Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
emphasis on vertical lines.
It was converted into a
community center in the 1970s.
y
Clarke's Folly
250 Douglass St.
Map
10 D3.
@
33,
35, 37.
Closed
to the public.
This resplendent white
manor house was originally
surrounded by extensive
grounds. It was built in 1892
by Alfred Clarke, known as
Nobby, who worked in the
San Francisco Police Department
at the time of the Committee
of Vigilance
(see pp28-9)
.
The house is said to have cost
$100,000, a huge sum in the
1890s. Now divided into private
apartments, its turrets and other
features make it an evocative
example of Victorian-era
domestic architecture.
View of the city and of Twin Peaks Boulevard from top of Twin Peaks
steep footpath to the very top
can leave the crowds behind
and get a 360° view. The
residential districts on the
slopes lower down have
curving streets that wind
around the contours of the
slopes, rather than the formal
grid that is more common in
San Francisco.
rural houses climbing between
Ord Street and Levant Street.
Like the Filbert Steps on
Telegraph Hill
(see p93)
,
however, Vulcan Steps does feel
light years away from the busy
streets of the Castro District
below. The small vegetable and
flower gardens of the houses
spill out and soften the edges
of the steps, and a canopy of
pines muffles the city sounds.
There are grand views of the
Mission District and beyond.
u
Twin Peaks
Map
9 C4.
@
33, 36, 37.
These two hills were first known
in Spanish as El Pecho de la
Chola, the “Bosom of the Indian
Girl.” At the top there is an area
of parkland with steep and
grassy slopes, from which you
can enjoy incomparable views
of the whole of San Francisco.
Twin Peaks Boulevard circles
both hills near their summits,
and there is a parking and
viewing point from which
to look out over the city.
Those who are
prepared to
climb up the
i
Vulcan Street
Steps
Vulcan St.
Map
9 C2.
@
37.
Apart from a tiny figure of
Spock standing on a mail-box,
there is no connection between
the popular television program
Star Trek
and this block of almost
o
Sutro Tower
Map
9 B3.
@
36, 37.
Closed
to
the public.
Marking the skyline like an
invading robot, Sutro Tower
is 970 ft (290 m) high. It was
named after local landowner
and philanthropist Adolph
Sutro, and it carries antennae
for the signals of most of the
city's TV and radio stations.
Built in 1973, it is still much
used, despite the rise of cable
networks. The tower is visible
from all over the Bay Area, and
sometimes seems to float above
the summer fogs that roll in
from the sea. On the north side
of the tower there are dense
eucalyptus groves, first planted
in the 1880s by Adolph Sutro.
They drop down to the medical
center campus of the University
of California San Francisco
(UCSF), one of the most highly
rated teaching hospitals in the
United States.
Nobby Clarke's Folly
