Stairway Walks in San Francisco

Acknowledgments

Foreword

Introduction

Before You Begin

The Stairway Walks

1. Yerba Buena Cove, Telegraph Hill & Chinatown - Treasures & Digressions
2. Telegraph Hill & North Beach - Old Neighborhoods
3. Nob Hill - Castles in the Air
4. Russian Hill South - Speaking of Intangibles
5. Russian Hill North - San Francisco Architectural Signatures
6. Fort Mason - North Waterfront: A Segmented Metamorphosis o'er Land & Sea
7. Pacific Heights - Walk Forward, but Always Look Back
8. Presidio Wall & Marina Waterfront - Tripping Lightly
9. Fort Winfield Scott in The Presidio - A Magical Walk
10. Lands End - Sutro's Legacy for All Time
11. Golden Gate Heights - Lead Thread on a Sugar Sack
12. St. Francis Wood - Links & Conundrums
13. Mount Davidson - Now You See It, Now You Don't: Discover the Fog & Light of San Francisco
14. Edgehill - Chert, Hideaway Paths & Open Space
15. Forest Hill - Marienbad in San Francisco
16. Forest Knolls - Grading & Sliding, Fog & Drip
17. Twin Peaks Foothills - Angle vs. Contour
18. Upper Market - Narrow Streets, Privacy & Quiet Among the Planets
19. Corona Heights - Trees, Rocks & Underground Wiring
20. Eureka Valley - Amazing Footpaths
21. Dolores Heights - A Mondrian Walk
22. Potrero Hill - From Shipbuilding Through Dot-Com to Biotech
23. Bernal Heights East - Stairway Trails
24. Bernal Heights West - Circling Two Hills
25. Diamond Heights & Fairmount Heights - Follow the Curve, Follow the View
26. McLaren Park & Excelsior - A Harmonious Walk
27. Four Hills - Views, Views, Views! A Hop from Hill to Hill
28. Sunnyside - Jazz & Beyond
29. The Blue Greenway - Past, Present & Future
30. Upper Haight - The Good View
31. Dogpatch - The Serendipity Slipknot
32. Noe Valley - A Glorious Grade
33. Golden Gate Park - The East Side Route
34. The Presidio & Marshall's Beach - Take the Trail; It's a Stairway
35. Glen Canyon Park - Walking Sticks Welcome

An Informal Bibliography

Appendix: List of Stairways

Index

About the Authors

Mary Burk has been walking the stairways of San Francisco since the 1980s. While researching the city and its seven hills, she discovered Adah Bakalinsky's book and quickly fell in love with her unique way of bringing the city to life. Mary and Adah first met at a book event for the fourth edition at the San Francisco Main Public Library. The two became fast friends, bonding through their deep interest in exploring the city on foot. Adah shared with Mary how every walk has its own rhythm, and so the two of them began improvising new walks together. Three editions later, Adah passed the torch to Mary. But Mary and Adah still walk together and scout out new stairways and interesting routes for upcoming editions. When not out walking, Mary works as a software systems consultant and enjoys swimming and cooking. She shares a home with her husband, their two cats, and their 19-year-old catfish.

Adah Bakalinsky grew up in Saint Paul, Minnesota, surrounded by flat land. She remembers trying as a child to walk up icy Ramsey Hill (near Pleasant Avenue) in winter, slithering down, trying again, and finally reaching the top. Fifty years later, while walking the old neighborhood on a visit, she discovered that a stairway had been built to ascend the hill! Looking for a synthesis for her backgrounds in social work, music, and film, she discovered, surprisingly, that it was walking. She walks, and as she walks, she talks to whomever will talk with her. She carries a tape recorder to capture stories; she finds that walks shape themselves into a variety of musical forms and dances, and she redesigns a walk until it has just the rhythm it must have. She walks to see and returns to photograph the objects that give flavor to the walk. She feels lucky to live in San Francisco, where walking seems the most natural way to traverse the city. Happy heeling, frisky footing, and merry walking!