Monthly Archives: February 2023

View from our room, looking north towards Coit Tower and Alcatraz

San Francisco, Feb. 15-16.

We can’t remember when we were last in San Francisco. Our memories include the cable car museum, Wells Fargo museum, Coit Tower, Japanese gardens but have no idea of when that occurred but we don’t plan to revisit those locations (except maybe the Japanese gardens). This trip will be seven days just in downtown and another two weeks traveling around the Bay Area. Luckily, we have about a week before the rains return in earnest so blue sky pictures may predominate for the near future. Of course that statement presumes our legs hold out with all of the walking we are doing.

The flight over the Rockies on Wednesday was clear and the snow capped mountains were amazing to look at. The snow looked to cover everything, civilization was nowhere to be seen. What we saw during the ride on BART from the airport to downtown took care of that illusion. Homes were stacked close together, few trees, freeways, etc.

Impressions do not necessarily equal reality but so far San Francisco is cleaner than expected, amazing architecture, interesting variety of people and street scenes, everyone walking around with a cup of coffee in their hand, and less crowded than one would expect for a town that is a major tourist draw with its own population of over 800,000. (Cousin Judy—you would be disappointed, we can’t find the San Francisco Chronicle on sale anywhere. The front desk staff at the Hilton had no idea where a newspaper copy could be purchased.)

We are staying at the Hilton Financial District and the BART stop on Montgomery gave us an eight block walk through office skyscrapers. We are across from the Transamerica pyramid building. Coit Tower is directly in front of our 22 second floor room. It’s lit dramatically at night and stands out as a predominant site. The green lights shining on the spires of the Saints Peter and Paul church also enhance the evening view. The flashing lighthouse beacon from Alcatraz island is another feature seen outside our window. Golden Gate Bridge is to the but hidden behind a building on Russian Hill. San Francisco Bay is to the right.

The Hilton is right at the beginning of Chinatown so we are immersed in the Chinatown street scene. There is even a small Chinese Cultural Center on the third floor of the hotel. Portsmouth Square is across the street and people (usually men) are sitting around playing chess and cards with others looking over their shoulders as they play. Early morning brings out the Tai Chi aficionados. Right across the alley was a Chinese restaurant that the hotel staff recommended. We were hungry, CA time is two hours behind MN time but the restaurant did not open until 5 PM so we spent half an hour walking through part of Chinatown. Chris serenaded me with the song ‘Grant Street’ from Flower Drum Song as we walked along the streets. Yes, I know Flower Drum Song portrays stereotypes but this song mentions Grant Street in San Francisco’s Chinatown so just deal with it. Tonight I can also see someone shooting off local fireworks. Initially the sound was nerve-racking; given today’s environment room I thought it was gunshots. The sight of fireworks made for a comforting answer to an initial concern.

[I am trying to control my anger and frustration. After having completed the blog, and having watched the autosave function indicate it was working, I found out that most of the blog, at least 90 minutes of work, was lost. I have this love hate relationship with this blog. I love the ability to look up what we have done from years ago. But the frustration of the time spent, with time lost from the difficulties with the keyboard messing up it or the dictation system screwing up, starts to bring the hate portion very close to the love portion. But so far the love portion is slightly ahead. and so I continue. Of course, what was done before it was lost always strike me as being better than what is dictated the second time around.]

We went to bed early to deal with the time change and the time spent walking. Tomorrow will be the start of another busy day.

This Hilton does not have a continental breakfast but they give us an allowance to use in the restaurant each day. It’s not enough of course but it’s a nice gesture. After breakfast Thursday morning we head up early to Pier 33 to tour Alcatraz. We depart for Pier 33 early of course. For us early means to be extra cautious, making sure we have enough time to walk to the pier and still arrive the 30 to 45 minutes before departure time that the cruise people recommend. We know they recommend this way too early arrival to make sure no one arrives late or to make people use their gift shop. But there is no gift shop today. We are so early we are able to get on an earlier boat and arrive almost an hour ahead of our planned arrival on Alcatraz.

Alcatraz is universally known as the inescapable prison for the federal penitentiaries worst inmates. The staffing level here was dramatically higher than any other federal prison. But before we hear about and enter the prison, we explored several exhibits about the Native American occupation of Alcatraz in 1969. Before the occupation, the prison had been closed in 1963 and was sitting abandoned. The Native American occupation lasted 19 months and surprisingly to us, President Nixon told federal officials to go easy on the occupiers. By 1971 few occupiers were still present and federal officials removed the remaining people. The goals of the Native American occupation were not reached but it raised widespread sensitivity to Native American concerns around the country. I thought the Native American comment about the occupation was indicative of life in America. They stated that Alcatraz was like a reservation because it was so far removed from modern facilities, had a rocky and poor soil where nothing would grow, and wild game was not found.

Alcatraz has a surprisingly variety of flowers growing on the island with volunteers who come to pull weeds and showcase the flowers. Many birds enjoy the island and their protected habitat. There is even a nesting pair of peregrine falcons. Of course, our first stop was to get a National Park Service stamp since Alcatraz is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area created in 1972. When the park was created, Alcatraz was made a part of it. That park designation stopped the demolition of the abandoned buildings on the island. Without that designation, there would be no Alcatraz as a major tourist attraction in San Francisco. We talked with a park ranger in order to get a junior ranger booklet that I collect to bring back to the park ranger who works on junior ranger booklets for the Mississippi National River And Recreation Area. The Ranger here had a boyfriend from Minnesota so we spent some time chatting about Minnesota.

Eventually we work our way to the inside of the prison and take the audio tour. It’s depressing seeing the tiny cells and limited activities for these dangerous inmates. Of course dangerous is relative; during World War II, a number of conscientious objectors were imprisoned here. Hardly the same level of crime as the killers, robbers, and inmates with various mental problems. The tour takes you through the cell areas, library, dining area, recreation area and talked about several of the escape attempts inmates undertook. No one is known to have successfully escaped from Alcatraz. Several inmates left the island but were never found again. It appears certain that the waters of San Francisco Bay were their final resting place.

After Alcatraz, we went to the Exploratorium. This is a science-based collection of exhibits that make obvious playing can also be learning. The various exhibits showcase interesting facts about science and the children present we’re having a great time. We knew this was more oriented towards children but it had such a positive recommendation that we stopped in anyway. We enjoyed in particular the dry ice exhibit demonstrating the activities of comets. The movement of the dry ice in water, the attraction between dry ice particles, and the water vapor given off made for an interesting and educational display. The young men demonstrating magic trips were pleased and gratified decision to see the amazement expressed on Chris’s face as their tricks were successful.

A model geyser at the Exploratorium.

After the Exploratorium, we continued our walk along the Embarcadero to the Ferry building. This had been the major transportation point of the bay area until the Golden Gate and Oakland Bay bridge were built. The Ferry Building fell on hard times but has been revived and rehabilitated. It’s now the front door to several of the ferry cruise lines with numerous food vendors inside. We stopped and had some ice cream to help make the day memorable.

One stall was “Art by Aleisha”, a small area with hand painted maps of towns and campuses. San Fran, the Bay area, Santa Clara, Boston College, Georgetown, etc. But browsing through the stacks I found maps of the University of Minnesota and more amazingly, the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul. Whoa! That seemed unusual for a small stall in San Francisco. Chris went to the web site and it turns out Aleisha is a Minnesota raised, San Francisco based artist who founded her own business. She even painted a mural in Lowertown St. Paul. Interesting coincidence.

We were able to return to the Hilton with just enough time to stop in to the Chinese cultural center which closed at 4 PM. It’s located on the third floor of the Hilton hotel and let’s just say that there was no need for us to rush back to see it.

Dinner was at the Cafe Zoetrope, two blocks from the Hilton. This was the historic Sentinel Building dating from 1907. Its current claim to fame, besides its construction and appearance, is that Francis Ford Coppola located his offices here. Numerous movie scripts were written, edited, or sound mixed in this building. He revived the restaurant and 1999 and many of the recipes are supposedly his creations or adjustments to other recipes. The food was OK. The ambience was nice.

The Sentinel Building, home of Cafe Zoetrope

Ed and Chris, Friday morning, September 17 in San Francisco