• 12May

    **Remember to click on the photos to see them full sized!

    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).


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  • 29Apr

    fishermans wharf 27 300x225 The REAL Fishermans Wharf

    fishermans wharf 10 225x300 The REAL Fishermans Wharf

    People go to Pier 39 and totally miss the point of what Fisherman’s Wharf is all about. It’s not about buying another sweatshirt. Trust me. And, it’s not about visiting the Kinkade “art” gallery.

    It’s about the fishermen who made their living catching fresh seafood and bringing it to Fisherman’s Wharf to be expertly prepared for visitors at one of a handful of great restaurants on the wharf. Well, things have changed, but if you walk around behind some of the restaurants, you’ll catch a glimpse of the way it was. Fishermen still bring back goodies from the sea, and some offer tours, which give you a close-up view of the harbor via a real fishing boat. Go for it. Do something different. That’s what this blog is about - doing fun and quirky things in San Francisco.

  • 27Apr

    Adah’s book, Stairway Walks in San Francisco Stairway Walk Queen   Adah Bakalinsky, is still a big hit since her first edition in 1984. Now in it’s 6th edition, and better than ever, with 27 jaunts and over 600 public stairways, you’ll find plenty of entertainment here.

    In the video, you’ll discover how much Adah loves the out-of-doors. She’s a real inspiration at age 85 and still walks from her home near Van Ness, all the way downtown to go shopping.

    I’ve gone on many of the walks and they’re all fun and filled with discovery of parts of San Francisco I didn’t know existed. I’ve blogged about several here; so use the search box (upper right) and type in “stairways” and you’ll find several of my favorites.