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 See Frisco – and live! It’s a city you can’t miss
GETTING THERE: I STAYED at the Union Square Hotel in
a suite that was once rented out by
hardboiled author Dashiell Hammett. Call the
hotel direct on 1800 553 1900.
AWAY from the glitz of LA, San Francisco is
one of the Cities You Must See Before You
Pop Your Clogs – it’s right up there with Sydney
and Venice.
So here’s our guide to one of the most welcoming
and easy-going destinations in the States…
GETTING AROUND
THE first thing you should do is buy a CityPass
(www.citypass.com). This costs £21 and
gives you seven days unlimited travel on the cable
cars and all municipal transport. You also get
free admission to the Museum Of Modern
Art, the Steinhart Aquarium, the Exploratorium
and a Bay Cruise on one of the city’s Blue
And Gold Ferries.
WHAT TO SEE
WE’LL assume you’re staying in one of the hotels
around Union Square, the most convenient base
for exploring the city.
On your first morning you should take the cable
car down to Fisherman’s Wharf. These
amazing little wooden
vehicles have been
hauling people up and
down San Francisco’s
hills since 1873.
Head for Pier 41 or
Pier 39 and take a
ferry for a 75-minute
trip around the bay.
This will give
you spectacular
views of the city,
the Golden Gate
Bridge, Alcatraz –
the abandoned
island penitentiary
which you can visit
on a separate tour
– and Angel Island, the
former clearing station
for millions of immigrants.
You’ll also see sea
lions out catching their breakfast
in the Bay’s chilly waters.
Back on land, Pier 39 is worth a closer
look. It’s a pleasant place, with souvenir shops,
bars, amusement arcades, sideshows and an
open-air theatre. The Neptune’s Palace restaurant
serves crab and lobster with views across the
bay to Alcatraz and the Golden Gate.
From here it’s a short
tram ride up to North
Beach, the hangout of the
Beat Generation who sold
their subversive poems
through the City Lights
Bookstore, America’s first
paperback bookshop.
Next door is Vesuvio’s,
where Dylan Thomas and
Jack Kerouac used to put
the world to rights.
Further on is the
Italian Quarter with a
restaurant on every
corner, Washington
Park where most
mornings elderly
Chinese men and
women practise Tai Chi,
and near-vertical Lombard Street with its
tight hairpin bends made famous by Steve
McQueen in Bullitt.
Bang in the middle of San Francisco
is Chinatown, one of the largest Chinese
communities outside Asia. It’s virtually a city
in its own right, with its own schools, banks,
newspapers and, of course, restaurants.
The office blocks below Chinatown,
around what is now San Francisco’s financial
district, are all built on reclaimed land.
Back in the 1850s sea captains would
sail into San Francisco harbour, abandon
their vessels and head off to the California
gold fields. The ships were so tightly
packed that some bright spark simply
filled in the gaps and built on top.
And make sure you don’t miss the Museum
Of Modern Art an extraordinary building
housing works by Picasso, Dali, Matisse and
Jackson Pollock.
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