Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Sights
1
Haight & Ashbury
LANDMARK
This legendary intersection was the epicenter of the psychedelic '60s and remains a coun-
terculture magnet. On average Saturdays here you can sign Green Party petitions, commis-
sion a poem, hear Hare Krishna on keyboards and Bob Dylan on banjo. The clock overhead
always reads 4:20 - better known in herbal circles as International Bong-Hit Time. A local
clockmaker recently fixed it; within a week it was stuck at 4:20.
(
6, 33, 37, 43, 71)
2
Alamo Square Park
Weather-beaten picnic tables provide sweeping panoramas of City Hall's gilded dome and
Postcard Row
, a lineup of Victorian 'Painted Lady' houses on Steiner St with gingerbread
detailing and frosting flourishes. Crowning the northwest corner are Barbary Coast baroque
mansions, including watchtower-topped, gilded 1889 Westerfield House, which has sur-
vived tenancies by czarist Russian bootleggers, Fillmore jazz musicians and hippie com-
munes.
(Hayes & Scott Sts; admission free;
PARK
;
5, 21, 22, 24)
Top Tip
Hanging out on Haight Street
Ever since the 1960s, America's youth have headed to the Haight as a place to fit in, no questions asked. Yet in
2010, San Francisco passed the controversial Sit/Lie Law, making daytime sidewalk loitering punishable by $50 to
$100 fines. Critics claim the law targets vulnerable homeless teens in the Haight - with 1300 shelter beds to ac-
commodate 6500 to 13,000 city homeless, many youth have no place to go. Spare change is a short-term fix; for
sustained support, consider donations to youth-service nonprofits.
