San Francisco - Alison Bing [43]
GHIRARDELLI SQUARE Map
415-775-5500; www.ghirardellisq.com; 900 North Point St; 10am-9pm daily summer, 10am-9pm Mon-Sat, to 6pm Sun rest of year; 19, 49; Powell-Hyde;
Willy Wonka would tip his hat to Domingo Ghirardelli (gear-ar-deli), whose business became the West’s largest chocolate factory in 1893. After the company moved to the East Bay, two sweet-talking developers reinvented the factory as a mall and landmark ice-cream parlor in 1964. Today, the square is entering its third incarnation as a boutique luxury timeshare/spa complex with wine-tasting rooms – care for a massage and some merlot with your Ghirardelli chocolate sundae? The square is already looking spiffy, with local boutiques such as elizabethW and a branch of Lola of North Beach, along with the charming tearoom Crown & Crumpet and tempting branch of Kara’s Cupcakes.
AQUATIC PARK Map
Hyde St; 19, 49; Powell-Hyde
Eccentricity along Fisherman’s Wharf is mostly staged, but here it’s the real deal: extreme swimmers dive from the concrete beachfront into the blood-curdling waters of the bay in winter, weirdos mumble conspiracy theories on the grassy knoll of panoramic Victoria Park, and wistful tycoons stare off into the distance and contemplate sailing far away from their Blackberries.
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BARBARY COAST
Walking Tour
1 Hyde St Pier Historic Ships Collection (opposite) Start your tour of SF’s waterfront as a Gold Rush sailor pulling into port would have seen it: from the deck of a 19th-century ship.
2 Sea Lions (opposite) As you cover the waterfront, take a detour by Pier 39 to watch sea lions take over the yacht marina, canoodling and belching in public like sailors.
3 Levi’s Plaza This pleasant plaza would’ve been muddy sludge 150 years ago, when Levi Strauss began making his tough denim pants in San Francisco. Without his copper-riveted pockets, lucky miners would’ve had nowhere to stash their gold nuggets – and Barbary Coast saloon-keepers would’ve fleeced them that much faster.
4 Old Ship Saloon Instead of abandoning the good ship Arkansas in 1851, enterprising Joseph Anthony built a bar around it at 298 Pacific Ave. Sailors drank here at their own risk, knowing this bar was notorious for drugging customers, who woke up miles from shore, shanghaied into service on a crew.
5 Gold St Prospectors who struck it rich in the Gold Rush headed directly to this brick-lined alleyway, where finds were evaluated at the assay office. Thieves, swindlers and pimps were never far behind.
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WALK FACTS
Start Hyde St Pier Historic Ships Collection
End Ferry Building
Distance Three miles
Time Three hours, not including photo-op stops
Exertion Easy
Fuel stop Slanted Door
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6 Barbary Coast Bohemia When the block of buildings at 708–720 Montgomery St was rebuilt after the 1906 fire, it became even more notorious than during its Barbary Coast days. In 1925, artists moved into studios here and stayed for 35 years; Diego Rivera worked here when he was in town. Housed at 710 Montgomery St was the legendary Black Cat bar, which won a landmark 1951 California Supreme Court case that allowed gays to congregate in bars.
7 Transamerica Redwood Park Alongside the distinguishing feature of SF’s skyline is a grove of 80 redwood trees, where occasional free concerts are held and there are kitschy/creepy bronze statues of cackling children and frogs leaping from lily pads in the fountain.
8 Whaleship Plaza Ships left to rot by prospecting sailors came in handy to shore up SF’s waterfront; at least two whaling ships are underfoot here.
9 Justin Herman Plaza Daredevil skaters, crafts vendors and protesters do their best to distract visitors from a fountain that looks like the site of an industrial accident.
10 Ferry Building The long-vacant 1898 ferry hub was gutted and spiffed up in 2001 to become a gourmet-food emporium and upscale