Their apartment is in the Mission neighborhood, which is not the home of Mission-style architecture but is the home of the Mission-style burrito, the type that has become popular across the country in independent taquerias as well as big chains like Chipotle and Qdoba.
The neighborhood is also known for its many colorful murals, of which here are a few.
The neighborhood is also home to many colorful establishments.
Sidewalk Juice is one of my friend's favorites, and it is a lot tastier than one would expect.
This place is only about 200 short of being an evangelical TV show, but 200 can make a big difference.
I found this sign a little threatening.
Until I was reassured that they have a very thoughtful practice.
This is a store that apparently has nothing to do with the 1960 Billy Wilder movie.
I especially admire this sign for its honesty.
The Mission area is named for the Mission Dolores, the oldest building in San Francisco, which I didn't actually see because nobody could tell me where it was at the time. Turns out it's down the street a couple of blocks from Mission Dolores Park, where I spent a little time with the many young people who seem to hang out there on a regular basis (it is next to a high school, after all).
That evening we went out for some Senegalese food at Baobap. This mural on the wall reminded me of Senegal's performance in the 2002 World Cup, when they made it to the quarter-finals.
The next day I went to downtown San Francisco, the only US city that managed to install – and retain – public outdoor pay toilets. I'm sure Sally will feel good about herself the next time she has to go.
The reason I went downtown was to take a free walking tour of Market Street. It was put on by San Francisco City Guides, a volunteer-run organization that does an array of different free tours every day and throughout the week. Mine had about a dozen people in it and was led by a very nice San Franciscan with a propensity for telling stories, some verifiable, others not so much.
The tour started with a view of the old Ferry Building and the bay. The Ferry Building is a landmark whose function had become outdated, and was saved from the wrecking ball to be turned into a "festival marketplace" in 2004, though it still serves as a terminal for some ferries. In the distance you see Treasure Island and the Bay Bridge, and beyond that, Berkeley (to the left) and Oakland (to the right). What you don't see in the foreground is the on-ramp to the bridge, which was destroyed in the 1989 earthquake and, fortunately, not rebuilt.
The view was courtesy of the window of the Hyatt Regency hotel. The guide enjoyed telling us of how all Hyatt Regencies are designed in the style of the one below, and that a few hotel guests over the years (not necessarily in this hotel, but maybe) have taken swan dives over the railings. I'm not sure if that's true, but if it is, don't you think that would be an ideal place to put the pool?
San Francisco, as many people know, still runs streetcars. The streetcars are a rolling museum, having been collected from cities throughout the world and history. There's something quintessentially American about that – "Give us your tired, your poor ..."
Near the port area is the old headquarters of the Central Pacific Railroad, the guys who built and basically owned California in the latter half of the 19th century. Their building has an example of a "belvedere", which is not a butler or a vodka but rather a small elevated penthouse from which the "big four" could look out over their keep.
Many buildings in this area were built in the Beaux-Arts style popular at the turn of the century and feature the names of companies that have long since vacated those buildings or no longer exist.
Our guide pointed out that this newly completed condo building is now the tallest in the city at 60-something stories. I bet they're really proud they built it now.
The Shell building (no longer housing that company) was built in the Art Deco style that was popular in the late 1920s and early 1930s, the most well-known examples being the Chrysler Building and Empire State Building in New York.
But if you look to the left you see something a little more interesting. This "pencil building" is 10 stories high but only 20 feet wide, making it probably the narrowest commercial building in the city and one of the narrowest in the U.S. According to the tour guide, this building originally was home to a company that made neckties, belts and suspenders. The internet confirms that this is widely believed to be a fact. Could it possibly be apocryphal? Nah.
This "building" is an example of the city's historic preservation movement, which required that even though a new building was being built, a portion of the old facade had to be retained. Behind the facade is a privately owned publicly accessible outdoor space, an example of another requirement by the city, to combat the perceived shortage of open space in downtown.
The last stop on the tour was the Palace Hotel. The interesting story told to us by the tour guide was that for years it had been owned by Sheraton and called the "Sheraton Palace". When it was sold by Sheraton to another company, they wanted to replace the words SHERATON PALACE on the sign with PALACE HOTEL, but the historical commission didn't want them changing what they felt to be a historic sign. After some time the commission said they could change the words on the sign but must use the original letters, thus the compromise THE PALACE. Sadly, they were almost there, they only needed an "L" ...
The original Palace Hotel was destroyed in the fires following the 1906 earthquake, and in its current incarnation has been home to many special events, many notable guests, and a few notable deaths, including President Warren Harding and Kalakaua, the last king of Hawai'i (coincidence?). It was also the setting for the end scene of one of our tour guides' favorite movies, The Game.
At the conclusion of the tour I made my way out of downtown.
Going up Market Street the landscape shifts away from the more stately business towers to other types of establishments.
I was taking the bus across town to Golden Gate Park, the centerpiece of the San Francisco park system and a great place to spend some time on a sunny afternoon.
Unfortunately, because it's California and people can't go anywhere without their cars, a lot of the park simply looks like this:
I went for a short stroll through the Botanical Gardens. Here are all the things you can't do there, I'm not sure exactly what all of them are, but I hope I wasn't doing any of them.
But there were plenty of nice things to see.
And smell.
Not surprisingly, a lot of the park is up the side of a hill. Climbing up the hill gets away from the crowds a bit and offers some nice views.
Including this view that catches the top of the Golden Gate Bridge.
The rest of the park has various areas with interesting design features added and changed over time.
The Japanese Tea Garden is a popular attraction that I wasn't able to get into before closing time.
The most recent addition to the Golden Gate Park landscape is the new California Academy of Sciences. The previous building had been damaged beyond repair in the 1989 earthquake, and this replacement designed by Renzo Piano opened to much fanfare last year.
Across a large central plaza from the Academy is the de Young Museum, which some of you may recall I visited last year.
The landscapers apparently decided that visitors would follow the rules better if they anthropomorphized the plantings.
Statues are a big deal in Golden Gate Park, such as this one of Goethe and Schiller that memorializes San Francisco's first attempt at legalizing same-sex marriage.
I'm not sure if this is Scottish poet Robert Burns or Springfield Nuclear Power owner C. Montgomery Burns.
I'm not sure who this is but he seems to have wandered away from his pedestal.
And of course, the kids just love Garfield.
Leaving the park I wandered back a bit up Haight Street, a neighborhood that oozes with the counterculture essence that San Francisco is known for.
Many of the places it was difficult to figure out what they were trying to convey. I suppose this place figures if you like Kurt Russell, you might just be interested in coming in for a slice.
A few places were a little more traditional.
And some seemed lost in another time and place altogether.
That evening we went out for vegetarian sushi. Yes they only serve vegetables in this place, but they serve them as if they were sushi, either in rolls or rice bowls, some battered and fried in tempura. It was pretty good but I could have used a nice tuna belly to balance it out.
After dinner we made a short trip to the Castro, which I'm sure everyone knows. Unfortunately the hard times have hit this neighborhood as much as any other.
After a long debate that started at dinner over whether "Hot Cookie" actually sold cookies or not, it was confirmed that it is indeed a cookie place although it also sells the specialty briefs displayed in the window. The inside of the small counter area is wallpapered with snapshots of patrons wearing said briefs. Be thankful I didn't take a photo of the inside.
Among the many odd things that can be seen in the Castro is this, a chair positioned on an inset in a clock tower. Who exactly sits there? If you know, tell me.
The last thing I saw I didn't get a very good photo of, which was lucky because that means I can post it without violating any terms of service agreements. Look at the three walking shapes in the center of the photo. What are those three gentlemen wearing? The answer may surprise you.
Well that does it for San Francisco. I'll see you as the journey continues ...
