(6) SF's curiosities

One of many wonderful streets of San Francisco was named to honor Lech Walesa - maybe Lech Walesa Street is not a major route, it is not spectacular, either. But it was a nice surprise. Congratulations, Mr President;) (S)

The picture below was taken from a park on a hill - Alamo Square - and shows San Francisco's probably most popular landmark - the "Painted Ladies". They are seven wooden Victorian houses built in the mid-1890s, famous for their colors and elaborate carpentry. Usually they are photographed from the other side of the hill so the wonderful contrast between the painted ladies and the towers of the Financial District far behind them is properly presented. This shot is different since the day was overcast and foggy and nothing behind the houses was visible anyway;(

I don't know why this building looks so very American to me;)
Triangular buildings are quite frequent in San Francisco - in the vicinity of the hotel.

San Francisco's landmark is green Columbus Tower, which was built in 1907. The building was threatened with demolition in the 1970s, but Francis Ford Coppola bought and restored it and Columbus Tower is still standing full of grace:

Did I mention somewhere that the streets of San Francisco smell of marijuana? I couldn't believe my nose - the smell is omnipresent!!! No wonder San Francisco is called very liberal, life there still feels (smells) like the 1960s;)

Also cars parked in the streets look as if they remembered the 1960s;) (S)

Remember the fire escape stairs in the final scene of "Pretty Woman"? Well, they were not just constructed for the movie - they are real:

Below is a photo of a very famous bookshop - City Lights (at 261 Columbus Avenue), which has been a literary landmark of the city since the 1950s. City Lights was the first paperback bookstore in the country and it published the earliest Beat poets (starting with Allen Ginsberg's Howl). I bought myself quite a selection of books there, though they were not connected with the Beat Generation.

City Lights bookstore is located in a very interesting area - North Beach, which was frequently patronized by Beat artists, Here is the view of the building across the street:

Here is what you can see when you go out of City Lights and look right - the Transamerica Pyramid. So this literary center is quite literally in the center.

Another very popular spot in San Francisco is Fisherman's Wharf. In the area you can buy spooky souvenirs, garish T-shirts, mugs, caps and what have you because Fisherman's Wharf, which is at the northern waterfront, is swarming with tourists. It used to be a commercial fishing area in the past, but now fish can be bought on pier 49 in the early hours of the day only. The place has changed totally into a recreation area. Here is Pier 39, built from wood salvaged from abandoned boats. It is packed with shops, amusement arcades and restaurants:

Well, finally - the island of Alcatraz, which is easily visible from Fisherman's Wharf and takes you by surprise, because you do not expect it to be so close to San Francisco, no matter how many times you've seen The Rock (for Sean Connery, of course;). Alcatraz became a federal "maximum security, minimum privilege" prison in 1934 and was closed in 1963. All those who were considered incorrigible criminals beyond redemption were sent here. Inmates had minimum privileges: no newspapers, radio or TV, a vast majority never received a visitor even. What is more, inmates could see from their tiny cell windows the lights beaming from San Francisco and only imagine the hustle and bustle of the life which was denied to them. No wonder that out of 1,576 convicts ever imprisoned here 36 attempted to escape. 5 of them may have succeeded - nobody knows since they seem to have disappeared.

Here is Alcatraz seen from the ferry - gloomy, lifeless, and with no pelicans. The name of the island comes from Spanish and means the Isle of Pelicans. But, as the story goes, the name was not applied by 18th century navigators to this island but to another island in the area - now known as Yerba Buena Island.
Alcatraz ends the tour of San Francisco, which I made with the help of Fodor's Exploring San Francisco (Fodor's Travel Publications).