 44 hills within its limits. And in more than 150 years of existence, the city of San Francisco has accumulated a rather unique history & culture like nowhere else…. At the end of the last ice age, ocean levels were much lower & the SF Bay was actually a dry mountain valley; the coastline was more than 25 miles westward of its current position, where the Farallon Islands currently sit. About 5000 years ago, the sea level rose as snowmelt flowed from the Sierra Nevada Mountains into Sacramento, then through the Carquinez Strait (NW corner of the bay) and down between Tiburon & Angel Islands, out into the ocean (technically making the Bay Area a “tidal estuary” where fresh water & salt water meet). For most of history, the San Francisco peninsula was sand dunes & devoid of vegetation. Around 500 AD, there were nearly 1000 native people called the Ramaytush that lived all along the peninsula. But the first modern people to occupy this area (mostly in the Lake Merced area) were the Ohlone Indians, starting in the 1500s. Numbering as high as 10,000 by the early 1700s, these hunter-gatherers had no farming, beasts of burden or even tools beyond the Stone Age, and were gentle & non-aggressive toward others (which is why they were so easily dissipated or integrated after the Europeans eventually arrived). In the late 1500s, sailing explorers repeatedly missed seeing the narrow inlet to SF Bay, which was often obscured by fog or rain; they usually stopped at the more obvious Drake’s Bay to the north or Monterrey Bay to the south. It would actually take an overland expedition by Spanish settlers in 1769 before the white man discovered SF Bay even existed. A permanent Spanish settlement arrived in 1776 and, on June 29th of that year (5 days before the signing of the Declaration of Independence), the two- dozen residents celebrated Mass near present-day Mission Dolores, marking what is considered the official founding of the city, then as part of the Spanish Empire. But just a few generations later, Spain’s rule over its empire was floundering and Mexican colonists declared their independence in 1821. The new Mexican governors quickly realized they needed people to populate their land in order to maintain their claim on it, so they gave away vast tracts of land (especially in this, the sparse northern territory) to anyone willing to take out Mexican citizenship & live in the area. The largest ranchos went to the upper-class “Californios,” who had a corrupt influence over the governors. In 1835, in the area north of Mission Dolores, near what is now the heart of downtown SF, a former British seaman became the first permanent resident of what had become known as Yerba Buena Cove (meaning “good herb”, referring to a minty tea plant that grew wild around here). He had married into one of the Mexican landowning families & built a trading post here near Portsmouth Square. By 1839, while this area was still part of the Mexican territory, there were enough residents in The Cove to warrant laying out an official grid of the first 7 unnamed streets in the city: Kearny, Grant, Clay, Jackson, Sacramento, Washington & Pacific Streets, all surrounding Portsmouth Square at the center. In 1846, after the US won the Mexican-American war over Texas & California, Captain John Montgomery raised the American flag in Portsmouth Square for the first time, claiming Yerba Buena Cove as part of the new American territory called California. The following year, the Cove changed its name to San Francisco. Because the flat areas of the cove were already full, the 1846 “O’Farrell Street Plan” was created, extending the existing streets in all directions, including into the shallow bay, with the expectation that these “water streets” would eventually become piers