Travel notes, day 13
My main rule is to avoid tourist attractions. I have never been to the Eiffel Tower and I don’t regret it at all, although I have been to Paris a dozen (or more) times. The worst thing you can do when you arrive in a city is open a guidebook and start following its advice. Separately, it must be said that you cannot visit tourist restaurants. Most of the restaurants and cafes that guidebooks recommend to you will turn out to be passable, boring, overpriced crap. See where the locals eat!
In San Francisco, the city is very clearly divided into two parts. Places where tourists gather and places where there are none. The second is a real city with its inhabitants, traditions, and rapidly changing views. But if you still want to look at tourist San Francisco, here it is. I walked through the most popular places especially for you.
01. Let's start the walk from the city center. As you know, in American cities the center has a slightly different meaning than here. If here or in European cities everything is most beautiful and interesting in the center, then in the USA it will be more of a business district. The business district is a handful of skyscrapers. There can be a lot of them, as in Manhattan in New York, or very few, as in Los Angeles. Often people come to such a center and are disappointed, because the most interesting places in American cities are usually not where the skyscrapers are. San Francisco is no exception. There is absolutely nothing to do in Downtown. 
02. The main problem here is the homeless. They filled Market Street, the main street of the city (analogous to our Tverskaya). Often homeless people are mentally ill, they behave inappropriately and frighten passers-by. 
03. The center is quite dirty. 
04. Some Russophobic graffiti;) 
05. And these are no longer homeless people, these are fans waiting for their idols... 
06. Apparently, they have been waiting for a long time. 
07. Pierce the Veil. Never heard of this one. It turned out that the guys are from San Diego and play post-hardcore. And because they're from San Diego, three of the four band members are Hispanic. There are also many such fans. 
08. Queue... 
09. Major shops and shopping complexes are also concentrated on Market Street. 
10. The historic streetcars that I’m talking about travel along Market Street in the Castro. 
11. Be sure to take a ride! 
12. This is the main thing to do here. 
13. Market Street ends at the Embarcadero! 
14. This is one of the most pleasant places in the city, especially if you are lucky with the weather. The embankment with former piers, warehouses and other port buildings stretches for almost 10 kilometers. Market Street ends at a building similar to our river station. 
15. Inside there is a wonderful market with a lot of shops. You can drink excellent wine here. 
16. Or buy it with you, then carefully pour it into a paper Starbucks cup and walk around drinking wine;) Everyone does this (except me). 
17. Cool bottles, each hand painted! 
18. Nice dog tag. 
19. Cheese shop. Well, where would we be without snacks? 
21. Mushrooms are considered a delicacy here! 
22. And then you can go out to the old pier and eat everything! 
23. Homeless 
24. A lot of people in San Francisco skateboard! They ride on bike paths and reach incredible speeds, especially down hills. I didn't think a skateboard could be so fast. Fortunately, smooth roads allow you to ride it without fear of falling into a hole. 
25. The service workers union Unite Here (which mainly includes women and people of color) is calling for a boycott of two hotels in San Francisco - Hyatt and Le Meridien. They have a blacklist of hotels all over America on their website; Sheraton and Hilton are also on it. In addition, the union advertises its FairHotel program, with the help of which a hired worker can supposedly find a “decent” hotel that is willing to pay him a decent salary. 
26. The Embarcadero embankment is not an ocean embankment, but an internal one, running along the San Francisco Bay. From Spanish, embarcadero literally translates as “pier.” There are actually a lot of working piers here. There are ferry crossings across the bay, there are tourist tours (for example, you can swim to Alcatraz), some have their own private piers. By the way, there used to be water in this place, but then the Americans reclaimed the land from the sea by building a dam and laying a road on top of it. The street begins near the Giants baseball stadium and ends at Fisherman's Wharf. This is where the famous Pier 39 is located. 
27. You can always find beautiful cars here. 
28. Yachts 
29. And old ships. 
30. This is Telegraph Hill. San Francisco, like Rome, Moscow, Jerusalem and all other famous cities with a couple of exceptions, is built on seven hills. So, Telegraph Hill is considered one of the 7 “original” hills on which the city arose. Now there are already 44 of them. Once upon a time there was a semaphore here that transmitted signals to ships entering the bay. Then a real telegraph appeared in the city, but the name of the hill was not changed. In the 1920s, the hill became an elite area because creative bohemians liked to hang out here. In 1933, the 64-meter Coit Tower was erected on the hill. It was built in honor of Lilly Hitchcock Coit, who became famous for developing the fire service in San Francisco. 
32. And here we come to the most touristic place in the city - Pier 39! 
34. The pier is famous for its sea lions and views of Alcatraz. You, of course, saw him in the movies and in all the photographs from San Francisco. At first it was a fort, then a military prison, then it turned into a federal prison for especially dangerous criminals, but in the 60s it was disbanded. While they were deciding what to do with the island and infrastructure, Alcatraz was captured by the Indians. Instead of living peacefully in the new territory, they went on a rampage and were eventually expelled from the island by the authorities. In the early 70s, Alcatraz was turned into a museum, and now it is one of the main points of attraction for tourists. Ferries do not go there from Pier 39, you need to go to Pier 33. 
35. During the day, the crowd crowds all the empty seats on Pier 39. It is impossible to see anything. But early in the morning, at dawn, it’s quite nice and calm here. 
36. There are also few lions during the day. 
And this is what this place looks like at dawn. 
These are California sea lions. They are considered very smart animals, so they often perform in dolphinariums, circuses and all sorts of water shows. Some sea lions serve in the US Navy. For example, they know how to find sea mines, and in the Persian Gulf they are even trained to catch enemy divers. 
37. Yachts 
38. Just a poster about Jesus’ love for people 
39.
40. In about 20 minutes from Pier 39 you can go up to Russian Hill and there you can look at another calling card of the city - Lombard Street. 
This is what it looks like from above:
41. Lombard Street has the unofficial title of “the most winding street in the world.” The serpentine was needed to reduce the natural slope of the hill of 27%, which turned out to be too steep for almost any type of transport (and there is no cable tram). Recommended downhill speed is 5 mph (8 km/h). 
42. There are crowds here too. 
43. But there are gorgeous views. Poor people living on this street... There are thousands of tourists here around the clock! Everyone is taking pictures, running across the road, making noise. 
44. The Russian Hill area, which arose on one of the “original” hills of San Francisco. They say the hill was named that way because settlers who arrived here during the Gold Rush found an old Russian cemetery on the top of the hill (do they still remember Fort Ross and the Russians in California?). 
45. Old skyscraper 
46. Well, the cable tram (literally “cable”). Another attraction. 
47. Mostly tourists ride it. The best way to climb the hill if you don't want to walk. The fare costs $7. Locals prefer buses and trolleybuses, and uphill - by car or by foot. 
48. Like me, the cable car is considered one of the most dangerous transportation systems in the United States based on the number of accidents per mile and per year. From 2003 to 2013, 151 people were injured in 126 accidents involving cable trams. From 2011 to 2013, San Francisco paid out $8 million in about 50 injury-related claims. 
49. Passengers are allowed to ride on the running board. 
50. There are now only three cable car lines left in San Francisco. At various times, its fate was influenced by electric trams, buses, as well as the 1906 earthquake. 
51.
52.
53. Bus depot 
54. What about the Golden Gate Bridge? 
55. I didn’t forget about the bridge either! 
56. The Golden Gate is just an hour's walk from Lombard Street, or you can get there by bus or car. 
57. On this side of the strait there is a beautiful Presidio Park and several observation platforms. 
58. Almost under the bridge is the 19th century Fort Point fortress. On the other side is the huge park Golden Gate National Recreation Area. 
59. Drones are prohibited from flying near the bridge ( 
60. How to get to the bridge? 
61. Of course, by bike! Just be careful, the entrance works according to the schedule. 
62. There are many bike paths in Presidio Park. All attractions and observation platforms are indicated on the map. 
63. Tomorrow we will continue. 
Previously on the trip:
San Francisco is a city in the western part of the United States on the Pacific coast. San Francisco received this sonorous name in honor of the Catholic saint Francis of Assisi. The city is part of the state of California and is the fourth most populous in it. The total area of the city is 600.6 km², of which only 121.4 km² is occupied by land. San Francisco occupies the northern tip of the peninsula of the same name and is washed on three sides by the waters of both the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay. According to recent data, the city's population is 884,363 (2017).
The founding year of San Francisco is considered to be 1776. It was in this year that the Spanish settled the coast of the peninsula, establishing a mission in honor of St. Francis and erecting a fort near the Golden Gate. The resulting small town was named Yerba Buena, which translated meant “good grass.” The modern name appeared in 1848, when the city began to grow irrepressibly due to the California gold rush. The rebirth of San Francisco dates back to 1906. That year the city was severely damaged by an earthquake, fire and flood, and then was practically rebuilt from scratch.
The climatic features of San Francisco include summer fogs and cold winds. However, despite such inhospitable weather, the city is very popular among tourists. Tourism forms the basis of the city's economy. In terms of the number of foreign tourists, San Francisco ranks fifth in the United States. Connoisseurs of Victorian and modern architecture, museum art, ethnic festivals and fairs, as well as fans of surfing and other water sports come here. US attractions located directly in San Francisco deserve special attention. Tourists especially appreciate Alcatraz Island, Pier 39, the famous Golden Gate Bridge and the world's largest Chinatown.
Another thriving industry in San Francisco is banking. It was here that the Bank of America was founded at the beginning of the 20th century, and today the main financial center of the country’s west coast, called the “Wall Street of the West,” is located. A significant take-off in San Francisco's economy occurred with the advent of Silicon Valley in the area. It is a leading center for innovative technology in America, where the bulk of the country's scientific and technological potential is located. It is home to high-tech companies that create computers and software. The pharmaceutical industry in the city is no less developed. The region is home to hundreds of companies involved in regenerative medicine, biotechnology and biomedicine, genetic engineering and medical electronics.
San Francisco is considered a city of different religions, racial groups, nationalities and interests. Moreover, more than a third of the city's residents were born outside the United States. One of the obvious problems in San Francisco is the large number of homeless people. This is a “chronic disease” of the city that appeared in the 1980s and contributed to the rise in crime rates. It is curious that in some areas and suburbs of San Francisco there are large communities of Russian-speaking people. For example, the Richmond area is famous for its large concentration of Russian restaurants and shops, and in one of the most prestigious areas of the city, Pacific Heights, the Consulate General of the Russian Federation has been operating for a long time. The Museum of Russian Culture and St. Nicholas Patriarchal Cathedral deserve special attention. Another feature of San Francisco is the progressive views of city residents towards gay minorities. According to some estimates, about 15% of the population belongs to sexual minorities, which puts San Francisco first in terms of the number of gays and lesbians in the United States.
Based: 1776
Square: 600.6 km 2
Population: 884,363 people (2017)
Currency: U.S. $
Language: English
Official website: http://www.sfgov.org
Current time in San Francisco:
(UTC -8)
San Francisco is a city of amazing beauty, mysteries and dozens of hills. Even pragmatic Americans distinguish it from other large cities, calling it “the pearl of the West Coast.” Such iconic personalities as Jack London, Isadora Duncan, Clint Eastwood, Steve Jobs, Bruce Lee were born and spent a lot of time in this city. Soviet actor Savely Kramarov spent the last years of his life in the suburbs of San Francisco. The picturesque views of the city are known from many films and TV series. For example, “Basic Instinct”, “Intuition”, “Between Heaven and Earth”, “Detective Nash Bridges”, “Zodiac”, the television series “Slithers”. San Francisco is also well known for modern computer games. Among them are the games Mafia, Need for Speed, Homefront, Resistance 2.
How to get to San Francisco
At the moment, there are no direct flights from Russian cities to San Francisco, but many European and Asian airlines fly to San Francisco Airport with connections at their home airports. Below is a list of all airlines flying from Russia to San Francisco. The transfer city is indicated in parentheses.
- Lufthansa (Frankfurt am Main): Moscow, St. Petersburg, Samara, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod
- British Airways (London): Moscow, St. Petersburg
- Air France (Paris): Moscow, St. Petersburg
- KLM (Amsterdam): Moscow, St. Petersburg
- Emirates (Dubai): Moscow, St. Petersburg
- Korean Air (Seoul): Vladivostok, Irkutsk
- Swiss (Zurich): Moscow, St. Petersburg
- Asiana (Seoul): Vladivostok, Khabarovsk
- Cathay Pacific (Hong Kong): Vladivostok, Khabarovsk
- Delta (Los Angeles/New York): Moscow
- SAS (Copenhagen): Moscow
An alternative option to get to San Francisco is via Los Angeles, which is easier and often cheaper to get to. Read more about this in the section “How to get to Los Angeles”. In this case, you can explore both the city famous from Hollywood films and San Francisco itself. You can get from the City of Angels in various ways - by bus, train, rented car or plane, read more about this.
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San Francisco began as a city of adventurers obsessed with the glitz of the Gold Rush and the possibility of instant riches. From the small settlement of Yerba Buena it has grown to a large modern city that today attracts thousands of tourists.
Unfortunately, everything that was built before 1906 has practically not survived. As a result of a massive earthquake, old San Francisco ceased to exist. But gradually a new one began to appear - with magnificent squares, business districts and huge parks.
There are many amazing places in the city - this is Pier 39 with a colony of Californian lions that have settled right within the city limits, and a mysterious prison island, and a group of miraculously surviving Victorian mansions. In a word, everyone can find an attraction to their taste.
The best hotels and inns at affordable prices.
from 500 rubles/day
What to see and where to go in San Francisco?
The most interesting and beautiful places for walks. Photos and brief description.
1. Golden Gate Bridge
The main transport artery of Northern California and a recognizable symbol of San Francisco. The Golden Gate Bridge opened to traffic in 1937. The design was loved not only by motorists, pedestrians and cyclists. Many film directors have featured the Golden Gate in their films. Grandiose flying flights of red color can be seen in the films “Interview with the Vampire”, “Terminator 4”, “Superman” and others. The bridge was built according to the design of D. Strauss, I. Morrow and C. Ellis. The length of the structure is 2737 meters, width is 27 meters.
2. Alcatraz
Former prison on an island in San Francisco Bay. This place became famous for the fact that famous and especially dangerous criminals were kept here under the strictest security. Until its closure in 1963, not a single person managed to escape from Alcatraz and survive. In 1969, the island was occupied by Indian leaders who protested against the government and believed that the Americans had forcibly occupied their rightful lands. Currently, Alcatraz has been converted into a museum.
3. Presidio of San Francisco
Park on the San Francisco Bay, next to the Golden Gate Bridge. At the end of the 18th century, Spanish fortifications were located on this site. Then, for more than 200 years, this territory was occupied by a military base. And in 1994 a national park was established here. There are paths for walking and cyclists throughout the park. The most popular is the path along the coast.
4. Cable tram
Historical public transport, which began operating in 1873. The cable tram moves like a funicular along a cable car, that is, the engine is not in the car itself, but in the depot at the substation. Now this transport is used more as a tourist attraction, but the system is capable of transporting up to 7 million passengers a year. In the middle of the 20th century, there was a serious struggle to preserve the historical line; in the end, after several reconstructions, it was decided to leave the tram.
5. Union Square
One of the central squares of San Francisco, located in the district of the same name. It is surrounded by huge shopping centers, boutiques, hotels, souvenir shops, restaurants, salons and galleries. Life here is in full swing around the clock and does not stop for a minute. The square is the starting point for exploring the city; locals make dates and business meetings here.
6. Ghirardelli Square
The famous city square, which has become a symbol of renewal. At the end of the 19th century, there was a cloth factory on this site, then a chocolate factory. Renewal of the square began in 1962, when William Roth bought the entire block and organized the reconstruction of the square. Currently it is a restaurant and shopping complex. The former clock tower is home to the Fairmont Heritage Place Hotel.
7. Lombard Street
Picturesque street, or, more precisely, a 400-meter section of the highway, located on Russian Hill. Lombard Street is famous for being shaped like a winding ribbon that descends to the highway at a fairly steep angle. For cars this is a rather difficult section of the road, but for tourists it is an interesting sight, like an attraction. The road surface of the street is made of red brick, with green lawns planted along the edges.
8. Golden Gate Park
A city park with a fairly large territory (the area is about 400 hectares), which begins in the city center and ends on the ocean coast. Inside there are artificial lakes, hills, islands, waterfalls, dunes, plains, and several museums. The park has all the conditions for sports, walking, cycling and just relaxing. In terms of attendance, the Golden Gate is second only to New York's Central Park.
9. Painted Ladies
A group of Victorian houses that survived the 1906 earthquake. The attraction is located on the territory of the elite city quarter of Nob Hill. The houses received the name “Painted Ladies” due to their architecture and bright exterior colors, which B. Kardum worked on in 1963. The picturesque wooden facades of the buildings are decorated with balconies, towers, verandas and other architectural delights.
10. Fisherman's Wharf
A tourist port area, which is famous for its abundance of fish restaurants, shops, and museums. Ferries to Alcatraz depart from here, as well as a cable car line. During the Gold Rush, Fisherman's Wharf became a habitat for unlucky gold miners who turned to fishing for a living. The Maritime Historical Park is located in the area.
11. Pier 39
A marina with a wide variety of entertainment options, it is a popular vacation spot for visitors and residents of San Francisco. The main attraction of Pier 39 is the California sea lion rookery. Special wooden platforms have been built for the animals in the water, on which they rest and bask in the sun in whole flocks. In total, about 1,500 lions live in the pier area; they first appeared in the bay in 1989.
12. Chinatown
Bright and colorful Chinatown with traditional red lanterns and pagodas. Chinatown is not only a place of residence for emigrants from the Middle Kingdom, but also a popular tourist attraction. The area began to take shape in the mid-19th century and became home to numerous Chinese refugees from Guangdong Province. Over more than 150 years of history, the quarter has grown and acquired its own infrastructure.
13. Castro Quarter
A small urban area with a large population of sexual minorities. Rainbow flags of the LGBT community are hung everywhere in the streets of the neighborhood. Local attractions are dedicated to the history of the emergence and development of the gay movement, as well as its struggle for equality. There is the LGBT History Museum, the famous Twin Peaks gay club with glass walls, and the Pink Triangle park.
14. Grace Cathedral
Construction of the temple began in 1906 after the earthquake and lasted more than 50 years. Due to the seismic instability of the area, the architect had to abandon additional elements of façade decoration, as they could be destroyed during a natural disaster. The interior of the cathedral is made in the neo-Gothic style with numerous stained glass windows, frescoes and massive bronze gates.
15. Palace of Fine Arts
The structure is located on the shore of an artificial lake. It is not a palace in the literal sense; the structure is an open arched colonnade of white stone, surrounded by a picturesque park. In fact, the Palace of Fine Arts is a more durable replica of an exhibit from the 1915 exhibition, which was called the “Tower of Gems.” The residents of San Francisco loved the structure so much that they called it a palace and decided to preserve it for the city.
16. Palace of the Legion of Honor
The museum is located in Lincoln Park. Built in 1922-1924 by magnate Specels. He and his wife collected a unique collection of works of art and historical objects. The earliest exhibits of antiquity date back to the 4th century BC. Artistic works form the basis of the museum's collection. Including works by El Greco, Rubens, Monet.
17. Cable tram museum
The cable car is a hybrid of a cable car, funicular and tram. The museum of this unusual means of transportation is located in the building of the existing depot. In it you can see the types of cable cars from different times and see how the cable moves. The first carriages are also on display in the museum for inspection. The history of the creation and development of the cable tram is presented in the form of a photo gallery.
18. Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA)
The largest museum on the West Coast of the United States and the second most popular in the entire country. Works by contemporary artists who worked in the 20th-21st centuries are exhibited here. Among the exhibits are works by Pollock, Klee, Matisse, Saarinen, Warhol and other famous masters. The gallery opened in 1935; in 1995, an original modern building designed by M. Botta was built for it.
19. Science Museum Exploratorium
Interactive exhibition founded by experimental physicist F. Oppenheimer in 1969. Some visitors call it the “mad scientist museum.” Oppenheimer himself could not hold academic positions after being accused of anti-American activities. He took a job as a high school science teacher. At this time, he carried out many experiments to study the properties of the environment and materials, which became preparations for the future museum.
20. De Young Museum
The exhibition is located on the territory of the Golden Gate Park. Its founder was M. de Young, a journalist from a local news agency. The exhibition halls house a collection of objects and works of art belonging to the period of the 17th – 21st centuries. – paintings, clothes, furniture, etc. Basically, the exhibits were collected in North and South America, Africa and the Asia-Pacific region.
21. California Academy of Sciences
The Museum of Natural History, which is also a serious scientific organization. The Academy was founded in the middle of the 19th century. The team is engaged in educational work, organizing exhibitions and conducting scientific research in various fields, which include marine botany, ichthyology, ornithology, paleontology, anthropology and other disciplines.
22. Asian Art Museum
The exhibition is housed in a building that previously belonged to the Public Library. The museum displays exhibits brought from various parts of the Asian region. There is also a shop at the gallery where you can buy jewelry, Chinese porcelain, silk and various antiques. There are free guided tours around the museum grounds.
23. Walt Disney Family Museum
The museum opened to the public in 2009 thanks to the efforts of the daughter of a famous cartoonist. The building is located on the territory of Presidio Park. Here is a collection of personal belongings of W. Disney, his sketches and designs, models and other exhibits. One of the walls of the building where the exhibition is located is made of glass. Thanks to this, you can admire the picturesque views of the San Francisco Bay.
24. Maritime National Historical Park
An open-air museum in the bay. It includes several facilities: a library, the museum itself, a marina and a visitor center. The exhibition is dedicated to the history of shipbuilding and navigation, as well as some events in the naval history of the United States. On the pier you can look at historical ships of the 19th-20th centuries. The museum library stores ancient documents - drawings, archives and maps.
25. City Hall
The City Hall building of 1915, built in an elegant Bozar architectural style designed by A. Brown Jr. The building is crowned with a monumental dome, the interior is dominated by marble decoration, and statues of the mayors of San Francisco are installed in the corridors. Tours of City Hall are organized for tourists, or you can go inside on your own - on weekdays admission is free.
26. Ferry Building
The largest market in San Francisco, very popular among tourists. The retail space is located in the ferry terminal building, which is located in the central part of San Francisco. In addition to shops with a large selection of drinks and quality products, the market has a cafe, counters with prepared food and sections with products from local farms.
27. Transamerica
Pyramid skyscraper, the tallest building in San Francisco. Construction of the structure was completed in the 1970s. The tower reaches a height of 260 meters, it contains 48 floors, where offices and various retail premises are located. Every day 1.5 thousand people come here to work. Tourists cannot climb to the top of the tower, since only the first floor is open to the public.
28. Coit Tower
The structure is located on top of Telegraph Hill. The tower is an architectural monument of a difficult period in US history - the Great Depression (1930s). Inside, the walls of the building are painted with frescoes demonstrating current themes of those years: economic difficulties, unemployment, social protest. There are even drawings that depict sympathy for communist ideas.
29. Westfield San Francisco Center
A shopping center and entertainment complex located in the central part of San Francisco. The interior of the building is made in a somewhat pompous style for such a place; many structures are decorated with gilding and trimmed with marble. Inside the shopping center there are more than 170 high-end stores and several expensive restaurants. Westfield opened in 1988.
30. AT&T Park
A baseball stadium located in one of the suburbs of San Francisco. It is an important sporting venue and a popular tourist attraction. The arena is home to the San Francisco Giants (a member of the US Major League Baseball). AT&T Park is not only capable of hosting matches, it is also ideal for hosting concerts, festivals and other large-scale public events.
31. Japanese tea garden
A garden in a traditional Japanese style, located within the city's Golden Gate Park. In 1894, it was a temporary exhibit at the World's Fair, but later became a permanent garden. The gardener-emigrant from Japan M. Hagiwara took care of the park for a long time. Thanks to his works, visitors can admire picturesque alleys, pagodas, streams, cherry blossoms, arched bridges and stone statues.
32. Twin Peaks
A hill with an observation deck offering a breathtaking panoramic view of the city. There is a natural park on the slopes. It is best to arrive at the site before sunset. At this time, the sun's rays flood San Francisco with golden light and bright reflections play in the waters of the bay. According to many tourists, not a single skyscraper observation deck can compare with Twin Peaks.
33. Lands End Trail
A walking trail at the “end of the earth,” as they call the northwest tip of San Francisco. The trail winds through thickets of cypress and eucalyptus along winding ocean cliffs. From here you can enjoy a picturesque view of the main attractions of the area - the Pacific Ocean, the bay and the Golden Gate Bridge. The trail is located far from civilized places, so it is not recommended to leave it. Wildlife can be dangerous.
34. Ocean Beach
A beach on the Pacific Ocean located in the westernmost part of Golden Gate Park. The Great Highway runs along the beach. The water in this place is quite cool, and in summer there can be fogs at temperatures as low as 9°C. It is better to visit the beach in late autumn or early spring. Ocean Beach is the most attractive for surfing, but there are often dangerous currents.
35. Baker Beach
A small beach with a length of 800 meters, located in the northwestern part of San Francisco. It's great for hiking, barbecuing or sunbathing, but the water is too cold for swimming. From the beach you can clearly see the Golden Gate Bridge framed by picturesque coastal hills. Baker Beach is quite popular among nudists; the northern side of the beach is specially reserved for them.
TRAVEL NOTES
SAN FRANCISCO
PART 1: VICTORIAN HOUSES, MARINA AND PALACE OF FINE ARTS.
01. We continue to explore the American continent with AutoTour. Traveling along the Pacific coast almost from the very border with Mexico, every day we saw new cities that were different from each other and discovered a completely different California. Today will be no exception. Welcome to San Francisco!
02. We stopped for the night in the neighboring city of San Jose, just 50 miles from San Francisco. Few people know, but San Jose is larger in population than its famous neighbor and is the third largest city in California. We enter San Francisco via the giant bridge from Oakland San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, which runs across the bay. The journey is paid and its cost depends on the time of day.
03. The bridge consists of two parts, which are separated by a tunnel that goes straight through Yerba Buena Island. The total length is more than seven kilometers. The western section of the bridge consists of two levels. You arrive in San Francisco along the upper part, enjoying a good view, and back - for free along the lower, non-picturesque level. In my opinion, everything is extremely fair.
04. The eastern part of the bridge combines traffic in both directions on the same level and is the widest bridge in the world. The bridge opened in 1936, six months before the completion of the Golden Gate Bridge. By the way, initially cars only traveled on the upper level of the bridge, and trains and trucks traveled below.
05. The bridge is indeed quite long and has a dense flow of cars. Therefore, you need to take care in advance not to miss your congress. This is how hilly San Francisco appears to our eyes. Look how densely the mountains are dotted with small houses.
06. We go to the Embarcadero embankment - one of the main transport and pedestrian streets of the city. There are always a lot of tourists and local residents walking here; they have been allocated a wide pedestrian zone, which is not inferior in size to the roadway. And there are palm trees and palm trees everywhere, this is California.
07. Remember how convenient San Diego and Los Angeles turned out to be for motorists? In San Francisco, you need to forget about it and switch to two-wheeled transport without any questions asked. The limited space of the peninsula on which the city is located does not make it possible to build wide overpasses and highways, parking is expensive by Californian standards, and STOP signs are installed almost every 100 meters.
08. Therefore, we leave our cars in a private parking lot and go on foot to explore the city. The first thing that catches your eye in San Francisco is the incredibly diverse and colorful architecture of small houses. I doubt that you will be able to find two buildings similar to each other.
09. It is unlikely that any other American city will be able to tell such an extensive history of architecture. Time passed, and the city did not cease to adopt new and varied trends in the construction of houses.
10. Since the middle of the century before last, houses similar to Italian cottages and villas have become most popular. Unfortunately, most of them burned down after the 1906 earthquake. Also, many houses of that time were built using redwood trees from neighboring forests.
11. In the 1920s, there was a demand for uniqueness, which gave rise to monotonous assembly line production and the sharply increased income of the middle class. The idea was that each object would be endowed with its own soul and would be deprived of the factory mark. This trend is fully reflected in the construction of new houses.
12. Most houses are covered with plaster, which traditionally takes on every imaginable pastel color. You get the impression that different varieties of delicious ice cream are lined up in front of you: vanilla, pistachio, peach, chocolate. Very tasty houses.
13. In the 1930s, the effects of the Great Depression and the spread of uniform international styles gave birth to the minimalist style in San Francisco. The architects drew inspiration not from the country's historical heritage, but from simple forms of industrial technology.
14. In the 1950s, the era of space exploration began, and, of course, new houses tried to embody an unearthly appearance in their appearance as much as possible. During construction, the most advanced methods of space planning and construction were used, with great preference given to glass.
15. New styles continued to appear, but there was absolutely not enough space for them. Not only the city center, but also all surrounding areas were completely built up with houses. Therefore, modern buildings can often be found on distant hills and mountain slopes. But from there there are excellent views of the city and the bay.
16. San Francisco has always been a center of radical change. From civil rights and women's rights to the sexual revolution and rock 'n' roll, this spirit of freedom continually produced a vibrant mixture of views, people, art and styles. And this diversity has always suited the city very harmoniously, leaving its special unique charm of free San Francisco on the streets year after year.
17. Regardless of the time of construction, all houses are very similar in terms of functionality. On the ground floor there is almost always a garage and utility rooms. The second floor is a full-fledged living room, usually with a large panoramic window, and above there are one or two floors of rooms or a rooftop patio.
18. Right here on the shores of the Marina Green area we came across a very unusual sports ground. It turns out that this is a pilot project by the National Fitness Campaign to implement a cool concept of next-generation public sports fields. Anyone can practice here absolutely free of charge using the special program “7 exercises in 7 minutes.”
19. This area has become especially convenient for runners, who can now warm up before jogging along the bay. The creators of the project want to convey to the population the importance of exercise and healthy eating in everyday life. As planned, such Fitness Court sites should become widespread. This is indeed a very correct and necessary project for a healthy city.
20. Parallel to the beautiful houses, expensive yachts and boats of local residents lined up in the same orderly rows along the embankment. Convenient parking across the street from the house.
21. Thanks to its convenient natural bay, San Francisco has one of the largest ports on the West Coast.
22. For lovers of luxury holidays, several yacht clubs are open here. Golden Gate Yacht Club has been in existence since 1939 and is the current winner of the America's Cup Regatta, which is recognized as the world's oldest international competition of all sports and has been held since 1848. The most prestigious national and international competitions are held annually in San Francisco.
23.Also, every year a section of the AutoTour across America route runs through San Francisco.
24. Was your yacht stolen? Call the police immediately! In the past, when mobile and landline telephones were not ubiquitous, such communication stations installed on many streets were used by the police and other city services. A direct line immediately connected police officers or firefighters to the control room.
25. Probably in no other US city have we seen so many cyclists and such a developed cycling infrastructure. The reason for the constantly growing popularity of this type of transport is the fairly compact location of San Francisco within the borders of the peninsula and the mild, warm climate throughout the year.
26. For both tourists and local residents, it is more comfortable and faster to get to attractions, to work or to the store by bicycle than to waste valuable time on traffic or searching for parking. Although hilly, many areas of the city are quite flat and suitable for cyclists. Ideal road division - enough space allocated for everyone - pedestrians, bicycles and cars are happy.
27. Look, the bicycle lane has the highest traffic density. This is despite the fact that since 2009, the length of bike lanes has nearly doubled to more than 80 miles. According to statistics, approximately 16% of local residents regularly use a bicycle, and this figure is constantly growing. It is expected that by 2020, 20% of the entire population of San Francisco will ride a bicycle.
28. An incredible number of events take place in the city to increase interest in cycling. Up to 10 times a year on Sundays, car traffic is selectively blocked, giving the streets entirely to pedestrians and cyclists. Every last Friday of the month at six o'clock in the evening hundreds of cyclists organize bike rides. In addition, there are many different festivals and cool events.
29. The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition made a great contribution to the development of cycling ideology. For example, anyone can install an application on their phone that will track their movements on a bicycle. Based on the collected data, the streets that most need bicycle lanes are subsequently identified. San Francisco loves cyclists.
30. Those who don’t want to pedal can ride around the city on this three-wheeled mini-transport. Rent will cost from $50 per hour. Inside there is a voice guide with a navigator. It's probably fun.
31. From the embankment you can clearly see one of the most famous prisons in the world - Alcatraz. Until 1934, Alcatraz was a long-term military prison with a fairly mild regime. The prisoners helped local residents with housework and were even allowed to build their own baseball field.
32. In 1934, Alcatraz was completely rebuilt, leaving no chance for prisoners to escape. The prison became federal and only the most dangerous criminals were sent here, including Al Capone, Machine Gun Kelly and others. In the 29 years of operation of the prison, there is supposedly not a single successful escape.
33. In 1963, the prison on Alcatraz ceased to function, and in 1971 the island was opened to tourists. Now everyone can be inside the cells in the place of the most famous gangsters, bandits and murderers of the 20th century. You can get to the legendary prison from Pier 33 for just $30.
34. Almost along its entire length, the embankment is designated as pleasant and convenient parks.
35. Here you can also see a very cool architectural structure - the Palace of Fine Arts. It was built back in 1915 during the Panama-Pacific Exposition, and is one of the few surviving buildings from that time.
36. The palace stands out very much among the surrounding landscape and will certainly impress every visitor. Although this monumental work of art was not always used for its intended purpose. Since 1934, there have been tennis courts, a military warehouse, limousine parking and even a fire department headquarters.
37. The initial structure was made of lightweight, fragile materials, and due to partial deformations in 1964, the Palace of Fine Arts had to be completely destroyed and restored. After some time, an interactive museum and theater with almost a thousand seats were opened here.
38. Many tourists and wedding couples walk among the Greek columns and rotunda. This atmospheric place can rightfully be considered one of the symbols of San Francisco.
39. Around the palace there is a large park with an artificial lake where swans and ducks constantly swim.
40. We return to the bay embankment and continue to our main destination.
41. No one can resist taking photos and selfies in front of the most recognizable bridge in the country.
“If you're going to San Francisco, don't forget to put a few flowers in your hair” - words from the famous song by Scott McKenzie, which has been the unofficial anthem of San Francisco for almost 50 years. This city is personified as the capital of the hippie movement and progressive youth.
State: California
Date of foundation: 1776, city since 1850
Population: 852,469 people
Nickname: Frisco, Fog City, West Paris
San Francisco is a picturesque sunny city located on a peninsula between the bay of the same name and the Pacific Ocean. Numerous attractions of San Francisco attract a huge number of tourists to the city, including the largest park in the USA, the most beautiful Golden Gate Bridge in the country and Alcatraz prison. The oldest cable car runs through the compact streets of the city, and Lombard Street is considered the most curved street in the world.
Lombard Street
Alcatraz prison
San Francisco is considered a pioneer of cultural innovation and experimentation, the home of the 1950s Beat Generation, the center of the 1960s counterculture, a hotbed of political protest, and the center of the American gay community. The population of San Francisco is represented by the most diverse ethnic groups in the United States.
Today, San Francisco is home to a huge number of cutting-edge high-tech companies, providing jobs to thousands of residents of this densely populated region.
The coastline of San Francisco stretches for almost 50 kilometers, so the city's climate can be classified as Mediterranean. Most precipitation here falls from November to March. Since San Francisco is surrounded by water on three sides, a distinctive feature of this area is the fog that often approaches the city from the Pacific Ocean.
History of San Francisco
The human trace on this land dates back to the 20th millennium BC.
The Spanish conquistadors who discovered California did not know about the existence of this peninsula for two centuries, since the fog approaching from the Pacific Ocean hid the peninsula from prying eyes. The first Europeans to discover this land were explorers traveling in a small group in 1769 from Mexico to Canada, led by Sergeant José Ortega. After 7 years, a small town was founded here - Yerba Buena. Later the city received its modern name in honor of St. Francis of Assisi.
For more than half a century, this place was not given much importance, but the situation changed dramatically after the discovery of a gold mine here in 1848. The California Gold Rush sparked the rapid expansion of San Francisco. Thousands of gold miners who came to California in search of their fortune subsequently took root in the region. However, the gold rush brought not only wealth to the city, but also a wave of lawlessness. Gang groups began to form in San Francisco, gambling establishments and brothels began to open. In 1850, San Francisco was granted city status, after which local residents began to form vigilance groups to cleanse the city of criminals and restore order.
After the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869, San Francisco continued its development. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the city's population was more than a third of a million people. Everything changed at the beginning of the 20th century, when San Francisco residents experienced the greatest disaster in the city's history. On April 18, 1906, a massive earthquake struck San Francisco, killing more than 500 people. Ten square kilometers of the city were wiped off the face of the earth. The fires caused by the earthquake could not be extinguished for three days. However, the residents of San Francisco persevered and, on their own, as well as with the help of donations from other states, restored the city. By 1915, the restored city hosted the world's first exhibition dedicated to the completion of the Panama Canal.
The first half of the twentieth century was a period of development of the city's infrastructure. In 1913, a dam was built on the Tuoloumne River in the Hetch Hetchy Canyon valley, in 1936, construction of the Bay Bridge connecting San Francisco and Oakland was completed, and a year later, the famous Golden Gate Bridge was presented to the world, which became the hallmark of not only San Francisco, but throughout the USA.
With the growth of industry, emigrants began to arrive in the city. In 1930, a large longshoremen's strike took place in San Francisco, which became the largest labor uprising in US history.
With the outbreak of World War II, the city's industry became even more powerful. This period also saw the forced removal of several thousand Japanese American residents of San Francisco to internment camps.
In the 1960s and 70s, San Francisco became a center of youth counterculture, a major site of student protest against the Vietnam War, and a center for the protection of the rights of sexual minorities.
The year 1979 was remembered for the high-profile murder of the mayor of San Francisco, George Mascone, the first openly gay leader of the city. That same year, San Francisco elected its first female mayor, Dianne Feinstein.
In 1989, residents of San Francisco experienced another powerful earthquake. However, despite this, in the next decade the city made huge strides in its development: government buildings were renovated, a museum of modern art, a main library and an art center were built.
Work in San Francisco
Due to its location, San Francisco has been the most important port center in California throughout its history. San Francisco is home to the main branches of the country's leading banks, insurance companies, the Pacific Stock Exchange, a branch of the Federal Reserve System and the US Mint.
Since the San Francisco metropolitan area is part of Silicon Valley, the IT and biotechnology industries are very developed in the city and its suburbs. Hundreds of the world's leading high-tech companies with offices in this region attract tens of thousands of IT specialists from all over the world.
Sports in San Francisco
San Francisco is represented by major league teams in all popular sports in the United States:
- Baseball (MLB) – San Francisco Giants
- Football (NFL) – San Francisco 49ers
- Basketball (NBA) – Golden State Warriors
Golden Gate Park
Founded in the 1870s, Golden Gate Park is the largest urban park in the United States. The total area of the park is 412 hectares. The park contains many gardens, artificial lakes, waterfalls, nature reserves, beaches, campsites, 43 km of walking paths, 12 km of horse riding trails. This park receives more than 13 million visitors annually.
Tourism in San Francisco
Despite the huge number of high-tech companies located in San Francisco, the city's main economic sector is tourism. San Francisco's natural beauty, mild climate and large number of attractions attract more than 17 million tourists to the city every year. San Francisco is one of the ten most convenient cities in North America for holding a variety of conferences, exhibitions and trainings, which also attracts a considerable number of visitors.
One of the most unique features of San Francisco is its collection of diverse ethnic neighborhoods. The most famous of which is Chinatown - the largest Chinese district outside of Asia. Chinatown is home to many oriental bazaars, temples, and restaurants.
Images of San Francisco landmarks can often be found on postcards or desktop monitor wallpapers. This sunny city will definitely surprise you with its changing geography - winding streets and green hills, will delight you with the bright colors of parks and squares, the diversity of vegetation and the gentleness of the surf. Plunging into the atmosphere of San Francisco, it will seem to you that life here flows in an eternal stream of carnival.
