Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Civic Center area, the southwestern section of Market
Street, remains somewhat dilapidated, but it contains the
notable Civic Center Plaza and a handful of museums and buildings
worth a visit for their architectural splendor. After the Civic Center,
you'll continue through hip Hayes Valley—where you'll discover the
city's highest concentration of Painted Ladies (SF's famous Victorian
houses), one cluster of which is reproduced so often on SF post-
cards, it has been nicknamed Postcard Row.
@
2 to 4 hours.
START:
100 Larkin St. (at Grove St.). BART/Muni: Civic Center.
1
★
San Francisco Main
Library.
San Francisco's 376,000-
square-foot (35,000 sq. m) main
library opened in 1996; its facade
(Sierra White granite) came from the
same quarry that provided the stone
for other Civic Center buildings, built
8 decades earlier. Step inside to
appreciate the five-story atrium and
the bridges across light wells that
connect floors. The four-story stair-
case travels up along a panel featur-
ing 160 author names inscribed on
small protruding glass shades. Fiber-
optic light beams project the names
onto the panel. Patrons continue to
endow additional names; the panel
can accommodate up to 200 more
shades.
@
30 min. 100 Larkin St. (at
Grove St.).
y
415/557-4400. Mon
10am-6pm; Tues 9am-8pm; Fri, Sat,
Tues 12-6pm.
2
★★★
Asian Art Museum.
After 35 years in Golden Gate Park,
this museum moved in 2003 to its
current quarters. Gae Aulenti, the
Milanese architect renowned for her
adaptive use of historic structures
into museum space (she transformed
a Paris train station into the Musée
d'Orsay), renovated the former Main
Library, creating 37,500 square feet
(3,500 sq. m) of exhibition space. The
museum has one of the Western
world's largest collections of Asian
art, covering 6,000 years and encom-
passing cultures across Asia. Its col-
lection includes world-class
sculptures, paintings, bronzes,
ceramics, and jade.
@
1-2 hours.
200 Larkin St. (at Fulton St.).
y
415/
581-3500. www.asianart.org. Admis-
sion $10, $7 seniors, $6 youths 13-17,
free for children under 12. $5 after
With more than 15,000 objects of art, you won't get bored at the Asian Art Museum.
