The Transamerica Pyramid at 600 Montgomery Street in San Francisco with its distinctive pyramid shape is an icon of the city’s skyline. At 853 feet (or 260 meters) high, it is visible from most parts of the city and is the second-tallest building in San Francisco since losing the top spot to the Salesforce Tower in 2017. Read more...
San Francisco’s Transamerica Pyramid limits access to tenants and their approved guests only. An observation room on the 27th floor was permanently closed for security reasons many years ago and replaced by a street-level virtual observation deck on Clay Street which provides a view from the top via live video feed. Read more...
Patty Hearst was involved in an armed robbery of the Sunset District branch of Hibernia Bank at Noriega and 22nd Avenue in San Francisco on April 15th, 1974. Hearst, the granddaughter of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, participated in the raid with members of the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) who, two months prior, had kidnapped her at gunpoint from her Read more...
Everton FC fans in San Francisco tend to gather to watch live Toffees games at McTeague’s Saloon pub on Polk Street between Bush Street and Fern Street in the Tenderloin district. McTeague’s opens early for live weekend matches. Read more...
The distinct areas of black sand on some San Francisco beaches, such as Ocean Beach and Funston Beach, are mostly iron-rich magnetite crystals. The major source of this black magnetite is the granite rocks of the Sierra Nevada mountains where tiny grains break away through erosion and are carried to the ocean by rivers and deposited on San Francisco beaches Read more...
ABC Broadcast Center is located on Front and Vallejo Streets in North Beach, San Francisco, where the studios of KGO-TV, ABC’s owned and operated local television station, branded as ABC 7, is based. San Francisco channel KRON 4 also leases working and studio space in the same building, but as a competing TV station, their facilities are completely separate from Read more...
Jack Kerouac Alley is located off Columbus Avenue, between Broadway and Pacific Avenue in San Francisco. The now-pedestrianized passageway was renamed in 1988 to recognize the area’s association with Beat Generation writer Jack Kerouac who, during visits to San Francisco, had frequented the City Lights bookstore and Vesuvio Cafe bar that flank the alley entrance. The short alley, connecting Columbus Read more...
The North Face was founded in San Francisco as a ski, camping and mountaineering mail order business in 1964. The Grateful Dead played at the official opening of its first store at 308 Columbus Avenue in San Francisco’s North Beach on October 26, 1966. Read more...
The Filbert Steps up Telegraph Hill start near Filbert and Sansome Streets, east of Levi’s Plaza, where you’ll see signs for “Stairs to Coit Tower”. The stairway continues after crossing Montgomery Street, eventually emerging on Telegraph Hill Boulevard near Coit Tower. Read more...
Public access to the top of Coit Tower is only by elevator which carries visitors 14 stories to the observation deck for 360 degree views over San Francisco. Elevator tickets are sold at the gift shop, or skip ticket lines by booking in advance online or by phone for a specific time and date. Read more...
San Francisco’s Telegraph Hill was so named because of the semaphore signal station erected on it in September 1847. The station operated as an optical telegraph, having two hinged arms on a tall mast which were raised or lowered to relay information which could be read from downtown and the waterfront as to the type of ships entering the Golden Read more...
Drawn Stone by Andy Goldsworthy is at the de Young Museum in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. The permanent outdoor sculpture is a man-made meandering crack that runs through pavers and large sandstone boulders leading to the museum’s entrance. Read more...
San Francisco has port facilities which mainly cater to passenger ferries, cruise ships, dry bulk cargo, auto carriers, and ship repairs, but no container handling, which is dominated by the Port of Oakland just across the bay. Port activities are overseen by the Port of San Francisco which manages the waterfront from Fisherman’s Wharf to India Basin. Read more...
San Francisco experiences foggy weather, particularly in summer, as the hot air in California’s Central Valley rises upwards, creating a low pressure region that causes the cooler moist air sitting over the surface of the Pacific Ocean to be sucked inland. The air over the Pacific Ocean is laden with moisture which condenses into water droplets as it moves over Read more...
Alcatraz Island is reached by the Alcatraz Cruises ferry from Alcatraz Landing at San Francisco’s Pier 33, located on The Embarcadero near the intersection with Bay Street. The attraction is often fully booked so advance online bookings are advisable. Read more...
The iconic section of Lombard Street in San Francisco is the block between Hyde and Leavenworth Streets in the Russian Hill neighborhood. Here, the one-way downhill section snakes its way through a series of eight tight hairpin turns, leading to it being dubbed the Crooked Street. This red-brick-paved section was created in 1922 to make the hill’s steep grade more Read more...
Cars are allowed on Lombard Street in San Francisco although the iconic ‘crooked’ section is one-way only, downhill between Hyde and Leavenworth streets. To drive down the famous zigzag section you will need to approach from the west on Lombard Street, or alternatively head north on Hyde Street and turn right at Lombard Street to access the top of the Read more...
The house from the movie Mrs Doubtfire is located at 2640 Steiner Street in San Francisco’s Pacific Heights neighborhood. It was used for exterior shots as the home of the Hillard family in the 1993 film starring Robin Williams. Read more...
The first Starbucks Coffee in San Francisco opened in March 1992 at the corner of Union and Laguna Streets in the Cow Hollow neighborhood. Read more...