Our Tripping Mystery: San Francisco in 2 Nights - Western Addition, Richmond, Presidio & Nob Hill

It's time to write about this year's trip back to the Mother Ship. For those of you just joining us here at Our Tripping Mystery, we (my two teenagers and I) write about (some) of our travels; although, lately it feels like we never go anywhere because we're too stinkin' busy with all of their activities. However, we do make a yearly trip back to San Francisco, and we were finding that no one had ever heard of the places we were visiting. "Did you go to Pier 39?" "How about Fisherman's Wharf?" "Union Square?" Umm... no, no, and no. So for the San Francisco stories, we usually feature a particular neighborhood or two, and learn about some local history. For this piece, Patrick will be writing about the Presidio, Rebecca will be writing about the Haas-Lilienthal house and Nob Hill, and I will pick up the surrounding jaunts.

Part of what has been holding me up from getting this post done starts with the first problem of what to even title it. NEVER in my time living in San Francisco did I refer to this geographic area as the "Western Addition," but I have settled upon this title as my starting point for the basic reason that in 0.63 of a mile I cover what I would call: Japantown, Lower Pacific Heights, and the Fillmore. Here's the first section of the walk . . . The part that takes you to breakfast and the bus stop: http://www.mapmywalk.com/routes/view/284208747

We've stayed at Hotel Kabuki before because it is so easy to PARK if you're on a road trip. Plus, you're in the center of the city and close to the 38 Geary bus which can take you anywhere with a transfer or two. I park my car and forget about it while I'm there. It's part of the San Francisco experience. I easily drive 50+ miles per day at home because I have no other option so I'm happy to let public transportation cart me around a city that is less than 50 square miles altogether. I have a MUNI app on my phone, and I've never felt that there was anywhere that I couldn't get via public transportation in San Francisco.

Hotel Kabuki also feels exotic to me; like I'm really on vacation. Just hang out by the Peace Pagoda in the center of Japantown, and you will feel like you're in a foreign country. It makes a great meeting place and start for my day's walk.

Starting out walking west along Sutter Street, you will come to the Bush Street-Cottage Row Historic

District on the right side of the street. There's a cute, little park in here, and a series of Victorian houses built between 1870 and 1885. Rebecca will go more into the Victorian influence in San Francisco (shortly), but these houses are classic examples of the Italianate and Stick-Style that are so prevalent in San Francisco. The Japanese originally came to San Francisco in the 1860's after the California Gold Rush of 1849 gave San Francisco its boom. At first, the Japanese settled in Chinatown, but after the 1906 earthquake and fire, they migrated west of Van Ness Avenue to this area called the Western Addition where they lived in these homes with fabulous vegetable gardens. At one point, this area called Japantown had one of the highest concentrations of Japanese outside of Japan. Unfortunately, during World War II, the Japanese were forced into internment camps and vacated the area, many never returning. During the Second Great Migration, roughly World War II to the 1970's, African Americans left the South and settled into many areas of the West including this area of the Western Addition along the Fillmore street corridor south down to Haight Street. The area again went through a renaissance with jazz, blues, and the famous Fillmore Auditorium. I always thought Yoshi's Jazz Club was an interesting summary of this area: a club playing African-American-rooted music, serving Japanese food, and started by a World War II orphan. The newly remodeled Hamilton Pool & Rec Center has a beautiful new mural completed in 2010 by Santie Huckaby and the Blues and R&B Music Foundation, Inc. called "The Blues Evolution." I love this mural, and I'm so happy to see that it made it onto the Lower Pacific Heights side of the Western Addition at Post & Steiner Streets right across the street from the Jones Memorial United Methodist Church in honor of the first Black Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Here you feel like you are truly in the Fillmore.

"The Blues Evolution" on Hamilton Pool

But back to breakfast which is where we were headed! Less than a block away from this mural and the entry point to the Fillmore District, on the corner of Sutter and Steiner Streets, is Sweet Maple with the famous "Millionaire's Bacon." Here's how you know that Lower Pacific Heights is migrating southward . . . even the bacon is getting pricey around here! I'm not sure what they do to their bacon. There was some sort of information on the wall . . . oven roasted, dipped in maple syrup and chiles or something, but it is DELICIOUS. Go here and fuel up for lots of Presidio hiking trails later on.

Millionaire's Bacon at Sweet Maple

Moving out of these various cultures that make up the Western Addition, you can catch the 38 bus on Geary Street and get off in the Richmond District at the corner of Geary and Arguello. Here is a little map of this segment of the trip: http://www.mapmywalk.com/routes/view/267324387. After getting off the bus, turn left on Arguello, and walk south down the street until Anza and turn left again, walking east along Anza. Once again, it's really hard to say if you are on the far eastern border of the "Inner Richmond" here, or if this location right across from Rossi Playground, is actually the southern border of Laurel Heights or the northern border of the Lone Mountain area. For sure, you can see the hills of the Jesuit's University of San Francisco from here. Just two blocks up Anza, you will turn left on a small dead-end street that is Lorraine Court. At the end of the street is one of San Francisco's little-known jewels: the San Francisco Columbarium.

Columbarium

This building was constructed in 1898 when this area was predominantly cemeteries before a city ordinance forced them all to move south of the city. Just a little history . . . the area that is the Richmond District was full of sand dunes and referred to as "Outside Lands" because it was originally "outside" the city boundaries during the Gold Rush boom of San Francisco in 1848. (How the "Outside Lands Festival" in Golden Gate Park got its name.) The area officially became part of the city of San Francisco in 1866, and Golden Gate park was commissioned in 1871. Bernard J.S. Cahill was inspired to build the Columbarium in the neo-classical style after attending the Chicago World's Fair (Columbian Exposition) of 1893. The stained glass windows and rotunda are gorgeous, and if you visit, be sure to hunt down all the famous people including Harvey Milk.

Thought Mike might like these folks for neighbors . . .

I was pretty inspired by this idea for an urn . . .

From the Columbarium, walk back to Arguello and head north through the Inner Richmond. Clement Street to the left (west) of Arguello makes a nice stopping stop for lunch and has some great little shops like Green Apple Books and restaurants such as Burma Superstar. They also have the weekly Clement St. Farmers Market on Sundays. I like the vibe here on Clement Street . . . it's like a "real" Chinatown and feels neighborly. Parts of the Richmond District were used in Woody Allen's recent movie "Blue Jasmine," but unfortunately it still felt like New Yorkers in San Francisco to me. I like Woody Allen movies, but I'm not sure he hit San Francisco's "feel" with this movie. Spend some time on Clement Street, and you'll get what I mean. After wandering up and down this street, head back to Arguello, and back up the hill to the Arguello Gate of the Presidio.

The Presidio

By Patrick

We have a long tradition of hiking in the most absurd places on our trips. This time we decided to hike in a former military base called the San Francisco Presidio. Here is some basic history of the Presidio.

The area where the Presidio now stands was once the home of the Ohlone and Costanoan people. Around 1776, the Spanish empire started Mission Delores and established the Presidio as its northernmost military base to defend the western side of America from European settlers. It remained under Spanish command until 1821 after the Mexican Revolution and the Presidio transferred it’s allegiance to Mexico. During this time, Mexico also opened all of its ports to trade and divided the surrounding land around the Presidio (at that time belonging to the indigenous people) to former soldiers which many used for farming, which forced many now homeless natives to work as field workers. The Presidio under both Spanish and Mexican rule was never well supplied. Due to this fact, the Mexican People living in the Presidio forced more natives to work the fields in order to support the Presidio. This caused a greater spread of Spanish diseases amongst the natives and also forced the settlers at the Presidio to abandon it. After the outbreak of the Mexican-American War the then vacant Presidio was occupied by the U.S. military in 1846 which it remained under until 1994. Around 1874, the Presidio underwent major developments including roads, re-forestation, and the transition to an “open post” styled base, which allowed civilian’s limited access to certain areas of the base. After 1994 the Presidio was transferred to the National Park Service which it remains apart of today. Between those last two dates was when the Presidio also began developing itself as a National Park.

The Presidio gained 11 trails during this period and also a free public bus system for within the park called the PresidiGo. It was along two of these trails that we went hiking. They were the Ecology Trail and the Inspiration Point trail. Shortly after entering the Presidio though, we found what appeared to be a massive tree shaped tower made of dead trees. Upon further research, the structure was actually a public art sculpture called the Spire. This piece was made in 2008 by the artist Andy Goldsworthy out of Cypress trees that had been cut to allow healthier trees to grow in their place. After stopping to admire this artwork, we started taking the Ecology Trail further into the Presidio. This trail has very scenic views of the San Francisco bay and also includes information about the wildlife that lives there. After making a quick stop to see Inspiration Point, we followed the rest of the trail through to the Officer’s Lounge where there is now a hotel where you can stay within walking distance of these trails. Once we were ready to leave, we took one of the PresidiGo shuttles that route all around the park to Baker Beach. From here, you can get on a Muni Bus that goes back to the 38 Geary bus.

The Spire by Andy Goldsworthy

View from the FREE PresidiGo Shuttle

Victorian San Francisco

by Rebecca

For my portion of this blog post, I will tell you a little about the Victorian Era in San Francisco and why it's such a prominent feature of the city. I chose to do my piece on this part of San Francisco because I'm helping with the dramaturgy for my theater groups production of Shakespeare's "As You Like It" in a Victorian steampunk setting, so most of my research is already done.

One of the main reasons why Victorian architecture is so prominent in San Francisco is because the city got a boom in its population during the Gold Rush of 1849. Thousands of people were passing through the city and because of this sudden population growth, most of the houses were made during the same time period. As the years of the gold rush continued, certain people started getting richer and the houses started getting more elaborate and we got the grandiose homes on Nob Hill and, just slightly of lower class, homes like the Haas-Lilienthal house.

Haas-Lilienthal House

We started our day with a trip to the Haas-Lilienthal house, which is a great example of the Queen Anne style of Victorian architecture. It is a very elegant house that shows how, even in America, this was a time of great prosperity, especially in San Francisco. One of the most noticeable differences between Georgian and Victorian houses is how, in the Victorian Era, the columns on the houses started getting smaller and fewer. There was also an increase in the use of bay windows and porticos. Inside the Haas-Lilienthal house, we saw many, many pocket doors, a half gas, half electric chandelier, and what is called a jib door, which was used to avoid the tax on doors by combining an upward-sliding door into a window.

Electrolier, Haas-Lilienthal House

After our trip to the Haas-Lilienthal house, we went on a walking tour of Nob Hill where these Victorians become more like castles rather than houses. The tour started at the Stanford Court Hotel, which used to be the home of Leland Stanford; a California politician and a member of the "Big Four," the name given to the primary creators of the Central Pacific Railroad (CPR). These four men, Leland Stanford, CPR President, Collis Potter Huntington, CPR Vice President, Mark Hopkins, CPR Treasurer, and Charles Crocker, Construction Supervisor, took advantage of the gold moving across the country from California and ended up making a fortune. Across the street from where Collis P. Huntington's mansion had burned down and was turned into Huntington Park, stands the Huntington Hotel, named in his honor. Next to the hotel is the Crocker Garage, named after Charles Crocker. He had planned on having a hotel built as well, but never had enough money to do so, so all he was able to build was a garage. His mansion that was next to Huntington's mansion also burned down in the earthquake and fire of 1906. At the corner, across Mason St. from the Crocker Garage, and across California St. from the Fairmont Hotel is the Mark Hopkins Hotel, built on the original site of his mansion that also burned down in the fire.

Looking out from the Mark Hopkins Hotel

Fairmont Hotel

Venetian Room, Fairmont Hotel

As you can see, the San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906 took a toll on the Victorian houses, which makes the surviving houses all the more unique. Here in Arizona, we don't have many Victorian houses because there were hardly any people of European influence in the area. And for the ones who were, not many had enough money to build such elegant houses as are a frequent theme upon Victorian style architecture. This is why they are fascinating to me, but they are also fascinating because it's incredible to find so much Victorian influence in one place. These beautiful Victorian houses are a major part of San Francisco's history; the beginning.

** The only other parts I wanted to add, in addition to Patrick and Rebecca's pieces are: Grace Cathedral & the AIDS Chapel with its Keith Haring altar, dinner at Mums Home of Shabu Shabu for hot pot dinner in Japantown, and Andersen Bakery for quick grab and go breakfast on the morning of departure. A side trip after Baker Beach could also be California Palace of the Legion of Honor.