Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Sights
1
Transamerica Pyramid & Redwood Park
NOTABLE BUILDING
The defining quirk of San Francisco's skyline is the 1972 Transamerica Pyramid, built atop
a whaling ship abandoned in the Gold Rush. It's closed to visitors, but you can picnic under
redwood trees beneath the pyramid, on a half-acre where Mark Twain's favorite saloon
once stood. Although these transplanted redwoods have shallow roots, the intertwined root
network formed with neighboring trees allows them to reach dizzying heights. Mark Twain
himself couldn't have scripted a more perfect metaphor for San Francisco.
(
www.thepyramidcenter.com
; 600 Montgomery St;
9am-6pm Mon-Fri;
Embarcadero,
Embarcadero)
2
Cartoon Art Museum
MUSEUM
Comics fans need no introduction to this museum founded on a grant from Bay Area car-
toon legend Charles M Schultz
(Peanuts),
featuring movie-marquee superheroes plus cult
classics by local comics heroes R Crumb
(Mr Natural),
Daniel Clowes
(Ghostworld),
Trina
Robbins
(Vampirella)
and Adrian Tomine
(Optic Nerve)
. Don't miss openings, political
cartoon retrospectives and animation workshops with Pixar Studio heads.
(
415-227-8666;
www.cartoonart.org
;
655 Mission St; adult/student $7/5;
11am-5pm Tue-Sun;
Montgomery,
Montgomery)
3
Contemporary Jewish Museum
Daniel Libeskind's 2008 blue-steel-and-brick building incorporates the 1907 facade of the
Jesse St Power Substation to form the shape of the Hebrew word
l'chaim
(the toast 'to
life') - a fine idea in theory, though best appreciated from a helicopter. But inside, these
galleries are most illuminating, with fascinating recent shows on Warhol, Houdini, and the
Bay Area's own Gertrude Stein.
(
MUSEUM
415-344-8800;
www.thecjm.org
;
736 Mission St; adult/child $10/free,
after 5pm Thu $5;
11am-5pm Fri-Tue, 1-8pm Thu;
Montgomery,
Montgomery)
