January 3, 2006
San Francisco, California
There are some fantastic buildings in San Francisco.
We’ve just spent the better part of a week walking around and looking at many things in the city. It was a great experience to be in a thriving city with full-on diversity and useful public transportation…
Our hotel was just outside the financial district and very close to the Chinatown gate. We weren’t in any sort of ‘night life’ or especially touristy area, but there were still restaurants and coffee shops open in the area after the 9-5 crowd went home.
Most of the grand houses below appear to have been cut into apartments (from the # of mailboxes on the door), not surprising in city that is something like 65% rental occupied. That statistic is something that I found out about while we were there, and flies in the face of the notion that properties need to be owner-occupied for an urban neighborhood to prosper.
Almost all of the houses that we saw had bottom-floor parking and were at least 2 stories tall above that. Working on one of these would be a whole different experience.
Click any image for a larger view…
3 of the more photographed houses in San Francisco.
Detail from the 2 houses to the right of the 3 shown above.
Some snacks that we just walked up on.
Apparently undergoing some sort of garage renovation.
Check out that open round window at the top…
In Haight-Ashbury.
One of 2 Kinokuniya stores across from each other in Japantown. Chock full of more mysterious and wonderful small Japanese items than we could have really hoped for.
A Chinatown alley on a rainy day.
Chinatown street scene.
Pigs in a Chinatown window.
View from the Empress of China
Otsu. We’re not vegan but that was ok.
It is a wonderful city. Back in the 80s I would ride my Harley up from Santa Cruz to visit my sister all the time. It is just a wonderful city to drive/walk/ride around.
I recently saw a picture of the 1915 Pan-Pacific Intl. Exposition (Worlds Fair). What they built was incredible. The only thing remaining is The Palace of Fine Arts in Golden Gate Park. You can see it in the picture below as the domed structure in the background. Everything else is long gone. The scale was immense. I think that is Lombard street in the photo.
Ah! San Francisco. The bestest city in the whole world!
Beautiful photos of a beautiful city. Glad you enjoyed it!
Hi.. My name is Neville George and I am a tourist to San Fran coming September. I love taking photographs and this picture is something that I am wanting to see. I have seen shots of such victorian houses online but I am not sure which intersection will give me a best shot of such building. Please do mail me back if you know. Thanks! NEVILLE
There are so many beautiful houses in SF that is easy to find great photos. I don’t remember the intersection of where the Painted Ladies houses are, but they were on our tourist map so someone there should be able to get you there.
That particular row of houses is great because there is a park across the street, so you can back up a little and get above the houses. You can even get them and the city behind them if you climb high enough.