1982 San Francisco (8/8/1982)

Sunday, August 8, 1982

We arrived shortly after midnight and had drinks of iced tea. We were left with the TV on and the remote control gadget. When we decided to go to bed at 2:00 or so, Kathy was pushing the ‘off’ button on the remote control, but nothing was happening. I teased that you had to “shoot” the TV and dramatically aimed the gadget at the TV and hit the ‘off’ button. And the TV went off! So that’s how we learned you have to point the remote control at the TV to get it to work.

We were up at 8:00, but waited for Curt and his friend Martha to get up before showering and having breakfast of toast and milk. Curt went to play in a golf tournament, and Martha had to study. Kathy and I took off for San Francisco about 9:30.

I drove up I-280 to US 101, traveling through sandy hills with low brush. There were flowering bushes all along the highway similar to those seen in Italy; Nerium oleander/Oleander. We passed a couple mansions or missions, and a huge statue of Father Junipero Sierra (1976 by sculptor Louis DuBois) kneeling and pointing at the highway.

An hour later we arrived in San Francisco, going down Van Ness Avenue to make a right turn on O’Farrell Street, looking for parking near Union Square. Found a lot on Geary near Jones Street. Pulled into a parking space and went to pay the $4 fee at a big metal box. You had to put the money in a small slot above the number of the space where you parked. We had to fold each bill separately to get them to fit in the slot.

We walked down Geary Street to Union Square, crossing Powell Street for our first look at the cable cars.

Cable car at Union Square

They were the small old-fashioned cars, half open, with a driver working the long levers and a conductor. All the cable cars were stuffed with people with many hanging on the sides. While I was changing film, a weaving man came up to Kathy to ask where she was from and how she compared New York with San Francisco. Union Square was full of palm trees, and there was a guy playing a trumpet. We crossed the square to walk down Post Street to Montgomery Street, passing some expensive-looking shops. Turned left down Montgomery, the “Wall Street” district with its financial institutions. One block was under construction. We passed two Wells Fargo banks, and saw the landmark tall white building with a skinny pyramid on top, the TransAmerica Building (1972, designed by architect William Pereira).

TransAmerica Building

Took a left on California Street to the International Building (1960 by architects Anshen & Allen). We peeked in the lobby to see the United Nations plaque, and the collection of paintings and sculptures with a Western theme by Frederic Remington and Charles Marion Russell.

We climbed the steep hill to Grant Avenue to see the brick Old Cathedral of St Mary (1853, served as the cathedral from 1854-1891.  A Mass was in progress, but the doors had windows to allow a glimpse of the simple Spanish-style interior.

Turned right on Grant Avenue into Chinatown, a bustling area with a multitude of signs in Chinese characters.

Chinatown

Grant Street in C hinatown

Lots of restaurants, and shops filled with Chinese articles. The street seemed wider than those in New York City’s Chinatown, allowing freer flowing movement of the people, and it was definitely cleaner. Most of the Asians were speaking English. We continued slightly uphill, noticing that the cross streets ascended to the left and descended to the right. Kathy grabbed a free psychic newspaper

We turned the slight left onto Columbus Avenue through a mixed neighborhood to Filbert Street. We turned right to climb the extremely steep street where pedestrians had steps. Cars were required to park perpendicular to the curb, where it seemed they would topple over sideways.

We took another set of stairs to Telegraph Hill Boulevard that climbs to the base of Coit Memorial Tower (1931, designed by architects Arthur Brown, Jr. and Henry Howard, with fresco murals by their numerous assistants).

View of Lombard Street

Coit Tower

It is said to resemble a fire hose nozzle.

Here we paid $1 for a token that let us through a turnstile into a central area to await the single elevator. The elevator held fewer than ten persons and took you to the top for a hazy view around San Francisco. If you looked straight up, there was clear blue sky! You could see the Oakland Bay Bridge, but not the Golden Gate Bridge. We could see the island of Alcatraz, but not Sausalito (the other end of the Golden Gate Bridge). We could also see the section of Lombard Street known as the crookedest street in the world.

At the base of the tower is a statue of Christopher Columbus (1957, by Vittorio Colbertaldo).

Bay Bridge and Christopher Columbus

We walked back down Filbert Street past Washington Square and turned right on Powell Street, passing a playground full of Asian kids playing baseball. We looked down Lombard Street at the typical San Francisco Victorian rowhouses, many with beautiful flower-filled window boxes.

Lombard Street rowhouses

We continued down Powell Street to the Embarcadero and the wharfs. A policeman tooting a whistle was directing traffic. We turned right to Pier 39, a huge pier built up with weathered wood-type new structures to house shops and restaurants.

Pier 39

"Love Boat"

We stopped at a kite store that had its wares blowing in the breeze. Went to Chocolate Heaven for a couple bars of Ghiradelli, and found Mrs. Field’s Chocolate Chippery to buy a half dozen Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chip Nut cookies for $2! We also got milk to go with our snack. There was a guy on stilts selling buttons and giving away simple paper flutterers.

We went to Quilts Ltd which had some gorgeous quilts. Found another kite shop, then explored the S. Claus store, full of Christmas ornaments of all kinds, and some imported Christmas items such as nutcrackers and candle carousels. The carousels were twice as expensive as in Europe. Also a pewter shop.

As we came back to the entrance, we saw we just missed a folk dancing presentation on a small stage set up outside. A tux-clad man with a horse-drawn carriage was waiting nearby.

We walked along the wharfs past the tour boat area and saw a large crowd. Between heads we watched the end of a mime act where a fellow was doing robotic movement for the crowd and ad-libbing with the crowd. For example, a tiny girl tapped the guy from behind to give him money, and he stiffly turned around staring off in the distance and seeing nothing, he jerkily cocked his head to look down at the girl. He was really great and we gratefully gave him all our small change. There was also a group of tiny black kids jive dancing to a loud static-y tape.

We passed the iron-hulled sailing ship “Balclutha” (1866 by Charles Connell & Co. Ltd. of Glasgow, Scotland). We did not go in the Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum, nor the Guinness Book of World Records Museum.

Fisherman’s Wharf was mostly seafood restaurants and most of them had outside counters selling fresh crabs and shrimp cocktails. I got a bowl of hot clam chowder, which was very good, with oyster crackers. We went a block from the wharf and turned right on Beach Street to The Cannery, another marketplace around a courtyard. We went to Wendy’s to use the restroom and had to get a token from an employee. The bathrooms were off the courtyard and a man fixing the token machine took the token. We bought Dr Peppers and sat in the courtyard to watch a really good-looking guy put on a show of juggling, dog tricks, and telling jokes. He juggled torches while balancing a chicken on his head, walked on his hands down steps, and had his dog jump over four kids kneeling with heads down. We gave him our change, and went to explore the Cannery shops. One place was selling huge sourdough puffs with jam and whipped cream. We spent some time in an Indian artifacts store and Kathy bought a gourd with an intricate etched design, the design being very cute but tiny, for $60.

We left and went another block to discover we had not been in the Cannery, but the Anchorage Shopping Center! Now we were at the Cannery shopping complex! We went in a liquor store to buy a bottle of French wine for Curt and Martha.

At the Hyde Street cable car turn-around, there was a long line of tourists waiting to board. Along the next block were stalls selling arts and crafts. Victoria Park was small and neat, and across the street was Ghiradelli Square, a modern brick mall-like complex with glass and mirrors, and it was outlined with bulb lights.

Ghirardelli Square

We returned to the cable car turn-around to wait our turn, from about 16:30 to 17:30. That meant we had to listen to the same repertoire 3 times of a terrible guitarist-singer who was playing his own compositions; folksy-type songs like “Save the Cable Car Blues,” and “Street Musician Blues.” We also got to watch several cable cars get turned around, before we paid our $1 for the cable car transfer ticket and boarded facing sideways next to the driving levers.

Cable car turn-around

Cable car turn-around

Cable car ticket

I had my head brushed once as the driver jerked back on a lever.
The driver really had to work, putting his body behind the pulling and pushing of the levers. We started up Hyde Street, one of the steepest hills in San Francisco. As we expected, one could hop on the cable car a couple blocks farther without having to wait in a tremendously long line!

The fog had rolled back in and it was damp and chilly. Our car crested a hill, and Wheee!, we headed down. When we made the turn onto Washington Street, the driver had to warn everyone to hold on. Same with the turn onto Powell Street. We had a glimpse of the Nob Hill area up California Street, and when we saw Union Square down the hill, we hopped off. Our cable car had a Rice-a-Roni advertisement, and was sponsored by Kikkoman. They say that in October the cable car system will shut down for two years for restoration and the city is trying to raise the millions of dollars needed.

We returned to the car and drove back to Van Ness Avenue, filled up on gas before hitting the freeway to drive back to San Jose. Stopped at a Burger King for dinner and arrived at Curt’s about 22:00. I called Laura B who lives in CA and she was surprised to hear from me, but we caught up. Had a chocolate chip cookie snack before bed.

Next: California National Parks.