SAN FRANCISCO AREA BY AREA - San Francisco and Northern California - page 84

situated at the heart
of North Beach, and
many Italians find it a
welcome haven when
they first arrive in San
Francisco. It was here
that the local baseball
hero, Joe Di Maggio,
was photographed
after his marriage to
the actress Marilyn
Monroe in 1957,
although the actual
wedding ceremony
was held elsewhere.
The building, designed
by Charles Fantoni, has
an Italianesque façade,
with a complex interior
notable for its many
columns and ornate
altar. There are also
statues and mosaics
illuminated by stained-glass
windows. The concrete and
steel structure of the church,
with its twin spires, was
completed in 1924.
Cecil B. DeMille filmed the
workers laying the foundations
of Saints Peter and Paul, and
used the scene to show the
building of the Temple of
Jerusalem in his 1923 film
The Ten Commandments .
The church is also known as
the Fishermen's Church (many
Italians once earned their living
by fishing), and there is a mass
to celebrate the Blessing of the
Fleet in October. Masses are
held in Italian and Chinese,
as well as English.

new home. Among these was
bocce , an Italian version of lawn
bowling, played on a narrower
and shorter court than the
English version. In North Beach
it is played most afternoons on
the public court in a corner of
the North Beach Playground.
There are four participants (or
four teams), who roll a wooden
ball at a smaller, target ball, at
the opposite end of an earth
court. The aim is for the balls
to lightly “kiss” (bocce) , and the
highest score goes to the
player whose ball gets closest
to this target.

u Coit Tower
1 Telegraph Hill Blvd. Map 5 C2.
Tel [phone]. @ 8, 18, 24, 27, 38,
39, 44, 54, 56, 58, 72, 74, 76.
Open 10am-6:30pm daily.
& to tower. 7 =

The façade of Saints Peter and Paul Church

r Washington
Square
Map 5 B2. @ 8BX, 8X, 30, 39, 41, 45,
91. Powell-Mason.
The square consists of a lawn
surrounded by benches and
trees, set against the twin
towers of Saints Peter and
Paul Church. It has an almost
Mediterranean atmosphere,
appropriate for the “town
square” of Little Italy, although
the Italian community is less
evident in this neighborhood
now than it was when the park
was first laid out in 1955. Near
the center of the square stands
a statue of Benjamin Franklin. A
time capsule was buried under
this in 1979 and is scheduled to
be reopened in 2079. It is said
to contain some Levi jeans, a
bottle of wine, and a poem by
the famous Beat poet Lawrence
Ferlinghetti (see p88).

Coit Tower was built in 1933 at
the top of 284-ft- (87-m-) high
Telegraph Hill, with funds left
to the city by Lillie Hitchcock
Coit, an eccentric San
Franciscan pioneer and
philanthropist. The 210-ft
(63-m) reinforced concrete
tower was designed as a fluted
column by the architect Arthur
Brown. When floodlit at night
it is an eerie white and can be
seen from most parts of the
eastern half of the city. The
encircling view around the
North Bay Area from the

y Bocce Ball
Courts
Lombard St and Mason St,
North Beach Playground.
Map 5 B2. Tel [phone].
@ 8BX, 8X, 30, 39, 41, 45, 91.
@ Day-Taylor. Powell-
Mason. Open dawn till dusk
Mon-Sat. 7
Italians have been
influential in North Beach
since the main wave of
immigration from Italy in
the late 19th and early
20th centuries. Along
with their food, customs,
and religion, they also
brought games to their

t Saints Peter and
Paul Church
666 Filbert St. Map 5 B2. Tel [phone].
@ 8BX, 8X, 30, 39, 41, 45, 91.
Powell-Mason. Open 7:30am-4pm
daily (to 1pm public hols). 5 Italian
mass and choir 11:45am Sun; phone
for other masses. 7

Known by many as the Italian
Cathedral, this large church is Playing bocce at North Beach Playground