Gary-Summer: December 7, 2023 - Bookstore and Stair Walk

Thursday, December 7, 2023

December 7, 2023 - Bookstore and Stair Walk

Title: December 7, 2023 - Bookstore and Stair Walk
Hike Info : Description : Extra Photo's : Flowers and Plants

Hike Info:

Type: Walking

Trail head: Cow Hollow Inn

Trail: Various streets in San Francisco

Destination: Book Passage, the Ferry Building

Distance: 6.83 miles

Start Time: 9:53

End Time: 5:17

Travel Time: 7:23 (0.93 mph)

Moving Time: 3:44 (1.83 mph)

Elevation Rise: 1,078'

Descent: 1,097‘

Maximum Elevation: 321'

GPS Tracks

Description:

View up Lombard toward Russian Hill

I got up at 7:20 this morning. Either the street was quieter or I slept sounder. I think it was the latter as I felt pretty refreshed this morning. Even though there were two times I got up due to drinking a lot of water yesterday. Breakfast was granola. Sherri is game for another go around on the hills of San Francisco. Today, we are going to a couple of bookstores where my book group gave us gift cards too. Bookstores, one of my favorite places on earth.

Chestnut St Stairs

I leave a little before 10:00am to drop off some cards at the Post Office. On my way out, a man was coming into the elevator and noted that I looked like a hiker. We talked for a few minutes about urban walking and then was off. It warmed the cockles of my heart to be recognized. Reminds me of something which PD James said, To be selected from the crowd is always gratifying to self-esteem.

Alcatraz

After going to the Post Office, I returned back to the front of the hotel where I met Sherri. Rather than head down the busy Lombard St, we go down Chestnut towards Columbus St. We even got in a set of stairs on Chestnut between Larkin and Polk called Culebra Terrace. If I had been a bit more alert, when we reached the top of the hill, we would have gone one block over, back to Lombard and gone down its windy block. Instead, we get to observe a street cleaner. Ordinarily a street cleaner would not rate a place on this blog. This guy is special. The sidewalk is covered with leaves, wet leaves. But before we get to them, an older man comes out with a leaf blower and blows them away. The driver waits for the man to finish before sweeping them away.

This section is a long walk, about a mile and a third. We go down Columbus till we reach Washington Square and Union Street. We wish that it was closer to lunch as there are so many Italian restaurants in this area-the streets are even painted red, green and white. All of the places look like a really good places to eat.

Coit Tower

But our route calls us to go up Union Street. And up we trudge. We ascend a couple hundred feet until we come to the end of the street. This puts us onto Calhoun and our second stairway. The stairway only leads us down to a terrace. But this terrace opens up to show the Bay. We are particularly interested in the Ferry Building as that is our goal today.

We retreat one block to Montgomery Street. The TransAmerica Building opens up right before us. It is well worth being up here. And then we spot the stairs. The stairs have a broken mirror and a woman smoking on it. But we head down anyway. At the bottom, we see our friendly street sweep doing his thing--he finishes up before we reach him.

North Beach

We then get onto Vallejo Street with its stairs. The stairs themselves were interesting, but the plant life around them was the main draw for us. There were what looked like banana trees with their large green leaves. Hanging from some trees were Angel Trumpets.

TransAmerica Building

After going down Vallejo Street a ways, we see another set of stairs going down Kearny St called the Peter Macchiarini Steps. Sherri and I look at each other and decide that these steps do not look too interesting and we will continue down Vallejo. Later on I see a web site describe these stairs as Stairways you'll only see if you have the misfortune of dating someone who lives near them.

City Lights Bookstore

We are now nearing the North Beach area. There are giant murals indicating that this is where topless dancing all began. But down from that is a store which interests me more: The Baked Bear. It advertises custom ice cream sandwiches. After much consideration, we decided that we really should have lunch first before indulging. It almost sounds like we are acting like grown-ups. After reading some reviews, we should have cast aside our old people's inhibitions and gone for it. I am puting it on the list for next time.

Sherri climbing Greenwich Stairs

Right down the street from there is our first stop: City Lights Books. This is my kind of bookstore-actually I think a used bookstore is a bit more my style. My Book Group gave me a gift card to this store and another. So I had to make a point of visiting it. Besides, it is part of San Francisco history. Alan Ginsburg and Jack Kerouac were two of the “beat” authors who read here frequently. I found a couple of books I am interested in and purchased them: Living by Annie Dillard and the Novels and Stories of Zora Neale Hurston.

Coit Tower

We now are getting hungry and want to find someplace to eat-either our sandwiches or some eatery which looks appetizing. We pass by the TransAmerican building and enter Maritime Park. About that time, the skies open up and we are in danger of getting soaked. The Ferry Building, our next destination is right across Embarcadero from us, so we get some protection there. We wandered through, looking to see if there was someplace we wanted to eat at: nope, so we found a table and pulled out our sandwiches.

After lunch we found the Book Passage bookstore, the other place my book group had bought a gift card to. This book store is a bit too “corporate” for me to fall in love with. I did buy one book. But the place was a bit jarring after the 1950's City Lights. Still, there is something about a bookstore, for me, it is like heron to an addict. I can come in and just look and imagine. That is one of those reasons why I could never be a librarian.

View from Pioneer Park

Now we start our trip back to Cow Hollow. There are two routes we can go on. The first is to follow the Embarcadero all the way around to Fort Mason and back to our room. The second is to go up and over Telegraph Hill and Pioneer Park with Coit Tower and drop down onto Francisco St. But we do not need to decide for another half of a mile until we get to Pier 23. We walk along the Bay enjoying the sights and sounds.

Hey, that was Pier 23! And now decision time: up and over or continue walking along the Bay? We decided to show that even though we are old, we can still be bold! So up and over we go, up to Coit Tower. We wandered over until we came to the foot of the Greenwich Stairs. Not sure we would have gone up it if we realized how steep it was going up and then later on how steep the downhill would be.

But I am getting ahead of myself. The stairs go through several levels. Each one has a different feel. They all have thriving gardens around them. Some are cement steps, others brick. All have a handrail-which I am grateful for. As we get close to the end of the second level, we see a globe which marks a Little Library and a nice reading area, assuming it was dry. A few steps lady is the lady of the birds.

Climb to Jack Early Park

We then pop out on a road. Fortunately on the way up we met a native who guided us on what to do. We backtrack a little and find the final set of stairs. So up we go. And when we come out, Coit Tower is right there. We stop and look over the Bay and admire the view.

We go up into Coit Tower and find out that the elevator is not working. We are given the option of taking the stairs up. After consideration, I tell Sherri that while I am confident we can make it up 210’ to the top, we still have a long way to go after leaving the tower. So we just admire the CCC murals from the Depression era. They depict life during those sorrowful times. We also go around the outside and enjoy the view of various scenes of the City.

As we leave the tower, I notice that the top floor across the way is vacant. All I can think of is that whoever lives here will have people looking into their windows all day and night long. We head down and pick up Greenwich St, but only for a block. We head down and come to the Julius St Stairs. They are not very notable, less than a block. But it looks like an alleyway, a steep alley. We retreat back and go down Grant.

Reward

Grant is only marginally less steep than the alley. So we slowly make our way down it. We come to our next set of stairs which must be the smallest park in San Francisco: Jack Early Park. A set of stairs led us up between a set of houses to an overlook. More oohs and aahs. A father is holding his baby and keeping it asleep. We try not to disturb them.

Our next stop will be Ghirardelli Square-about ¾ of a mile away. Now comes the wisdom of not climbing Coit Tower comes to play. We see the cable car turnarounds both at Powell-Mason and Maritime Park. Then comes a bit of heaven in the form of an ice cream sundae. I guess this makes up for not partaking at The Baked Bear.

Somehow we feel refreshed after our stop. Even the 1+ mile walk back to our hotel does not seem bad. We pass by several places we are familiar with and get to our room without incident. Once there, we do what is starting to be a tradition: crash. We rest for a while and then take our showers. Showers provide such wonderful relief to one’s body.

Now that our body is recuperating, we need to feed it. We head down to Chestnut and start wandering. We eventually came to a place called Delarosa. In case you cannot tell, this is Italian. After being tempted by several entrees, we decided on sharing a pizza. Very tasty. Plus the wait staff, while not hovering, was attentive to our needs-felt like we were royalty.

We felt happy when we left. So we went for a walk, as if we had not been walking enough. Just a pleasant stroll. Then back to our room, relax and then to bed we go.