City of Neighborhoods

Monday morning - early start to the Civic Center area and the Tenderloin. At our last visit,  there was still a tent village for the homeless people, now it's cleaned up, with chess tables, playgrounds, table tennis, etc. Don't ask me where all the homeless and druggies were sent to,,,

The Asian Art Museum (below), the Main Public Library, the Davies Symphony Hall  (further below) and other concert venues as well as administrative buildings are rowing up in the Civic Center area with the City Hall in its center (above, left)

Tenderloin - all tidied up:

Davies Symphony Hall:

Closeby: Hayes Valles, ideal for a stroll with lots of shops, restaurants and bars (though,,, not so much on a Monday morning!

We continued on by streetcar to Castro, one of the first gay neighborhoods in the U.S. and still a center of the LGBTQ+ scene, activities and events.

 

A bus brought us then to the vivid, chaotic Mission District, famous for its superb and many murals and it's Latino population and infrastructure. The name is derived from the Mission San Francisco de Asís, built in 1776 by the Spanish (see photo further below).

 

There are murals everywhere, not just in the famous Balmy Alley (left, above),,,

Mission Street on the left, mission church below. 

Contrast: the probably best architecture in town - and the highest skyscraper, Salesforce Tower - to be found in SoMa, closeby the Transbay Terminal/Salesforce Transit Center. This public transportation hub got a gorgeous rooftop park, "Salesforce Park" a couple of years ago. Such a green oasis!

A 5.4 acre public park, with a walking trail lined with benches, lawns, a children’s play area, and an amphitheater. It is planted with 600 trees and 16,000 plants arranged in 13 different botanical areas.

Salesforce Tower - 360 m/1070 ft. high (the currently highest building in SF), built be César Pelli - below, left. On the right photo another modern highrise, 181 Fremont (245 m), is to be seen in the background:

At Fort Point Brewery at Valencia Street (Mission area) we grabbed a bite to eat at Happy Hour  before we continued home. Another long, interesting day, 15 km easily walked and many more miles on public transport.