This little hidden shopping center is often overlooked, but it’s filled with some fun finds and great shopping. If you need a fabulous new suitcase, a fast tasty meal, or a quick chair massage for next to nothing, take a little (and I mean little … as in steps away) side trip off Market Street. It’s very, very close to Montgomery and Market. Discover it and let me know what you think?
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After we finished interviewing Adah (author of Stairway Walks of San Francisco … search here, or better yet, buy her book using the link on the left side … the tall Amazon banner), and getting her to autograph our books (we have the 1st and 6th editions), she talked about the stairway that’s on the cover of the 6th. It’s the most beautiful of them all.
The story of how it came to be decorated with the tiles is fun to know .. a young woman from Rio de Janeiro could see the stairway outside her kitchen window and it was originally just plain old concrete. She enrolled a neighbor and the rest is history. They formed a group, went through the process of getting city permission, received donations of materials and a garage space to work on the design and tiles. It took 3 years, but the result is a beautiful display of fish, seaweed, water and shells … from bottom to top. Many of the fish tiles have names and dates. It was quite an undertaking, I’m sure.
If you like things like this, you really should get her book. It’s a never-ending source of intrigue for us locals and it’s what San Francisco is all about - neighborhoods, hills and views. To see other stairway walks, use the search box (upper right).
The Palace of Fine Arts
The Palace of Fine Arts isn’t downtown, but it’s easily accessible by bus … or bike, if you happen to take advantage of the FREE 43 page photo eBook available right here (look for the yellow and blue button on the left site of the home page). It’s titled Bike the Bay in 1/2 a day, your way. You’ll be able to ride a bike along the Embarcadero, Fisherman’s Wharf, through the Marina, and later, across the Golden Gate Bridge. Before the Presidio, you’ll see the Palace of Fine Arts on the left, which is currently being repaired, but the photo here was taken a few years ago, prior to the repairs, which shows off how beautiful it is.
The main building was part of the Panama Pacific Exposition of 1915. Berkeley architect Bernard Maybeck designed the Palace of Fine Arts.
It also contains a fun place for kids - the Exploratorium, which is filled with fun, educational exhibits that will entertain and occupy kids of all ages, and most adults too. Later, you could even go fly a kite across the street at Crissy Field.
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