San Francisco - Alison Bing [65]
African Orthodox Church of St John Coltrane (Map; 415-673-7144; www.coltranechurch.org; 1286 Fillmore St; mass noon-3pm Sun; 21, 22, 24) Cymbals shudder, and the bassist plucks the opening notes of ‘A Love Supreme.’ The liturgy has begun just as it has every Sunday since 1971, and the entire congregation joins in the three-hour devotional jam session. As Coltrane once said: ‘Damn the rules; it’s the feeling that counts.’ Overseeing the celebration from mesmerizing icons on the wall is the musician venerated here as St John Will-I-Am Coltrane, shown with flames leaping from his saxophone.
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HAAS-LILIENTHAL HOUSE Map
415-441-3004; www.sfheritage.org/house.html; 2007 Franklin St; adult/senior & child $8/5; noon-3pm Wed & Sat, 11am-4pm Sun; 1, 12, 19, 27, 47, 49
A grand Queen Anne–style Victorian with its original period splendor c 1882, this family mansion looks like a Clue game come to life – Colonel Mustard could definitely have committed murder with a rope in the dark-wood ballroom, or Miss Scarlet with a candlestick in the red-velvet parlor. One-hour tours are led by volunteer docents whose devotion to Victoriana is almost cultish.
AUDIUM Map
415-771-1616; www.audium.org; 1616 Bush St; admission $15; performances 8:30pm Fri & Sat, arrive by 8:15pm; 1, 2, 3, 4, 22
Sit in total darkness as Stan Shaff plays his hour-plus compositions of sounds emitted by his sound chamber, which sometimes degenerate into 1970s sci-fi sound effects before resolving into oddly endearing Moog synthesizer wheezes. The Audium was specifically sculpted in 1962 to produce bizarre acoustic effects and eerie soundscapes that only a true stoner could enjoy for two solid hours in the dark – you know who you are.
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THE MARINA & THE PRESIDIO
Drinking; Eating; Shopping; Sleeping
Wandering through boutique-lined streets, past a yacht harbor and onward to pine-sheltered beaches, it’s hard to imagine just how forbidding and stinky this place once was. Since the Presidio was turned into a national park in 1996, it has looked more like it did in the mid-19th century, when both the Presidio and the Marina were mostly wilderness. Not many people wanted to be downwind from the Marina back in those early days, when inland breezes carried the stench of cattle, moonshine stills, drying fish and most of Northern California’s dirty laundry. Now the Marina is strictly top-drawer and dry-cleaned, with sales reps and ad execs descending in all their front-office finery at happy hour.
San Francisco’s official motto is still ‘Oro in Paz, Fierro in Guerra’ (Gold in Peace, Iron in War), but these days San Francisco is much more leisurely than iron-willed. At the north end of the Marina is Fort Mason, where, since the 1970s, former military warehouses have hosted avant-garde theater, art fairs, community nonprofits and fine organic vegetarian dining. The wooded Presidio coastline beyond is dotted with kites, surfers and nudists where once there were fighter planes, gunboats and cannons – the battle-hardened officers who once bunked here would probably have scoffed at camo-clad bird-watchers and yoga headstands in their midst. But for decades now, the only wars going on here have been of the interstellar variety, in George Lucas’ Presidio screening room. For all its military installations, San Francisco proper hasn’t actually seen much military action since the 18th century, so it’s fitting that Fort Mason and the Presidio have relaxed and are giving peace a chance.
The Marina is a stretch of flatland between Fort Mason to the east and the Presidio to the west, with the eponymous yacht marina to the north and motel-lined Lombard St running along the south. Fort Mason is a dense collection of military buildings and barracks wedged in between the Marina and Fisherman