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U.S. Highway 101 North
San Francisco, CA 94129
Phone: 415-923-2000
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These days, it’s hard to imagine a time when this engineering masterpiece wasn’t a part of the landscape, but it actually has been in operation only since 1937. This staggering achievement is over four thousand feet long and its towers measure nearly 750 feet high. When it was completed, it was the longest and tallest structure in the world. Traffic on this six-lane passage to Marin County moves rather fast, so the best way to experience the bridge is to stroll out on the pedestrian walkway from the visitors center on the San Francisco side. You might want to bundle up beforehand though; the winds at this elevation can get very chilly, but it’s an experience not to be missed. To take in the beauty of the bridge as a whole there are three other prime spots. First, the bluffs above the bridge on the Marin County side offer some of the most breathtaking views anywhere, and are well worth the toll to get back to the other side. On the San Francisco side, Baker Beach on the west side of the bridge offers excellent photo opportunities. And the view near historic Fort Point on the east side of the bridge is equally impressive.
Haight-Ashbury
Near Golden Gate Park
San Francisco, CA 94117
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Haight Ashbury is the ancestral home of hippies everywhere. In the 1960s, the old Victorian houses in this part of town were carved up into flats, making the rents affordable for young people, and attracting a variety of, well, let’s just call them free spirits. One of the true landmarks in the area is 710 Ashbury Street, which was for a while the home base of the Grateful Dead. Though you’re not very likely to run into any hippies today, it’s still fun to stroll around the neighborhood and remember the days back when people used the word “groovy” without being ironic.
Lombard Street
Between Hyde & Leavenworth
San Francisco, CA 94109
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The first thing you notice as you start to explore San Francisco itself is the hilly terrain. In fact, there are 43 separate hills more than a hundred feet high here in town, which makes driving the streets a bit of an adventure for the uninitiated. The oddest of these thoroughfares has to be Lombard Street, which goes over Russian Hill, a few blocks from the Hyde Street Pier. To make this steep hill drivable, eight cutbacks were made in the road, creating what some folks call “The Crookedest Street in the World.” And every day, streams of cars dutifully line up to take this short ride down the hill. But even if you don’t drive down Lombard Street, the view from this spot is remarkable, especially of Coit Tower to the east.
3321 16th Street
San Francisco, CA 94118
Phone: 415-621-8203
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An important part of San Francisco history is at the Mission San Francisco de Asis. Better known simply as the Mission Dolores, this little church almost gets lost next to the massive basilica next door. However, this unassuming structure is the oldest building in all of San Francisco, dating back to 1776. In addition to the well preserved chapel inside, the graveyard near the church is full of local history, and was the setting for a key scene in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 classic Vertigo.
Nob Hill
California St. & Taylor
San Francisco, CA 94108
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This neighborhood became synonymous with wealth and privilege in the city’s early day. Its impressive views and central location made this area around Huntington Park THE place for San Francisco’s elite families to take up residence. There isn’t much to see here now, but the stately Grace Cathedral is a reminder of this neighborhood’s place in city history, as is the exclusive Pacific Union club, which was one of the only structures to survive the massive earthquake of 1906.
San Francisco City Hall
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place
San Francisco, CA 94102
Phone: 415-554-4933
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Just a few years after the devastating 1906, this magnificent City Hall building rose out of the ashes to replace the original structure, which had been turned to rubble in the quake. Totaling over 500,000 square feet and filling two blocks of downtown real estate, this landmark was designed by Arthur Brown, Jr., who would go on to be the architect of Coit Tower some two decades later. Brown’s elegant design and building’s vast size certainly left no doubt that the city of San Francisco was here to stay.