THURSDAY, AUGUST 6

THURSDAY, AUGUST 6:

      Another day of adventures and exploring this captivating city!

      We took our bikes in again, but this time on the ferry. Locked them up by the Ferry Building, and grabbed a bus for Alamo Square, home of some of the city's most opulent and carefully restored Victorian homes – or “painted ladies,” as they're sometimes called here. We arrived in time for another walking tour. Our tour guide yesterday at the Japanese Garden is part of City Guides, a group of all volunteer guides which gives some 60 walking tours throughout the city FREE. She'd given us a map/brochure of all the tours they offer, and we thought we'd really enjoy this one.

      We were right! Our guide this morning is a retired finance guy from E.F. Hutton (“When E.F. Hutton talks, people listen” used to be their slogan; our guide joked that when people stopped listening, he was out) - very low key and approachable,and clearly loves his city. Once again, the tour was such an prodigious enrichment over what we would have observed on our own. He pointed out nuances in the different styles of Victorian architecture, the colorful history of some of the individual dwellings here, as well as the history of this area in general.

 

 

 

 

      In the immediate aftermath of the 1906 earthquake and fire, many of the homes in this area were converted into apartments in order to accommodate the 250,000 people nearer downtown who were left homeless. Some converted back in later years; others remained subdivided. In the 1950's, this area went out of fashion – considered too ostentatious by many. And in the 60's, it was all but overrun with the hippie and drug culture, being right next door to the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood. Alamo Square Park was known as Needle Park because of the heroin use there. Many of the buildings we saw today were used as rehab houses. But in recent years there's been a resurgence here; the city invested over $1,000,000 to rehabilitate and restore the park, most of the homes have been lovingly restored and sell for $3m plus, and it's considered a quiet, peaceful neighborhood. And one serendipitous, lasting contribution from the 60's era: one owner of a Victorian was going to be gone for a while, and so he rented out his home to flower children/hippies. Part of the deal was that they wuld paint the house in his absence. Well, they did – but not as he expected. It was brightly painted in a mst psychedelic style! However, this more or less began people thinking: why do our stately Victorians all have be painted with subdued greys, creams, greys? How would brightening them up hurt? And so we have our colorful painted ladies of today!

 

                                                             (although some are still in more subdued colors, such as this Italiante Slanted Bay (c. 1870's):            

 

                                                     While an occasional one is even bricked over, to avoid expensive painting every few years (as in the right corner here, an example of Italiante Flat-front(c. 1870's):       

 
                                                         Ornate portico:

 
                            Our tour guide really liked the builder of this newer apt. building . . . while being economical, he also gave a nod to the flavor of the neighborhood:

 
                                                 Opulent Queen Anne style (1890's):
                                                                   

 

 
                                                        Queen Anne rowhouses:
                                         
 

 

 
               Originally built for an Irish Catholic bishop, who wanted stone, not wood.   In the 60's it was used to house homeless/addicted men; later, after restoration as a B&B.  Now a private residence again:
 

 
 
                                            The over-the-top home on right was built to resemble a ship:

 
                                            San Francisco Stick style, c. 1880's:

 

Originally built by a wealthy candy maker (NOT Ghiradelli):

 

                                                                       
                                          Classic Painted Ladies against spectacular skyline:

 

 
                                              Glimpses of City Hall from Alamo Square:

     

 

 

 

 

 

 

    The 1 ½ hours on this tour went by so quickly! We were thoroughly engrossed.

      We took a short bus ride over to the Haight (as the neighborhood is called). While of course the era of Flower Power blooming to the psychedelic sounds of The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and Janis Joplin taking place in the heart of this neighborhood is long gone, the area still retains some of its anti-establishment, funky tone. We saw flamboyant clothing shops (one dedicated solely to tie-dyed apparel), tattoo parlors, used music stores, an array of consignment clothing shops, and the like.

                                                             

                                                                Iconic corner:

                                                                           

                                    

But there's also a strong element which is business savvy, such as the corner restaurant & brewery where we had a tasty, relaxed lunch outdoors as we people-watched. Brightly painted row house Victorians abound here in this neighborhood as well as in next door Alamo Square.

 

        Back on the bus (we're getting pretty proficient at using public transportation here) to downtown, where we rested for a while in an open space by the Ferry Terminal. Then rode our bikes down the Embarcadero to Pier 43, where we were catching our booked Sunset Cruise at 7:00. A very relaxing 2-hour cruise out of the harbor,

 

 

 

 

                                                                                 

around Alcatraz and Angel Island,

and up near the Marin headlands and Sausalito.

 

We began with the quintessential San Francisco fog,

 

 

but it lifted as the evening progressed and morphed into lovely clouds as the sun set

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and we returned under the Golden Gate, now lit up against the evening sky.

They served a light dinner buffet, which was nicely set up, with white tableclothed tables. We stayed indoors a good deal of the time, because it was pretty chilly and breezy on deck, but could see fine, and ventured out when we wanted to have more expansive views.

     As soon as we returned to the dock, we were first in line to get off, as we needed to get our bikes and pedal as fast as we safely could back to the Ferry Building; the last ferry of the night leaves at 9:35.  Made it with time to spare. As we pulled away, we were left with these images of a truly memory-filled day.