Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
50
and Cow Hollow, Chestnut Street, and
Union Street, are delightfully crammed
with cafes, boutiques, and gift shops.
Restaurants abound, some of them
newest national par k. An easy walk
along Crissy Walk takes you all the way
to Fort Point, at the foot of the Golden
Gate Bridge. The Presidio has no tour-
ist accommodations, just plenty of
inexpensive, and most of them family-
friendly.
In addition to the prime shopping,
you'll find sev eral choice attractions
here, including the
Exploratorium
and
the
Palace of F ine Ar ts,
the
Marina
Green,
and
Fort M ason,
all of which
have major kid appeal. I t's also in close
proximity to the
Golden Gate Bridge
and the
Presidio.
A fair number of
travelers end up staying in the M arina,
especially those attached to automo-
biles, because the par king is either fr ee
or at least r easonable. Most accommo-
dations are in the motel range and line
ever-busy Lombard Street, but there are
some better-than-av erage places to
things to do.
Japantown and the Western A ddi-
tion
Once upon a time, this neigh-
borhood off G eary Boulev ard, betw een
Webster and Laguna streets, housed one
of the largest concentrations of J apanese
outside J apan. D uring World War II,
when the city 's J apanese r esidents w ere
interred in camps, the area became home
to other settlers, some of them African
Americans who w ere r ecruited to Cali-
fornia to wor k in the shipyar ds. Today,
Japantown houses less than 4% of S an
Francisco's J apanese population. S outh
of G eary Boulev ard, which cut the
neighborhood in two when it was wid-
ened in the '60s, the ar ea is pr edomi-
nately African American and residential.
At first glance, Japantown appears to
consist of a large pagoda and an unat-
tractive indoor shopping center . H id-
den inside these cement blocks,
sleep. Know where you're going if y ou
venture out for the ev ening; sections of
Lombard are dicey late at night.
The Presidio
Founded in 1776 as a
Spanish garrison, this nor thwest corner
of S an F rancisco r emained a militar y
installation for mor e than 200 y ears.
The U.S. took o ver in 1846 and later
planted sev eral pine and eucalyptus
3
however, are good, inexpensive Japanese
restaurants and some inter esting shops.
The Peace P laza, with its flat, cement
waterfall, is also a nice place for kids to
stretch their legs. J apantown sponsors
two festiv als ev ery y ear, the Cherr y
Blossom F estival in A
trees, ev entually changing the sandy
,
barren hills into a delightful wooded
area with mor e than 400,000 tr ees. In
1994, the army handed o ver control of
all 1,500 acr es to the N ational P ark
Service, to become par t of the
Golden
Gate National Recreation Area.
Today
families come her e to hike, play golf ,
sunbathe at Baker Beach, and even play
a fe w frames at a little bo wling alley.
The old officer's club has a well-stocked
visitor's center, and the old militar y PX
market is no w “S ports B asement,” the
cheapest place in to wn to buy spor ting
equipment.
My all-time fav orite part of the P re-
sidio is
pril and the
Nihonmachi Street Fair in A ugust (see
chapter 2 for details on each).
Two hotels hav e opened her e in
recent years, which, since J apantown is
off the beaten path, ar e a gr eat v alue.
With a slew of bus lines nearby, you can
still get wher e you need to go—or just
spring for a taxi with the money y ou've
saved on the hotel room.
Alamo Square
(btw. Hayes, Fulton,
Steiner, and Scott sts.) fr onts the group
of r estored Victorian homes kno wn as
“postcard row.” The houses ar e so pic-
ture-perfect, they have become as much
Crissy F ield,
which was
reopened in 2002 as the B
ay Ar ea's
