111 Places in San Francisco that you must not miss E-Book

Floriana Petersen

• Herausgeber: Emons Verlag
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Serie: 111 Orte ...
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Seitenzahl: 245

Beschreibung

San Francisco: the home of hills and valleys, of dreamers and trailblazers, of hippies and hipsters. From the gold rush to the Golden Gate, the City by the Bay has always basked in the glow of its colorful and celebrated history and world-renowned landmarks. But for those who live and love on this compact seven-mile by seven-mile metropolis, San Francisco is a treasure trove of unusual neighborhood sights and places that sparkle with the allure of hidden pleasures and local lore. Discover a stairway that transports you from the depths of the ocean to the heights of outer space; take a spin class amidst the grand elegance of a repurposed 1920s movie palace; or slide down a century-old sundial that sits at the center of what was once California's first racetrack for cars. This is the real San Francisco. Strung together, the 111 experiences gathered here tell the B-side story of the city once romantically known as the Paris of the West.

Leseprobe

111 Places in San Francisco That You Must Not Miss

Floriana Petersen und Steve Werney

emons: Verlag

Imprint

Many San Franciscans shared their city secrets with us for this book. Special thanks are due to Barbara Roether and Mark MacNamara, who contributed not only suggestions but history, background, and literary inspiration. –F.P.

© Emons Verlag GmbH // 2016 All rights reserved Text: Floriana Petersen All photographs © Steve Werney, except page 32 (photo by Melissa Kaseman), courtesy of The Battery cover icon: Istockphoto.com © soberve Edited by Katrina Fried Design: Emons Verlag Maps based on data by Openstreetmap, © Openstreet Map-participants, ODbL ISBN 978-3-96041-013-3 eBook of the original print edition published by Emons Verlag

Did you enjoy it? Do you want more? Join us in uncovering new places around the world on: www.111places.com

Table of contents

Foreword

1_140 New Montgomery | San FranciscoIt’s all about communication

2_826 Valencia | San FranciscoReading, writing, and "Ahoy, matey!"

3_1450 Noriega Street | San FranciscoWhere the heiress robbed a bank

4_Alhambra Theater | San FranciscoA cinematic workout

5_Anchor Brewing Company | San FranciscoBorn and brewed in San Francisco

6_The Antique Vibrator Museum | San FranciscoA history of good vibrations

7_Arion Press | San FranciscoLost and foundry

8_The Armory | San FranciscoWhere kink is king

9_The Audium | San FranciscoSeeing with your ears

10_Balmy Alley Murals | San FranciscoStruggle and change

11_Bar Agricole | San FranciscoKeeping it local

12_The Battery Club | San FranciscoOld world, new school

13_The Bay Lights | San FranciscoThe Bay Bridge gets its bling

14_The Beach & Park Chalet | San FranciscoUpstairs, downstairs, in Golden Gate Park

15_The Beat Museum | San FranciscoStill on the road

16_Billionaires’ Row | San FranciscoLife on the Gold Coast

17_Bliss Dance | San FranciscoForty feet of female energy

18_The Bohemian Club | San FranciscoA private place for powerful men

19_Bourbon & Branch | San FranciscoThe password-protected speakeasy

20_Buena Vista Park | San FranciscoA magical hush

21_Building One | San FranciscoA sinking treasure

22_Building 95 | San FranciscoIf a tree falls in the forest …

23_Candlestick Park | San FranciscoLong live the ’stick

24_Casa Cielo | San Francisco"Sunny Jim" Rolph’s love nest

25_Chinese Telephone Exchange | San Francisco1500 names on the tip of the tongue

26_Clarion Alley | San FranciscoThese walls can talk

27_The Cloud Forest | San FranciscoCommuning with nature on Mount Sutro

28_The Condor Club | San FranciscoDeath by piano

29_Conservatory of Flowers | San FranciscoHome to the beautiful and the bizarre

30_Cow Palace | Daly CityFrom moo to Who

31_Creativity Explored | San FranciscoArt for all

32_Crissy Field | San FranciscoFrom airfield to House of Air

33_Dashiell Hammett’s Apartment | San FranciscoWhere the Maltese Falcon took flight

34_The F-Line | San FranciscoA journey back in time

35_Flora Grubb Gardens | San FranciscoCoffee and air plants, anyone?

36_The Fly-Casting Pools | San FranciscoAngling for a good time

37_Fog Bridge | San FranciscoA walk in the clouds at the Exploratorium

38_Forbes Island & The Taj Mahal | San FranciscoBoats by any other name

39_Foreign Cinema | San FranciscoDinner and a show

40_Fort Funston | San FranciscoWhere humans take to the sky

41_The Frank Lloyd Wright Building | San FranciscoA mid-century jewel in the Barbary Coast

42_Gallery 6 | San FranciscoThe ghosts of Vertigo at the Legion of Honor

43_The Gardens of Alcatraz | San FranciscoPlanting life on "the Rock"

44_Glen Canyon Park | San FranciscoA time machine to the San Francisco of yore

45_Glide Memorial Church | San FranciscoCan I get an amen?

46_Grace Cathedral Labyrinths | San FranciscoA maze for meditation

47_The Green Roof | San FranciscoThe Academy of Sciences goes "underground"

48_The Hallidie Building | San FranciscoAhead of its time

49_Headlands Center for the Arts | SausalitoUsing creativity as a weapon

50_Heath Ceramics | San FranciscoVery "Made in America"

51_Hunter S. Thompson’s House | San FranciscoFear & Loathing in San Francisco

52_Hunter’s Point | San FranciscoA flourishing artist colony in a shipyard

53_Ingleside Terrace Sundial | San FranciscoTime is on its side

54_Institute of Illegal Images | San FranciscoA "trip" to the museum

55_The Interval at Long Now | San FranciscoFor thinkers and drinkers

56_Kabuki Springs & Spa | San FranciscoWet, naked, and hot

57_Lands End | San FranciscoA mystical walk through history

58_The Lefty O’Doul Bridge | San FranciscoIn memory of a hometown hitter

59_LeRoy King Carousel | San FranciscoRound and round we go

60_Levi Strauss & Co. | San FranciscoBirthplace of the 501

61_Lyon Street Steps | San FranciscoWhere health meets wealth

62_Macondray Lane | San FranciscoTales of the city

63_The Malloch Building | San FranciscoFor those who appreciate curves

64_Maritime Museum | San FranciscoA "shipshape" exhibition space

65_Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial | San FranciscoA fountain for reflection in Yerba Buena Gardens

66_Mavericks | Half Moon BayA surfer’s nirvana

67_Mechanics’ Institute | San FranciscoHome to books and rooks

68_Mission Creek Houseboats | San FranciscoIslands in the storm

69_Mission Dolores Cemetery | San FranciscoWhere the bodies are buried

70_The Monastery Stones | San FranciscoRelics in the Botanical Garden

71_Moraga Street Steps | San FranciscoStairway to Heaven

72_Musée Mécanique | San FranciscoA penny arcade on the Embarcadero

73_National Cemetery Overlook | San FranciscoA graveyard with a view

74_Nimitz Mansion | San FranciscoSecret views from Yerba Buena

75_The Observation Tower | San FranciscoA castle in the trees at the de Young

76_Ocean Beach | San FranciscoHanging ten on city waves

77_ODC | San FranciscoPut on your dancin’ shoes

78_Old Skool Café | San FranciscoServing up second chances

79_The Parrots of Telegraph Hill | San FranciscoAs free as a bird

80_Patricia’s Green | San FranciscoFrom parkway to park

81_The Phoenix Hotel | San FranciscoRock ’n’ roll crash pad

82_Pier 24 Photography | San FranciscoA private collection goes public

83_Pier 70 | San FranciscoIndustrial ruins with a waterfront view

84_Pink Triangle Park | San FranciscoThe only memorial of its kind

85_Point Bonita Lighthouse | SausalitoOverlooking an underwater graveyard

86_Portals of the Past | San FranciscoA bit of history and the occult on Lloyd Lake

87_The Presidio Pet Cemetery | San FranciscoFinal resting place for the furry and feathered

88_Project Artaud | San FranciscoThe artist factory

89_The Ramp | San FranciscoFog City’s hangover cure

90_The Rock Colony | San FranciscoWhere music legends lived and "free loved"

91_The Rousseaus | San FranciscoOne man, many facades

92_Saint John Coltrane African Orthodox Church | San FranciscoWorship in the house of jazz

93_Saints Peter and Paul Church | San FranciscoHome base of a neighborhood

94_Sam’s Grill | San FranciscoA historic chophouse with a fishy past

95_San Francisco Art Institute | San FranciscoAll hail Diego Rivera

96_Slovenian Hall | San FranciscoThe past is present here

97_Stow Lake | San FranciscoThe ghost of the White Lady

98_Sutro Heights Park | San FranciscoA garden of earthly delight

99_Swedenborgian Church | San FranciscoSacred space hidden in plain sight

100_Tenderloin National Forest | San FranciscoA quiet sliver of green amid the chaos

101_Tessie Wall Townhouse | San FranciscoHome of a trigger-happy madam

102_Tin How Temple | San FranciscoThe How of Tao

103_Tosca Café | San FranciscoStill cool (thanks to Sean Penn)

104_Toy Boating on Spreckels Lake | San FranciscoIt’s anything but child’s play

105_Transamerica Redwood Park | San FranciscoSecrets of the pyramid

106_UCSF Medical Center Park | San FranciscoPublic art en plein air

107_Van Ness Auto Row | San FranciscoWhen cars were kings

108_Vermont Street | San FranciscoThe thrill of S curves

109_Warrior Surfer Mural | San FranciscoReflection of a neighborhood

110_Wave Organ | San FranciscoShhh … listen

111_Wood Line | San FranciscoThe art of sticks and stones

Gallery

Maps

Foreword

In all my years living in San Francisco, I have never stopped discovering new places, hidden stairways, unexpected vistas, and stories embedded in every crevice. Strolling the city’s rolling terrain brings you face-to-face with these charming details, like the scrollwork on an old Victorian, an overgrown garden of jasmine in a concealed alley, or the lively salsa rhythms drifting out of an open window.

For a city that is only seven miles wide and seven miles long, the diversity here is stunning; from musicians, artists, and hippies, to hipsters and entrepreneurs, its population reflects every human shape, color, and spirit. It’s not only the people who have defined the neighborhoods, but the land itself: there are 14 hills across which the city rises and falls.

In San Francisco, each hill, from Telegraph to Potrero, and every valley, from Noe to Hayes, has its own architecture, its own history, and even its own weather. Visitors often find it hard to comprehend that the sunny blue skies of the Mission District turn to cold and fog just over Twin Peaks. Locals know to dress for the many microclimates, and expect the sudden shifts in temperature. In many ways, extremes are in the DNA of San Francisco, a notion that becomes ever clearer as you delve into the city’s storied past. During the Gold Rush, the population went from around 1,000 in 1848 to 30,000 in 1850; and by 1855, almost 300,000 people lived here. For decades San Francisco was the only outpost of real civilization west of the Rockies. 1848 may seem new by European standards, but for the American West, this is the old mother city.

All cities change; the recent boom in Silicon Valley has made the Bay Area a new playground for young millionaires. People, and wealth, come and go quickly here, but the landscape—the purple headlands jutting into the Pacific, the island-scattered bay, the fog pouring over the Golden Gate Bridge—is as stoic and enduring as Nature itself.

San Francisco

View full image

1_140 New Montgomery

It’s all about communication

Next

The Pacific Telephone Building rose up at 140 Montgomery Street to be San Francisco’s first skyscraper. It was built in 1925 for $4 million and provided offices for 2,000 workers, mostly women. With its fresh look of verticality and its Art Deco lobby, including the reddish ceiling full of unicorns, phoenixes, and clouds, the building suggested a new style of workplace. Dressed in highly reflective, granite-colored terra-cotta exterior panels, it presided over the city for 40 years.

The architect was Timothy Pflueger (1892–1946), a San Francisco native, who—in the wake of the 1906 earthquake—never went to college yet found his way to the field of architecture and interior design. Following Prohibition, Pflueger’s interiors graced the city’s most renowned cocktail lounges, most notably the Patent Leather Bar at the St. Francis Hotel. Other well-known Pflueger buildings include the Castro and Alhambra theaters (see p. 16), and 450 Sutter street. He also designed buildings for the Olympic Club, the quintessential West Coast men’s club, of which he, himself, was a member. One night, after his customary swim, he dropped dead from a heart attack on the street outside.

Info

Address 140 New Montgomery Street, San Francisco, CA, 94105 | Public Transport Bus: 8X (3rd St & Howard St stop); 10, 12 (2nd St & Howard St stop) | Tip The restaurant and bar Trou Normand next door offers delicious charcuterie.

Pflueger’s inspiration for 140 Montgomery was a never-built skyscraper imagined by the great Finnish architect, Gottlieb Eliel Saarinen. Now, almost 90 years after it was built, the 26-story building is lost in the glass-and-steel forest that has grown around it. Yet it remains not only an architectural landmark, but also a symbol of the city’s focus on communications: Pacific Telephone was a cutting-edge company in its day. The building’s main client now is Yelp, the online review site. Today, the interior includes various “perks” typical of the modern, progressive, start-up workplace culture, such as showers for commuters and a bike repair shop built inside a former wood-paneled boardroom.

Nearby

Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial (0.193 mi)

Mechanics’ Institute (0.217 mi)

LeRoy King Carousel (0.261 mi)

The Hallidie Building (0.292 mi)

To the online map

To the beginning of the chapter

San Francisco

View full image

2_826 Valencia

Reading, writing, and "Ahoy, matey!"

Back

Next

This city is full of creative characters and always has been, and writer Dave Eggers is among the most honorable examples. Eggers is a genuine renaissance fellow, a Bono of words, whose 2000 blockbuster memoir, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, became a way to parlay his literary wits and profits into various collaborations, some of which involve methods for teaching kids how to read and write and teachers how to inspire their students.

In 2002 Eggers teamed up with educator and advocate Nínive Calegari to organize a one-on-one tutoring program for kids. He found a location at 826 Valencia Street, which in those days was in a “shopping-hood” with retro furniture stores and a Santeria shop. The idea was to run his quarterly literary magazine and publishing company, McSweeneys, out of the same building, and have his staff and community of writers and editors work with the neighborhood kids after school. From the start, the charter was to draw students into a space where imagination was king, and where writing was respected and explored.

Info

Address 826 Valencia Street, San Francisco, CA, 94110, www.826valencia.org, +1 415.642.905 | Public Transport Bus: 33 (18th St & Valencia St stop) | Hours Daily 12–6pm| Tip Stop at Dandelion Chocolate at 740 Valencia Street. You can sit in the front cafe and watch the chocolate-making process in the factory in the back.

To make it a going concern, Eggers and Calegari opened up a pirate-supply store in the front of the building, where you can pick up practically anything an aspiring or practicing swashbuckler might need—from peg legs and mermaid bait (or repellant), to eye patches and planks sold by the foot. Although the shop was created as a means to an end, it is an enchantment in its own right, not to mention a terrific magnet for potential pupils. After all, who wouldn’t rather do their homework surrounded by pirate paraphernalia instead of at their kitchen table?

Incidentally, 826 Valencia has nonprofit extensions in seven other cities across the country. Programs for kids ages 6 to 18 include tutoring, publishing, and college and career training, along with parallel opportunities for teachers.

Nearby

Institute of Illegal Images (0.155 mi)

Foreign Cinema (0.255 mi)

Clarion Alley (0.267 mi)

ODC (0.379 mi)

To the online map

To the beginning of the chapter

San Francisco

View full image

3_1450 Noriega Street

Where the heiress robbed a bank

Back

Next

In the 1970s, the Outer Sunset District was an increasingly Asian suburb far removed from downtown. On the corner of Noriega and 22nd Avenue stands what was then a branch of the Hibernia Savings & Loan. At 10am on April 15, 1974, several members of a Marxist-inspired radical group known as the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) burst into the bank. While several revolutionaries gathered cash from the tellers, a young woman wearing a tilted beret and carrying an M-1 carbine shouted instructions to customers. A security camera caught an iconic photo of Patty Hearst, the granddaughter of publishing baron William Randolph Hearst. Coincidentally, one of Patty’s close friends growing up was a daughter in the Tobin family, which founded the Hibernia Bank.

Ms. Hearst had been kidnapped nine weeks earlier, shortly before her 20th birthday, taken from a Berkeley apartment that she shared with her then fiancé. The next month during a botched theft in a Los Angeles sporting goods store, Ms. Hearst seemed to have completely shed her bourgeois upbringing and joined the SLA in earnest. She fired several shots to help her comrades escape; they were later tracked down and killed in one of the biggest shootouts in California history. A year later, Hearst served as the getaway driver in another bank robbery. One customer was shot to death. The following September, “Tanya,” her nom de guerre, was arrested in San Francisco, and when asked her profession replied, “urban guerilla.”

Info

Address 1450 Noriega Street, San Francisco, CA, 94122 | Public Transport Bus: 16X, 71, 71L (22nd Ave & Noriega St stop) | Tip You can find inexpensive and tasty dim sum just down the block at New Hing Lung at 1556 Noriega Street.

She was eventually tried for the Hibernia holdup, and, despite overwhelming evidence that she suffered from Stockholm syndrome, was found guilty of conspiracy and served 21 months in prison after her sentence was commuted. Eventually, President Clinton gave her a presidential pardon. Today, the former Hibernia branch on Noriega Street houses a medical services company and a Bank of America cash machine.

Nearby

Moraga Street Steps (0.367 mi)

The Rousseaus (0.864 mi)

Stow Lake (1.013 mi)

The Monastery Stones (1.075 mi)

To the online map

To the beginning of the chapter

San Francisco

View full image

4_Alhambra Theater

A cinematic workout

Back

Next

In the 1920s, elaborate movie palaces sprang up in cities across America, creating fantastical architectural wonders to match the fantasies of Hollywood. The Alhambra Theater on Polk Street, incorporating all the excesses of true Islamic design, was one of the city’s finest examples. Designed by Timothy Pflueger in 1926, the Alhambra’s iconic “minarets” originally glowed red to beckon viewers in to its 1,500 seats. After Charlie Chaplin had shuffled off, after Greta Garbo had whispered her final words, the lights would come up on the dreamy Arabian interior of the auditorium: horseshoe arches floating over sapphire-colored niches, a central dome decorated with a flower of arabesques, and filigree plasterwork trailing over everything.

In the 1960s, this neighborhood was the center of gay culture in San Francisco. The first openly gay business association in America, the Tavern Guild, was created by bar owners on Polk Street, which is still dominated by small storefront shops and cafes. When the gay scene shifted to the Castro District in the early seventies, the street fell on hard times. The Alhambra tried to keep its doors open by dividing the theater into two auditoriums, then briefly returned to a single screen again in the late eighties, but finally closed in 1998.

Info

Address 2330 Polk Street, San Francisco, CA, 94109 | Public Transport Bus: 19 (Polk St & Union St stop) | Hours Mon–Fri 5am–10pm, Sat & Sun 7am–8pm| Tip With its little stores and delightful cafes, the north side of Polk Street is perfect for a window-shopping stroll.

And yet, in the true spirit of Arabian Nights, or of happy Hollywood endings, the story of the Alhambra goes on. Since 2001, the theater has been home to Crunch Fitness, a popular gym. A careful restoration and conversion to workout space has retained most of the interior detail. The projection room has been reimagined as a yoga studio and the area behind the screen is now a spinning room. A second tier contains weights and machines, but in the balcony some thirteen original seats from the old theater remain.

Best of all, there is still a movie screen to watch as you stretch, sweat, and tone.

Nearby

Macondray Lane (0.298 mi)

San Francisco Art Institute (0.435 mi)

The Antique Vibrator Museum (0.447 mi)

Grace Cathedral Labyrinths (0.634 mi)

To the online map

To the beginning of the chapter

San Francisco

View full image

5_Anchor Brewing Company

Born and brewed in San Francisco

Back

Next

Wafting across the slopes of the Potrero Hill District is a perfume every local has come to know and love. It’s the yeasty, fruity smell of fermented alcohol, cooking at the Anchor Brewing Company. Like 501 blue jeans and sourdough bread, Anchor Steam Beer originated in the improvised city of the Gold Rush era. While most beer requires ice to cool the fermenting hops, ice was not available here, so resourceful brewers put the fermenting mash on rooftops, where the cold Bay fog did the job. The steam that rose from the vats gave this beer its name. First produced in a Pacific-Street saloon, and then by two Germans, Ernst F. Baruth and Otto Schinkel, the history of the beer is as unique as its taste.

Anchor Brewing flourished through the 1890s, until three tragedies befell the company in the span of a few short years: Baruth dropped dead unexpectedly, the earthquake fire of 1906 burned the plant to the ground, and Schinkel was run over by a streetcar. The onset of prohibition didn’t help either. The business persevered, but by the late 1950s, mass-produced beer had become the standard, and Anchor seemed doomed. And then one night in 1965, Fritz Maytag (great-grandson of the appliance scion) was drinking Anchor on tap in North Beach, and heard that his favorite beer was about to disappear. He promptly bought the brewery and began a process of development that would spark the microbrew revolution, not just in San Francisco, but also across the country.

Info

Address 1705 Mariposa Street, San Francisco, CA, 94107, www.anchorbrewing.com, +1 415.863.8350 | Public Transport Bus: 10 (17th St & Wisconsin St stop); 22 (17th St & De Haro St stop) | Hours Open for scheduled tours only; reservations required.| Tip For a hearty morning meal before your beer tasting and tour, stop at the Plow at 1299 18th Street.

Touring the brewery is the best way to immerse yourself in this history. Tours follow the whole process, from bales of fragrant hops to the giant brass brewing vats, to the bottling line, and last but not least, to the tasting room, where four or five beers are included in the price of admission. Tours book up weeks in advance, and the first begins at 10am because, as the guides explain, “How can you drink all day if you don’t start in the morning?”

Nearby

Slovenian Hall (0.205 mi)

Vermont Street (0.304 mi)

UCSF Medical Center Park (0.559 mi)

Heath Ceramics (0.59 mi)

To the online map

To the beginning of the chapter

San Francisco

View full image

6_The Antique Vibrator Museum

A history of good vibrations

Back

Next

“Baghdad by the Bay,” as longtime Chronicle columnist Herb Caen used to call San Francisco, has always been about pleasure. From the beginning, the city’s character has been shaped by wealth, innovation, diversity, and a vague sense of permissiveness, an acceptance of the “queer and questioning” in every sense.

The hedonistic principles of the city have been defined by various movements, not least the “Sex Positive Movement,” about which sexologist Dr. Carol Queen once noted, “‘Sex-positive’ respects each of our unique sexual profiles, even as we acknowledge that some of us have been damaged by a culture that tries to eradicate sexual difference and possibility.” The term sex positive may have been coined by the Austrian psychoanalyst and “sex box” inventor, Wilhelm Reich, and took root in San Francisco in the 1960s and 1970s.

Info

Address 1620 Polk Street, San Francisco, CA, 94109, www.goodvibes.com, +1 415.345.0400 | Public Transport Bus: 19 (Polk St & California St stop) | Hours Daily 10am–10pm| Tip To continue your sensual experience, walk six blocks north to Les Cent Culottes to shop for some fine French lingerie (2200 Polk Street).

The spirit, practice, and technology of the Sex Positive Movement is best seen in the Antique Vibrator Museum, located in Good Vibrations, a sex shop oriented toward women. The shop opened in 1977; its ethos is eroticism, as opposed to pornography. You must be at least 18 to enter.

The museum, curated by Dr. Queen, opened in 2012 and consists of a medium-sized room with display cases showing the evolution of the electric vibrator from the 1800s to the present. The presentation is superb, and the history is amusing, evocative, and enlightening. Admission is free and you can also book a private tour with Dr. Queen. Many of the early machines look like classic eggbeaters or Betty Crocker mixers. What’s interesting, of course, is that the technology grew out of a largely male conviction that women’s sexual issues were linked to hysteria and that feminine sexuality was something to be feared as well as properly managed.

Nearby

The Audium (0.298 mi)

Grace Cathedral Labyrinths (0.404 mi)

Dashiell Hammett’s Apartment (0.41 mi)

Alhambra Theater (0.447 mi)

To the online map

To the beginning of the chapter

San Francisco

View full image

7_Arion Press

Lost and foundry

Back

Next

When real-life Citizen Kane, William Randolph Hearst, bought the San Francisco Examiner in 1887, it was his new state-of-the-art printing presses that helped “the Ex” become the “Monarch of the Dailies.” Since then, innovative printers and publishers have been a critical force behind the city’s cultural history. Arion Press and the Grabhorn Institute both preserve this legacy as well as insure its future.

Housed in a sprawling Presidio building, the center includes operating letterpress equipment, the bookbindery, and, most unique, the foundry of Mackenzie & Harris (M & H), which celebrated its 100th birthday in 2015 and is one of the last working metal type foundries in the world. Visitors can observe all this equipment still being used: type being cast from molten metal and set into pages; pages being printed on letterpresses and then hand sewn into blocks and bound onto boards and into cases. The artisans who work at Arion undergo years of apprenticeship, and are considered among the finest printers in the country.

Info

Address 1802 Hays Street, The Presidio, San Francisco, CA, 94129, www.arionpress.com, +1 415.668.2542 | Public Transport Bus: 1, 1AX, 28 (California St & Park Presidio Blvd stop) | Hours Gallery, Mon–Fri 10am–5pm; visit the website for tour schedule| Tip A lovely little cafe nearby is Japonica on 5503 California Street.

Until the advent of desktop publishing, letterpress printing was the mainstay of the local literary scene, as writers and political activists seized the do-it-yourself potential of the small printing press. From storefronts and garages, in the Mission and Dogpatch, poet-printers churned out thousands of limited-run books and broadsides, often using M & H.

The foundry, and the 3,888 cases of metal type in its collection, might have been lost but for the foresight of Arion Press’s founder, Andrew Hoyem, who helped create the Grabhorn Institute. Bibliophiles will appreciate the changing selection of Arion’s fine hand-printed books, most famously among them Moby Dick and Leaves of Grass, which are on display in their gallery. Public demonstration tours are held Thursday afternoons at 3:30pm and last approximately an hour and a half.

Nearby

National Cemetery Overlook (0.684 mi)

Building 95 (1.007 mi)

The Presidio Pet Cemetery (1.044 mi)

The Observation Tower (1.187 mi)

To the online map

To the beginning of the chapter

San Francisco

View full image

8_The Armory

Where kink is king

Back

Next

The San Francisco Armory is that dark, rusty-red brick fortress on the corner of 14th and Mission Streets. It’s a moody castle, with its Gothic allusions and Moorish-revival turrets. Designed by a state architect, it’s also associated with some of the city’s more medieval instincts. It was built in 1912 in an area that was originally marshland and later became Woodward’s Gardens (1866–1891), which included a zoo, an aquarium, and an amusement park. Initially, the garrison was the sole home of the California National Guard, but in the 1920s the place became popular for prizefights and was known as the “Madison Square Garden of the West.”

In 1976, the Guard gave up its affiliation with the armory, which went dark for the next thirty years, although several scenes from Star Wars were shot there and the San Francisco Opera used the large interior space to construct its massive sets. Then in 2007, against stiff community opposition, Kink.com, a small porn empire, bought the historic landmark building for $14 million and recast it as an adult-film factory.

Info

Address 1800 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA, 94103, www.armorystudios.com | Public Transport Bus: 49 (Mission St & 14th St stop) | Hours Open for scheduled tours only; reservations required. For available dates and times, and to make a reservation, visit: [email protected]; tickets are $25| Tip Nearby at 2174 Market Street is the historic Cafe Du Nord, established in 1907. The former prohibition-era speakeasy was for decades a dimly lit, slightly grungy concert venue with a boudoir-style interior, which hosted a variety of musicians from Neil Young to Mumford & Sons. The restaurant has been recently remodeled and includes a smaller music venue.

The facility includes offices and a soundstage, complete with the very finest in de Sadian devices and fetish treasures. The storage room looks like a backlot carpenter’s shop, with its connoisseur’s collection of bondage equipment. There’s a hamster wheel that rolls submissives through a water trough. There’s a cage shaped like a kneeling body with a hole for the head, and a wardrobe center with every conceivable design of miniskirt, lingerie item, and stiletto shoe.