My boyfriend and I like to take visiting friends and family on a robust hike through some of San Francisco’s most famous neighborhoods. We teasingly call the experience The Forced March, and it is for our more fit friends. Join us, if you “fit” that description.Start at the Ferry Building at Market and the Embarcadero On Saturday this is the site of the biggest and best farmers’ market in the Bay Area, where sustainably-grown and artisan food is nearly a religion. On other days the shops within the Ferry Building are well worth a stop. From Book Passage (books) to The Cowgirl Creamery (hand-made cheese), these shops are a temptation on their own. Pick up coffee and a pastry to fortify yourself for the hike ahead.
From the Ferry Building walk along the Embarcadero, past piers and shops and restaurants, to Fisherman’s Wharf. Notice the vintage streetcars clanging by on tracks in the center of the street. They’ve been salvaged from all over the world and many declare their city of origin on their colorful sides - Milan (orange), Melbourne (green and cream), Blackpool (cream and green with the open top) and San Francisco (gray and red). Watch out for runners, roller-skaters and skate-boarders as they throng the wide sidewalk.
Go right past Pier 39 and Fisherman’s Wharf – we’ll save those tourist delights for another day – and continue until you reach Hyde Street. Turn left and a block up you’ll see the Cable Car turnaround and the Buena Vista Café across the street from it. The Buena Vista, fondly known as the BV, is the U.S. birthplace of Irish Coffee (black coffee, Jamison’s Irish Whiskey, sugar and a topping of special whipped cream), and it has been a local hangout since it opened in 1916. http://www.thebuenavista.com/. If you are thirsty after the long walk (1.9 miles or 3km from the Ferry Building), you may want to stop in. Don’t stay too long, though, because the fearsome Hyde Street hill stands before you.
Go straight up Hyde Street, and I do mean straight up at a 20.67% grade. This will feel a lot like mountain climbing, without the equipment. As you pause to catch your breath, don’t forget to turn around to catch the stunning view - San Francisco Bay is at your feet, the Golden Gate Bridge gleaming orange in the sunlight over sparkling blue water. Alcatraz Island rises out of the gentle waves, rocks and empty prison gleaming, with wooded Angel Island behind it. The white buildings of Aquatic Park and the Maritime Museum stand in sharp relief against the worn wood planks and pilings of Fisherman’s Wharf. If you listen closely, you may hear sea lions barking as they bask in the sun. It is a postcard moment, one of many to come.
When you finally reach the top of the hill at Lombard Street, turn left and zigzag down the crookedest street in the world, past red brick homes and flower boxes overflowing with red geraniums and purple bougainvillea. Cars inch along the steep curvy street beside you. This time walking is a lot easier than driving!
At Columbus Avenue a few blocks ahead, turn right. You’ve only trekked 0.7 mile (1.1 km) from the BV, but it seems longer, thanks to The Hill. Now the scene changes, from the crab and fish-scented shops and restaurants of Fisherman’s Wharf to the aroma of garlic and good olive oil. This is North Beach, the traditional center of San Francisco’s Italian community. There is no longer a beach in North Beach, although there was in the 1850’s when the neighborhood was a sunny stretch of shore along a finger of the Bay that extended inland. Today Saints Peter and Paul Church ahead and on your left, twin spires soaring 191 feet into the blue sky, is a landmark in the area. Choose one of the many wonderful Italian restaurants along Columbus and around Washington Square. I like Rose Pistola for the food, the Washington Square Bar and Grill for the bar and Molinari, the ultimate San Francisco deli, for panini (Italian grilled sandwiches). It’s lunchtime and you can’t go wrong with a dish of pasta and a glass of wine, or with a panini and San Pellegrino. Mangia!
After lunch wander down Columbus toward Grant Avenue. You’ll know you’re going the right direction if you’re walking toward the huge triangular building at the end of Columbus, the Transamerica Pyramid. Stay on Columbus a half-block past Grant to stop at City Lights Bookstore, co-founded and still co-owned by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, one of America’s most beloved poets and a central figure in San Francisco’s Beat generation of the 1950’s. It’s a fine independent bookstore and a wonderful place to browse and people-watch.
Now walk back the half block to Grant Avenue, turn left and enter a different world, Chinatown. It may seem hard to believe you’re still in San Francisco as Chinese is the predominant language spoken here. Ginger and sesame are in the air, barbequed meat hangs in shops, and stalls of unfamiliar fresh fruits and vegetables line the streets. Shopkeepers call out to friends and children play on the sidewalk. Cars and bicycles crowd the noisy street. Early Chinatown was populated primarily by men, so it was called a "Bachelor Society." It was a world without women or children, though many men were married with families in China, until the early part of the 20th century. The sound of the laughter of children is particularly sweet in this part of the City. Peer into the shops, enjoy the hustle and bustle. There are many temptations, but don’t buy too much to carry. There is one more hill to climb!
When you reach California Street, you’ve walked 1 mile (1.7 km) from lunch in North Beach. Turn right at California and walk up the hill to the top. You are on Nob Hill, the home of the rich and famous in old San Francisco. Today some of the City’s most storied and luxurious hotels are located here. You’ll pass the Stanford Court Hotel on the way up, and the Mark Hopkins and The Fairmont San Francisco at the top. Most of the mansions that used to crown Nob Hill were lost in the 1906 earthquake and fire, but one remains – the Flood mansion, just past The Fairmont on your right. James Cair Flood was a sugar magnate and his former home now houses the Pacific-Union Club, a private social organization. A block further on California Street, The Huntington Hotel stands on your left. The Big 4 Restaurant inside The Huntington is named for the great railroad barons whose mansions once adorned this hill – Leland Stanford, C.P. Huntington, Mark Hopkins and Charles Crocker, a.k.a. the Big Four – and its bar is an intimate clubby place to have a cocktail. Another good choice would be the Top of the Mark, on the 19th floor of the Mark Hopkins Hotel, for a 360-degree view of San Francisco.
You’ve walked another .3 mile (.6 km) since you left Chinatown for a total of 3.9 miles (6.4 km) for the day. You go!
When you’re ready, getting down the hill is easy. Just retrace your steps California Street to Powell Street and catch one of San Francisco’s famous Cable Cars down Powell to the center of the City at Union Square and Market. Or catch the California St. Cable Car anywhere on California back to the Ferry Building to return to your starting point. The cable car is $5 per person (their website says $3, but don’t believe it), and the conductor will take your payment once you board. You should have exact change.
You’ve gotten plenty of exercise, you’ve had good food and drink, you’ve been in Italy and China, and you’ve walked through a bit of history today. You’ve climbed “halfway to the stars” and ridden a “little cable car” down.
Perhaps you’ve even left your heart in San Francisco.
What & Where
Ferry Building & Farmer’s Market (1 Ferry Building, the Embarcadero at Market 415-693-0996)
Buena Vista Cafe (2765 Hyde St, 415-474-5044)
Rose Pistola (532 Columbus Ave, 415-399-0499)
Washington Square Bar & Grill (1707 Powell St, 415-433-1188)
Molinari Delicatessen (373 Columbus Ave, 415-421-2337)
City Lights Bookstore (261 Columbus Ave, 415-362-8193)
Stanford Court (905 California St, 415-989-3500)
Intercontinental Mark Hopkins/Top of the Mark (1 Nob Hill, 415-392-3434)
Fairmont Hotel San Francisco (950 Mason Street, 415-772-5000)
Hotel Huntington/ Big 4 Restaurant (1075 California St, 415-474-5400)
