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San Francisco: A City Full of Surprises

Things you probably didn't know about San Francisco
David and Kay Scott

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Travel Experts

 
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    The Many Surprises of San Francisco

    San Francisco is perhaps America's most scenic city. Long a favorite of travelers, the city offers much to do and see. You'll find wonderful scenery, excellent public transportation and a unique history, which make this a very special place that's always full of a few surprises.  

    Photo courtesy of David and Kay Scott

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    Perhaps the World's #1 Jumping-Off Point

    Since opening in 1937, San Francisco’s iconic Golden Gate Bridge seems to have served as a beacon for troubled individuals seeking to end it all. Although it's not possible to know the exact count, it is thought that the number of bridge suicides is well over 1,000, including a record 46 in 2013. The following year, the board that oversees operation of the bridge voted to spend $76 million to install a suicide-prevention safety net.

    Photo courtesy of David and Kay Scott

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    A Moving National Historic Landmark

    San Francisco’s famed cable cars are the U.S.A.’s only moving National Historic Landmark, as designated in 1964 by the National Park Service.  Considering the U.S. has over 2,500 historic landmarks, this is pretty remarkable. The city’s cable cars began their business of climbing and descending the city’s steep hills in the late 1800s. Although antiquated as a form of efficient transportation, the remaining cars are as closely associated with San Francisco as the Golden Gate Bridge and Transamerica Building.
     

    Photo courtesy of David and Kay Scott

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    Where People First Checked Their Fortunes

    Chinese fortune cookies originated in China, right? Wrong. They originated right here in the "City by the Bay." At least, that’s the thinking in this part of the state, although some individuals in Los Angeles claim differently. Japanese immigrant Makoto Hagiwaran worked in Golden Gate Park’s Japanese Tea Garden, where in 1914 he slipped a little piece of paper into each folded cookie to thank the new mayor of San Francisco for giving him his job back after having been fired by the previous mayor.

    Photo courtesy of David and Kay Scott

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    A Mission with Muscle

    Earthquakes, fires and age haven’t taken down San Francisco’s Mission San Francisco de Asis, the oldest original building in the city. Better known as Mission Dolores, the structure dates from 1776, when it became the sixth in a chain of 21 California missions established by the Franciscan Fathers. The small adobe building with four-foot-thick walls has its original roof tiles and redwood timbers that were lashed together with rawhide. The original bells remain hanging above the entrance.

    Photo courtesy of David and Kay Scott

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    When Is a Square Not a Square?

    San Francisco’s Washington Square Park comprises just over two acres in the middle of the North Beach neighborhood.   Established in 1847 as one of the city’s first parks, it has become a community gathering place and location of festivals and free movie nights. Despite its name, the park is not square, and the main feature, a statue, is of Benjamin Franklin, not George Washington. So, why is the square not a square?  Because one of the corners was sliced off by the addition of an avenue. Perhaps the park should be renamed "Ben’s Pentagon Park."

    Photo courtesy of David and Kay Scott

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    The Rock Was Once a Fort

    Alcatraz, sometimes called "The Rock," which housed famed Chicago mobster Al Capone, was originally the site of a military fort. In fact, Alcatraz was the first U.S. military fort on the West Coast, and it didn’t become a prison until the Civil War. It was converted to a federal penitentiary in 1939 and served as home to “Machine Gun” Kelly and Robert Stroud (“The Birdman of Alcatraz”) in addition to Al Capone. The last federal inmate departed on March 21, 1963, and then the island came under the administration of the National Park Service when Golden Gate National Recreation Area was established in 1972. 

    Photo courtesy of David and Kay Scott

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    You Can Live Here, but You Won't Stay Forever

    In the early 1900s, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to stop all burials within the city and county. The remains were evicted from most of the cemeteries and re-interred in various places outside the county. Only two cemeteries remain.  Mission Dolores Cemetery, the first cemetery in the city, has been reduced in size to approximately 600 grave sites due to construction. No new burials allowed. The Presidio’s San Francisco National Cemetery, the first national cemetery on the West Coast, was, with a few exceptions, closed to new internments in 1973.

    Photo courtesy of David and Kay Scott

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    But Does the Roof Leak?

    Famous American architect Frank Lloyd Wright is known for his original and innovative buildings. The only San Francisco structure with an exterior and interior designed by Wright at 14 Maiden Lane delights visitors with the architect’s unique style: the arched brick entrance with a row of geometric-designed glass blocks, built-in furniture and, most of all, the spiral ramp similar to his design for the Guggenheim Museum. Initially constructed as a warehouse in the early 1900s, the building served as the V.C. Morris Gift Store in 1948, and it's currently the home of Xanadu Gallery.  

    Photo courtesy of David and Kay Scott

  • slide 10

    The Crookedest Street Isn't Where You Think

    Lombard Street is San Francisco’s best-known street. Visitors love to drive down the crooked street, resulting in residents often having difficulty gaining access to their homes.  However, the city’s crookedest street isn’t Lombard, but rather the stretch of Vermont Street between 20th Street and 22nd Street. Lombard is more scenic and has eight turns, but Vermont’s grade is steeper and the six turns are quite a bit sharper. 

    Photo courtesy of David and Kay Scott

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    More National Park Lodges than Most National Parks

    The mention of national park lodges is likely to bring to mind Old Faithful Inn, Many Glacier Hotel and Yosemite’s Ahwahnee.  Bet you didn’t know that San Francisco is home to two upscale national park lodges! Inn at the Presidio offers 22 guest rooms, mostly suites, in Georgian revival-style buildings originally utilized as quarters for unmarried U.S. Army officers stationed at the Presidio. The Argonaut, across from Hyde Street Pier on Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, is a nautical-themed hotel housed in a former brick warehouse that was constructed in 1907.

    Photo courtesy of David and Kay Scott

Despite San Francisco's popularity as a tourist destination, some interesting aspects to the city escape most visitors’ radar.  Though this could be said of nearly any city, of course, San Francisco is special because it's so compact and well-traveled, making its surprises the more surprising. 

One of America’s great cities was once a small Spanish mission, first under Spain and later under Mexico. Unrest by an increasing number of Americans moving west during the late 1830s and early 1840s pressured the U.S. military to take the area by force in 1846. 

Just a few years later, San Francisco had already become a major commercial center, as thousands of fortune-seekers arrived by land and sea following the discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill. Within a year, the area’s population had exploded and the community once known as Yerba Buena was on its way to greatness that earthquakes, fires, fog and cool summer days were unable to halt.

San Franciso's famous "Painted Ladies"San Franciso's famous "Painted Ladies" — Photo courtesy of David and Kay Scott

Fisherman’s Wharf, the Golden Gate Bridge, Golden Gate Park, cable cars, Alcatraz and the city’s scenic beauty continued to draw tourists to San Francisco long before 1962, when Tony Bennett recorded his signature song, “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.”   

One of the USA’s premiere tourist destinations, the city is compact yet offers excellent public transportation, fine restaurants, spectacular vistas, a wide range of hotels, diverse neighborhoods and a trove of activities, too. 

The wide range of activities and places to visit means more than two or three days are required to gain a real feel for the city. Choosing to pursue nothing other than an exploration of the trails, gardens and cultural venues of 1,000-acre Golden Gate Park can easily consume over a full day!  

Add in a trip to the Presidio, a visit to San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, a stroll through the honky-tonk of Fisherman’s Wharf and a trip north of the city to Muir Woods, and you’re talking about a stay of a week.

A longer stay? That's okay. San Francisco boasts upscale lodging like Nob Hill’s Mark Hopkins, as well as boutique lodging like Hotel G near Union Square.   

David and Kay Scott

About David and Kay Scott

David and Kay Scott have traveled the U.S. for 40 years and found no destination better than San Francisco. 

Read more about David and Kay Scott here.

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