The many neighborhoods of San Francisco

20-21 December 2011

The many neighborhoods of San Francisco

I set out on foot that morning to explore the hippie heaven that is the Haight area of San Francisco.  From what I read, the hippies moved into the Haight neighborhood in the 1960s because property was cheap due to plans for construction of a freeway (which never subsequently happened).  This area transformed into the epicenter of the San Francisco Renaissance which was an avant-garde poetic activist movement.  During the summer of 1967, hippies and college students on summer break flooded the area; with that influx came the drug culture and "rock and roll lifestyle."  Eventually even the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, and Jefferson Airplane had apartments in the 'hood.  

Today, the area still has it's hippie vibes but it is clearly not the progressive center of change it once tried to be.  Haight Street is crowded with tons of small shops selling things like tie-dyed clothing, Tibetan souvenirs, marijuana paraphernalia.  In between these shops are tattoo parlors, coffee houses, and small cafes.  The crowds on the streets ranged from students to professionals to seedy strung-out individuals. 

I found my way to the Pork Store Cafe where I would have breakfast.  This place was started in 1914 as a butcher shop, hence the name.  Now it functions as a tiny little diner.  It was surprisingly crowded for a weekday morning around 10am.  I took one of the few remaining seats at the bar area where the waitstaff and cooks shuffled around with impressive speed.  I ordered the Green Benedict and while I waited for my food, I watched the short order cook churn out breakfast after breakfast, every move he made was done with speed and efficiency.  My breakfast was massive; it consisted of a large slice of sourdough bread, smeared with half of a ripe avocado, covered with scrambled eggs and asparagus and topped with hollandaise sauce.  There was a heaping pile of hash browns next to it.  It was delicious.

Cole Valley Cafe was my next stop in the Haight.  It was a cozy corner cafe also virtually filled with people.  I ordered my latte, pulled out my laptop and took in the scene.  The other patrons of the cafe were a mix of students, loafers, people "working" and lots of aging hippies with grey beards.  There was a middle-aged Asian man wearing puffy pants with mushrooms all over them.  He had funky round plastic eye glasses on.  He was cutting out those little fliers with a box cutter; the kind of fliers where you can rip off one of the tabs on the bottom.  I was curious what he was advertising, but I was too far away to catch a glimpse.  Another guy was discussing with the barista about his work in the recycling business; apparently he had single-handedly made sure that Tetra packs were recyclable in San Francisco.  At least he was a hippie with some goals. 

From the Haight, I walked back to the Sunset to drop off some dead weight.  It was about a 1.5 mile walk.  I plotted out my next course and made the trek over to the Castro, the gay neighborhood of San Francisco.  The distance of the walk to the Castro was only 2.5 miles, but to get there, I basically summited a small mountain.  San Francisco is known, of course, for its ridiculously steep hills.  The crazy thing about these hills is that they seem to come out of no where.  One moment you are walking down a typical city road, you turn a corner, and next thing you know, you are hiking up a hill at what feels like a 45 degree angle.  I actually like this aspect of San Francisco though because not only is there always a surprise around the corner, but I could be both enjoying a cityscape but also hiking at the same time, getting some damn good exercise while getting from point A to point B.  This is definitely my kind of city!  

Once I descended from my hike, I got to take in the view of the sunny city below.  Further downhill, I came across the center of the neighborhood at Pink Triangle Park.  A man of about 60 years sat out in a chair in the busy square, basking in the sunlight in all of his naked glory.  He wore nothing but a hat on his head.  While he sunbathed nude, he sipped on a coffee and read a novel.  No big deal.  He had his penis tucked between his crossed legs; he was a modest nudest.  He had very neatly coiffed pubic hair, so kind of him to trim.  I think I was the only one who even looked twice at him.  Perhaps others were more interested in the punk rock queen sitting next to him wearing a tall top hat, black leather outfit, and large plugs in his ears.  

On my walk back to the Sunset, I also enjoyed amazing views but this time of the Golden Gate bridge off in the distance.  While I walked, I made plans for the night.  I would finally see my brother, Gordon, who had just returned the day before from a business trip to London.  We had decided we'd make pizza and drink wine with his roommates.  I picked up all of the ingredients in the meantime. 

There were so many amazing eating and drinking establishments I'd read about in San Francisco and I was eager to start trying some more.  Gordon wasn't going to be home from work for another 2 hours so I made a spur of the moment decision to walk over to the Panhandle neighborhood and check out Nopa, a California cuisine restaurant that many people had recommended to me this week.  It was another hike of a walk to get there, and I added another 2.5 miles onto my day's journeys.  

Panhandle is more of a bustling neighborhood that reminded me of Greenwich Village in New York City.  It is usually quite difficult to get a table at Nopa, but from 5pm to 6pm every week day, the restaurant offers small plates at the bar and then offers the happy hour guests to stay in their seats for dinner.  I made it in just by 5:45 and grabbed a lone seat at the bar.  I set about ordering a cocktail and some small plates from the heavily tattooed bartender.  He was a knowledgeable guy with pictures of fruits, vegetables and cutlery etched onto his skin.  I quite liked his tattoos, actually.  I told him what I was in the mood for and he created a great cocktail for me that had rum, apricot, white vermouth, lemon and raspberry.

While I was waiting for my food, I noticed a large group of people standing around one of the tables next to the kitchen, clearly discussing food.  I thought maybe it was some sort of cooking class.  The bartender informed me that it was the waitstaff being led through a tasting of tonight's menu.  Every day was different.  He told me next time that maybe if I show up wearing brown colored clothes, I can just blend in and try the food too. 

The small plates were quite affordable at $4 a piece, so I ordered a few of them including the fish and chips with malt vinegar.  The fish was literally juicy and full of flavors; I liked that the skin was still on.  I also got a small salad with frisee, persimmon, feta cheese and pecans.  It was light and refreshing.  I had initially planned to stop after that and save room for dinner with Gordon, but before long, they set out tonight's dinner menu and I couldn't resist trying a few of the starters.  I ordered a another cocktail from a cute, but unfortunately gay, hipster bartender.  He also gave me some tips on what to order.  I got the fried Brussel sprouts with lemon and parmesan cheese and a small casserole of tomato, white beans, feta and a few other vegetables.  The food was simple and clean but also so full of flavor.  The amuse bouche that night was a satsuma orange dipped in their smokey house made chili sauce with rock salt to sprinkle on top.  Simple goodness.

Although I was full and a little tipsy, there was no reason to stop eating when we got to Gordon's place.  After meeting his roommates Thayer and Anna Kate, we set about to preparing dinner.  On top of our dough, we put tomato sauce, fresh ricotta cheese, mozzarella, fresh garlic and pancetta.  While the pizzas were in the oven, we worked on a bottle of Oregon Pinot Noir.  Gordon gave me the tour of his fancy apartment building which is located inside of the Presidio, a California state park.  The building used to be a hospital.  Today, the facilities include a hot soaking pool, fire pit, massage room, and a huge catering area with a state-of-the-art kitchen.  With the building's location inside of the park, it was easy to forget we were in the middle of a large city and not out in the wilderness of Northern California.  

I began my Wednesday morning with a quick trip to the Japanese Tea Gardens in Golden Gate Park.  On Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays there is free entrance to the garden between 9 and 10am when one would otherwise pay $7.  The gardens were quite full of visitors for a Wednesday but even so, they remained peaceful and serene.  The Japanese style gardens were perfectly coiffed.  There were trickling streams and serene ponds.  Bamboo and cedar grew.  There were statues of Buddha and small pagodas.  The morning sunlight light up the orange leaves on the trees.

While my time in San Francisco was quickly dwindling my waistline continuing to expand from the week's gluttony.  When I woke up on Wednesday morning I decided it was time for a substantially long run to see the city and burn off calories.  After devouring yet another scone and latte from the neighborhood, I set off on my epic running tour of the city.  I began by run by heading west through Golden Gate Park.  I ran past the museums, the Japanese Garden and made a quick stop at Stowe Lake.  Stowe Lake is a decent sized lake set on the top of a hill in the park.  It was so easy to forget I was in the middle of a large city while in the Golden Gate Park.

About three miles later I found myself at the end of Golden Gate Park at Ocean Beach.  I followed the beach side trail for another couple miles to the windy Point Lobos.  This is where the trail took a seriously steep climb upwards.  I was glad to have the excuse to stop for photo opportunities along the way, but I was impressed with my ability to make it up to the top of the hill fairly unwinded despite the fact I only train on flat terrain below sea level in Houston. 

Once I got to the top of the hill, I entered into a wooded park area.  The coastline makes a turn at this point and starts heading towards the Golden Gate Bridge.  As I crested a small hill, I was presented with views of the rusty red Golden Gate Bridge set against the brilliant blue sky.  These stunning views continued along the entire northern coast trail.  I couldn't get over the concept that if I lived in San Francisco, I could run to these gorgeous views every day!  

The trail eventually dumped me out onto Baker Beach, a small wild and mostly secluded beach that runs below the Presidio Park and the bridge.  I awkwardly ran through the wet sand before finding another step path leading upwards.  I hiked most of this until I got to the top again and from there continued my jog into the Presidio.  I had to get out my iPhone to map a proper course back to Jessica's apartment.  I had a lovely run through the cool shaded portions of the Presidio, under the tall California pines.  It was another three and a half miles until I was home again.  With 11 miles of running under my belt, I felt cleansed and satisfied!

After a well-earned and delicious sandwich from the Wooly Pig, I got picked up by Chris, one of my friends from high school.   He had mostly been working from home since he moved to San Francisco three weeks prior so he had some time to hang out that afternoon.  We took about a 15 minute drive to Fort Funstan, a park along the coastline south of the city.  It was a wild beach with huge dunes; a place where dogs could run free.  We brought is black labrador, Madison.  She ran around joyously trying to steal the balls out of other dogs' mouths while we walked along the beach for a mile or two.  The afternoon sun was blinding and the views were beautiful. 

Before the sun set, we also brought Madison to Bernal Heights.  This is another neighborhood in San Francisco that offers great views of the city below.  The peak of Bernal Heights is a tidy park also teeming with dogs.  The sun was casting a reddish hue over the city as we looked out at the 360 degree views below.  I was really starting to fall in love with this city.

I got to visit the Mission District, where Chris lives, after the sun went down.  We dropped off Madison and killed some time before we would meet Megan, Adam and Gordon for dinner.  As Chris pointed out, the Mission is an eclectic neighborhood.  It was obviously a historically hispanic area that had been gentrified over the years.  One street we drove down was a scene 

out of Mexico and another block over felt more like Williamsburg, Brooklyn with hipsters and funky shops.  I did some shopping and we grabbed a beer at a hippie bar while Adam and Megan were on their way.

Dinner was at a restaurant called Serpentine located in the Dogpatch neighborhood.  Adam said the Dogpatch was thought to be the new up and coming area due to its ease of accessibility to the finance firms and the water.  It was a quiet area with lots of old warehouse buildings.  Serpentine was located in a warehouse structure itself.  We had an interesting dinner that included Prohibition type cocktails, appetizers like chick pea breaded calamari, house-made charcuterie, and a salad with kobocha squash.  My main course was a generous piece of pork belly served with mussels.  The five of us had fun catching up on the years that had passed.

Gordon and I picked up Jessica once returned to the Sunset and headed down to the wine bar, Inner Fog, that is located just a block from her apartment.  It was so fun to all be together in San Francisco; I was envious that I didn't live in the city myself.  After visiting Oregon this summer, I really had my sights set on moving to Portland, but now I have to say that San Francisco is playing a tough competition.