The final 36 Walk happened on May 4th in San Francisco and it was worth the wait! Weather was perfect and we had a nice turn out!
Smaller groups are great for a walking tour. Easier to keep everyone moving and together. Plus, conversation along the way is better. A chance to get to know each other.
Starting our Meet-up at Liguria Bakery! The focaccia here goes quick, need to be there no later than 11am!!! By the time we were done, they had sold out of half the varieties on the sign board. Rosemary/Garlic and Cheddar/Jalapeno ~ $6 each!
Saints Peter and Paul has also become the home church for the city’s Chinese-American Roman Catholic population, offering weekly masses in Italian, Cantonese, and English. Mass in Latin is offered monthly as well. Saints Peter and Paul serves the Archdiocese of San Francisco.
Victoria Pastry Company
Cookies and cakes and tiramisu and cannoli! ALL the yummy pastries plus cappuccino!
Great playground for children 5 to 12 years old. That green surface is composed of recycled tires, a safety surfacing throughout play area with undulating topography.
Fireman’s Memorial
This sculpture by Haig Patigian was erected with funds left by Lillie Hitchcock Coit, it was originally located up at Coit Tower.
Barbary Coast Trail
The Barbary Coast Trail is a walking tour connecting 20 historic sites and local history museums in San Francisco, California. Approximately 180 bronze medallions and arrows embedded in the sidewalk mark the trail.
The Saloon
The Saloon first opened in 1861 and has been in continuous operation ever since. One of the oldest bars in San Francisco!
“In the late 1960s and 1970s Grant Avenue had numerous blues clubs like The Saloon, which supplied live bands playing music every night. Though many of those blues clubs have disappeared, The Saloon continues to provide a dance floor and daily performances by locally acclaimed musicians. Despite its small size, throughout time The Saloon has attracted the performances of many talented and occasionally famous musicians.”
“Language of the Birds is a permanent site-specific sculpture installed at a pedestrian plaza linking Chinatown and North Beach. Each of the artwork’s suspended “books” mimic a bird in motion, with various wing positions created by the forms of the pages and bindings. Passing under the flock, pedestrians will notice words and phrases embedded in the plaza floor, which appear to have fallen from the pages above. On closer inspection, the fallen words are in English, Italian and Chinese, and were selected from the neighborhood’s rich literary history.”
City Lights Booksellers & Publishers
City Lights is the first all-paperback bookstore in the US, founded in San Francisco in 1953 by Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Home to San Francisco’s famous Beat Generation.
Vesuvio Cafe
The bar was founded in 1948 by Henri Lenoir, and was frequented by a number of Beat Generation celebrities including Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and Neal Cassady, as well as other notable cultural figures such as Dylan Thomas, Bob Dylan, Rodger Jacobs and Francis Ford Coppola.
The alley between City Lights Booksellers and Vesuvio is name for Jack Kerouac and filled with street art.
And one final stop just across the street and into Chinatown!
Wong Lee Bakery
Inexpensive dim sum, in a hole-in-the-wall size business. Their egg tarts are $1 each as opposed to $2.50 at others.
A very fun afternoon spent in the city with new and old friends!
Next time you’re in San Francisco, you can visit all of these fine establishments! Get my List for Google Maps —> San Francisco ~ North Beach
A big thanks to @Twister411 for helping with the planning. Her Lists for bakeries in San Francisco are extensive. Thanks to @iyudhi and @anuspice for making it out.
You can also get a look at this Meet up from Tu’s perspective! We all experience a meet up in our own way, it’s interesting to see from someone else’s viewpoint!
