San Francisco - Alison Bing [67]
Is there a science to skateboarding, do robots have feelings, and do toilets really flush counterclockwise in Australia? Head to the Exploratorium to get fascinating scientific answers to all those questions you always wanted to ask in science class. Try out a punk hairdo courtesy of the static-electricity station, and feel your way – in darkness – through the maze of the highly recommended Tactile Dome ( 415-561-0362; incl general admission $17); patrons must be over seven years old, and reservations are required.
WAVE ORGAN Map
415-561-0360; www.exploratorium.edu; Marina Boat Harbor jetty; admission free; daylight hours; 28, 43, 76;
An Exploratorium project well worth checking out is the Wave Organ, a sound system of PVC tubes and concrete pipes capped with found marble from San Francisco’s old cemetery, built right into the tip of the Marina Boat Harbor jetty. Depending on the waves, winds and tide, the tones emitted by the organ can sound like nervous humming from a dinnertime line chef or spooky heavy breathing over the phone in a slasher film. Access to the organ is free, but a bit of a hike from the Exploratorium.
PALACE OF FINE ARTS Map
Palace Dr; 28, 30, 43, 76
Like a fossilized party favor, this romantic, fake Greco-Roman ruin is the memento San Francisco decided to keep from the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition. The original was built in wood, burlap and plaster by celebrated Berkeley architect Bernard Maybeck as a picturesque backdrop, and by the 1960s was beginning to crumble. The structure was recast in concrete, so that future generations could gaze up at the rotunda relief to glimpse ‘Art Under Attack by Materialists, with Idealists Leaping to her Rescue.’
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FORT MASON
Sitting at the water’s edge overlooking yachts, enjoying your organic vegetarian black-bean chili from Greens, it’s hard to imagine these sparkling bay views were once off-limits to civilians. Fort Mason was a secondary Spanish fort and residential area before the US Army took it over during the Civil War. This prime waterfront acreage continued to be used for military purposes through WWII, when it was the transport hub for troops heading to the Pacific theater. But not long after the troops had come home, speculation began about the warehouses occupying prime real estate: would they be razed to make room for luxury condos, or commercial high rises, or more yachts? While competing private interests lobbied, San Francisco’s scrappy nonprofits and arts centers quickly staked their claim to Fort Mason as a public-access space that still hosts the city’s best arts, food and events. Long-term residents include the Magic Theatre, the longtime home base of Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright Sam Shepard, the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (below) and the Museo Italo-Americano.
FORT MASON CENTER Map
415-441-3400; www.fortmason.org; Bay & Franklin Sts; 22, 28, 30, 43, 47, 49
San Francisco takes subversive glee in turning military installations into venues for nature, fine dining and out-there experimental art – evidence, Fort Mason. The military mess halls are gone, replaced by vegan-friendly Greens, a restaurant run by a Zen community. Warehouses now host cutting-edge theater at Magic Theatre and improvised comedy workshops at BATS, and the dockside Herbst Pavilion has art fairs and craft fairs in its arsenal – see the website for upcoming performances and events.
GOLDEN GATE NATIONAL RECREATION AREA HEADQUARTERS Map
415-561-4700; www.nps.gov/goga; Bldg 204, Fort Mason; admission free; 8:30am-4:30pm Mon-Fri; 22, 28, 30, 43, 47, 49
Find out everything a hard-core hiker needs to know about accessing the outer reaches of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA), including the Presidio, Alcatraz, Fort Point, Fort Funston, the Cliff House, Muir Woods and the Marin Headlands. This is the park’s HQ and visitors center, and offers