Attractions & Points of Interest

• Academy of Sciences: This is the oldest scientific institution in the West (founded 1853) and is located in Golden Gate Park. The Academy experienced renovation and grand reopening in September 2008, making it one the “greenest” structures in the nation. Check out the organic rooftop, white alligators, simulated rain forest, aquarium, planetarium and natural history museum, all housed in one massive state-of-the-art structure. • : Located off 24th Street between Treat and Harrison Streets, this is the site of the Mission District’s first community mural. Now there are hundreds of works of public art on display in this neighborhood. It’s said that the alley has the highest number of murals per square foot than anywhere else in the world. • Buddha’s Universal Temple: The largest Buddhist Temple in the United States is just across the street from the Hilton Financial District. It was erected in 1961, and some say its construction was financed by the sale of fortune cookies. • Children’s Fountain: Located on Stockton Street at Union Square, this fountain was completed in 1972. The bronze fountain is dedicated to the San Francisco children who helped design the figures on the fountain that depict the dreams, fantasies and realities of the children of San Francisco. • China Beach: One of the only areas in San Francisco where lifeguards are on duty and swimming is relatively safe, albeit cold. This beach was named for the Chinese fisherman who used to camp there in the 1870’s. It is the westernmost point of the Underground Railroad, which spirited escaped slaves out of the Confederate South. The residential neighborhood there is called Sea Cliff, one of the most upscale neighborhoods in the City (in addition to being one of the only neighborhoods that touches the Pacific Ocean). • City Light’s Bookstore: Located at 261 Columbus Street in the heart of North Beach, this was the de facto headquarters of the “Beat Generation” of the 1950’s and early ‘60’s. It was the nation’s first all-paperback bookstore, and its owner, Poet Laureate Lawrence Ferlinghetti, gained notoriety in 1953 when he published Howl by Allen Ginsberg • City Hall: The crown jewel of the Civic Center complex was remodeled after suffering damage in the 1989 earthquake; it had been completely destroyed by the 1906 earthquake and fire as well. It is one the finest examples of Beaux Arts architecture in the United States. The dome is a replica of the one crowning Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome. City Hall became quite controversial as it was designed to be slightly higher than the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. The interior rotunda, ensconced in marble, contains the grand staircase, the sight of many all types of the City’s weddings. • Crissy Field: Now part of the National Park Service, this was the site of the City’s first airport. It was recently restored to natural wetlands and urban oasis with a blend of public art exhibits. Crissy Field affords breathtaking views of the Golden Gate Bridge. • Crookedest Street: No, it isn’t Lombard Street! Vermont Street between 20th and 22nd Streets is officially the Crookedest Street in the City, although Lombard Street is far more famous and visited much more often. • Ferry Building: At the foot of Market Street, this magnificent clock tower was modeled after the 12th century Giralda Tower of the Cathedral in Seville, Spain. Prior to the opening of the Bay and Golden Gate Bridges, the Ferry Building saw over 50 million passengers a year, making it the busiest terminal in the world (second only to Victoria Station in London). The building, through renovation, has been returned to its architectural splendor. In addition to the year-round gourmet retail stores and restaurants, the building hosts a local farmer’s market on Tuesday, Thursday and weekend mornings. Make sure to look for the statue of Mahatma Gandhi, erected in 1988. • Fifteen Cent Street: This was the nickname given to Waverly Place, a two block alley between Washington and Sacramento Streets, just went of Grant Avenue in Chinatown. The alley derived its nickname from the fee the Chinese barbers would charge for a men’s haircut. This alley boasts some of the most colorfully decorated balconies in the City. • Filbert Street Steps: As Filbert Street travels west up Telegraph Hill the hill is so steep that it becomes a staircase and no longer a standard street. While you enjoy the breathtaking views of the Bay from the steps, make sure to notice the beautiful gardens adjacent to the steps that have been meticulously maintained by the local residents since 1949. • Fire Hydrant that saved Noe Valley: The fire hydrant at 20th and Church Streets is painted gold because it saved the neighborhood! After the 1906 earthquake, fires erupted citywide; the City burned because the fire hydrants were inoperable from the quake; however, this one miraculously worked and was used to save the neighborhood of Noe Valley. This life-saving hydrant gets a fresh coat of gold paint every April 18th, the anniversary of the 1906 earthquake and fire. • Fort Point: On the San Francisco side of the Golden Gate Bridge, this Civil War-era fort was the only one west of the Mississippi built out of brick. It was completed in 1861. Jimmy Stewart rescued Kim Novak from drowning in the bay during a scene in Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo at this location. The shape of the Golden Gate Bridge was changed to incorporate the fort, which had originally slated for demolition. The bridges architect insisted that Fort Point be saved, and he redesigned this end of the span to be built showcasing the fort. • Fortune Cookie Factory: Located at 56 , the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory has been supplying fortune cookies to the United States and the world at this location since 1962; there are other locations where they’re made, but this is by far the largest and most durable. You may watch the cookies being made and buy customized cookies. • Golden Gate Park: AT 1,017 acres, it is the largest urban park in the country; it was built out of what were once sand dunes in 1870. In addition to the well-known attractions in the park, such as the DeYoung Museum, Academy of Sciences, Municipal Golf course, Dutch Windmill, Botanical Gardens and the Japanese Tea Garden, there are many unique hidden gems to discover: There is a herd of live buffalo in the park, Shakespeare’s Garden, the Conservatory of Flowers (the largest greenhouse in the world), and the paddle boats you can rent to ply the waters of Stow Lake. The children’s playground, opened in 1888, was the first playground constructed in the United States; in its day, it was a strange concept indeed to devote resources to children at play. • Greenwich Street Steps: The next-door neighbors to the Filbert Street steps. There is a grove of Cypress tress that is home to the famous flock of wild parrots of Telegraph Hill. The Academy Award winning documentary (of the same name) has made this flock of birds famous the world over. According to local lore, you are not a true San Franciscan until you’ve actually seen the elusive flock of tropical birds that make the City their unlikely home. • Haas-Lilienthal House: As featured in “America's Castles: Castles by the Bay," on the A & E television channel, this exuberant Queen Anne-style Victorian was built in 1886. It is the only intact private home of the period that is open regularly as a museum, complete with authentic furniture and artifacts. The House has elaborate wooden gables, a circular corner tower and luxuriant ornamentation. Volunteer docents lead tours through the House and explain the Victorian architecture of the exterior. A display of photographs in the downstairs supper-room describes the history of the home and the family that lived here until 1972. The house is located at 2007 Franklin Street. • Haight-Asbury: Simply called “The Haight” by locals, this neighborhood became famous during the turbulent era of the late 1960’s. This area became known as the headquarters of the “hippie movement”, especially after the famed Summer of Love Music Festival, held in 1968. The throng of young people spilled over from adjacent Golden Gate Park and settled in. This multi-day music festival brought thousands of young people to the City to protest the Vietnam War, hang out, smoke up, tune in and drop out. Many never left and transformed this one-time working class Irish neighborhood into a multicultural hip urban scene. The Haight quickly became the epicenter of the rock and roll and many performers made their debuts on these streets; some have even set up roots: The Grateful Dead House was at 710 Ashbury Street; Janis Joplin lived at 112 Lyon Street; Graham Nash lived at 737 Buena Vista West (as did Ambrose Bierce and Jack London before him); The Jefferson Airplane’s Surrealistic Pillow album features their home at 130 Delmar Street. The Jefferson Airplane moved from 130 Delmar to the Ionic-columned, Colonial style mansion at 2400 Fulton Street at Stanyan, opposite Golden Gate Park, in May 1968. By then the band was riding high with two Top-Ten smashes, Somebody to Love and White Rabbit. The Haight retains a lot of the gritty street scene of its 60’s roots, though the neighborhood is appears more yuppiefied nowadays. Consignment clothing, Irish pubs, music stores, fun and unique restaurants dot the streets, along with the medical marijuana dispensaries and the famous Haight Ashbury Free Clinic. • Kong Chow Temple: When this temple opened on Pine Street in 1857, it was (and still is) the oldest Chinese temple in the United States. It was moved to its present location at 855 Stockton after the original building was destroyed in 1906. A temple story has it that Harry Truman visited the temples old location just before the 1948 election and made an offering for good luck. It may have done the trick! • Lotta’s Fountain: Located at the intersection of Market and Kearny Streets, this fountain was donated to the City by Lotta Crabtree in 1875; Crabtree, then a famous opera singer, fell in love with San Francisco. After the devastating 1906 earthquake and fire swept through downtown, the fountain was one of the only surviving structures and became meeting place for the thousands of survivors in the days after the disaster. It is tradition to meet at Lotta’s Fountain every April 18 at 5:52 AM to commemorate the anniversary of the 1906 fire and earthquake. • Lucky House: Octagonal homes were in fashion for a time during the late 1800’s. The design of this oddity, built in 1861 and located at 2645 Gough Street at Union Street, is based on a popular theory of the mid-1800s: People inhabiting a space of this shape will live healthier, happier lives because octagonal spaces let in more light and air. The building now houses a museum of American Colonial and Federal Era decorative arts and historical documents. There is no charge for admission, and reservations are required only for large groups. Another octagon house, not open to the public, can be seen on the 1000 block of Green Street. • Maiden Lane: This small street runs from Stockton to Kearny Streets just east of Union Square. Prior to 1920, it was known as Morton Street and was renamed Maiden to help hide its past reputation as a street that was lined with brothels. Now, Maiden Lane is a chic shopping street in the Union Square retail district. Don’t miss the gallery at 140 Maiden Lane; the building was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and is the only Wright example in San Francisco. It was the prototype for the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. Gump’s Department Store, a unique, only-in-San Francisco emporium, can be accessed via Maiden Lane. • Mission Delores: Completed in 1791, this is the oldest structure in San Francisco. It has survived four major earthquakes and was the City’s first mission and center of the social life when Spanish Missionaries founded the City in 1776. The cemetery in back of the mission is the oldest one in the City and one of only two other legal burial places in City. The City has banned burials in the City since 1901. Thousands of graves were removed and relocated south to the city of Colma, which became known as the City of the Dead. • Neptune Society Columbarium: This four-story, lavish, domed masterpiece at 1 Lorraine Court in the Richmond District is the only cemetery for cremated remains in the City. It was built in 1898 and houses the remains of over 30,000 late City residents. • Old St. Mary’s Church: Dedicated in 1852, it was the first Catholic Church west of the Mississippi River. It is remains the oldest continuously operating and occupied Catholic Church, save for its temporary closure after the 1906 earthquake and fire. It is the closest Catholic Church to the Hilton Financial District and offers daily mass. • Palace of Fine Arts: Built originally as a temporary exhibit to resemble Roman ruins for the 1915 Pan-Pacific International Exhibition, the City’s residents fell in love with the structure, so it permanently incorporated into the City’s unique blend of architecture. The Palace is set on a lagoon complete with swans and fountain, the perfect photo backdrop to many brides. It also houses the Exploratorium, which is a world-renowned “hand’s on” interactive museum for children of all ages. • St. Mary’s Cathedral: Built in 1971, this ultramodern, awe-inspiring cathedral is located at Gough and Geary Streets. It is the headquarters of the City’s Catholic Church and received Pope John Paul II when he visited the City in 1987. Locals affectionately refer to it as “Our Lady of Maytag”, in that the dome of the cathedral resembles a washing machine agitator. • Spreckels Mansion: This 55-room urban palace was completed in 1913. It is the largest private home in the City. It occupies an entire city block bordered by Jackson, Washington, Gough and Octavia Streets. It was the home of the sugar magnate Adolph Spreckels. Writer Danielle Steel bought the home in 1990 and still resides there with over 35 cars! Ms. Steele has a full-time employee whose sole job is to move the various cars around the neighboring city streets to avoid parking tickets. • Sutro Baths: Once located near the Cliff House at the City’s Land’s End, only the ruins remain of the once opulent structure. When it opened in 1896, it had room for over 25,000 swimmers and spectators. During its Victorian heyday, this was “the place” to go in the City. It contained 7 different indoor swimming pools, each ranging in temperature from 50 to 100 degrees.