As followers of this blog have observed, I frequently travel to San Francisco to visit family. I was back there two weeks ago and this time the visit included an in-depth tour of several well-known tourist destinations, which I’ve seen many times, but never really observed at a leisurely pace. Thanks to my sister Sandy’s extensive itinerary and copious notes, we strolled through Chinatown and Japantown, sampled teas, stopped in a fortune cookie factory, Japanese paper shops and visited a couple of museums too.
The photo, above, shows Chinatown at the intersection of Grant and California Avenues. The area is the oldest Chinese settlement in North America and home to the largest Chinese population outside mainland China. Old Saint Mary’s Cathedral & Chinese Mission is located at the same intersection and holds special memories for me—our son was married there.
The dramatic Lenten altar at Old St. Mary’s, left. The cathedral was built in 1853 with granite quarried in China and brick from New England. It survived the earthquake of 1906 only to burn to the ground the day after by fires caused by the quake. The cathedral reopened in 1909.
Waverley Place, now known as “the street of painted balconies,” was formerly called “15 Cent Street,” where haircuts were 15 cents. This is also we climbed many steps to visit the Tin How Temple (the Goddess of Heaven and Sea), the oldest Chinese temple in the U. S.
After a visit to the fortune cookie factory, where 50 cents buys a photo of one of the assemblers (see end of post), we walked to the Chinese-American Cultural Center, above and below, located at 965 Clay Street. The building, designed as a YWCA by architect Julia Morgan, opened in 1932. Morgan was the 1st female architect to be licensed in state of California where she designed over 700 buildings, including the Hearst Castle San Simeon.
The current exhibition, Chinese American Exclusion/Inclusion, explores a timely question: “What does it mean to be an American?” Right above: A view of the garden, also designed by Morgan, includes tiles that were brought from China. Some tiles were placed at the top of the garden wall to mimic a roof as the architect felt the view behind the garden was as important as what is within.
We ventured to a stunning tea shop, SONG tea & ceramics at 2120 Sutter Street near Japantown. As we entered, we were handed a tiny cup of oolong tea to enjoy while we browsed the selection of teas offered (which range from $17 for 2 ounces of an oolong to $75 for 2 ounces of aged tea), beautiful teapots, and cups. I was amazed to learn that one of SONG tea’s favorite wholesale clients is here in St. Louis— Sump Coffee, 3700 Jefferson Avenue.
One morning we ventured downtown to the Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) to view an exhibition of Diane Arbus’s photography exhibition, in the beginning. If you don’t know her work, here is some background from the website: “A lifelong New Yorker, Arbus found the city and its citizens an endlessly rich subject for her art…”
Alexander Calder sculptures were on view in another gallery and outside on the promenade, above.
From the museum we walked to one of my favorite spots, the Samovar Tea Room, located at the Yerba Buena Center. The wisteria covering the walkways looked especially dreamy on a drizzly day.
This is the view from the Legion of Honor where we took in Monet: The Early Years, below, which will be exhibited until May 29.
On Saturday afternoon my son and I visited Fisherman’s Wharf which was packed to the gills with tourists. Boudin Bread Company draws a crowd to its huge glass storefront where you can watch bread-making in action.
Lowriders are in abundance at Fisherman’s Wharf, below.
More snapshots from the visit:
It’s always wonderful to get away and just as wonderful to get back home. As always, there is a lot going on in the Central West End that I am anxious to tell you about, so stay tuned.
I wonder if our English language has a word for the deep vicarious contentment of experiencing a friend’s observations and adventures, from a written account. Hearing a description or a story in conversation doesn’t begin to let the imagination roam to quite the same degree as reading the words.
Thank you for taking the time to make us so much more aware and appreciative of the world around us, and the creatures with whom we share this place (referring to your previous post on Martin Schweig). And for safeguarding memories that might otherwise be lost.
Mary