SAN FRANCISCO PHOTOGRAPHY WALKING TOUR ITINERARIES

Union Square, Chinatown & North Beach

Union Square is the ‘tourist hub’ of the city. In addition to popular shopping and pick up/drop off points for the city’s vintage cable cars, street performers and vendors offer opportunities for interesting people photography.

San Francisco’s Chinatown is the largest in the world outside of China. It offers the hustle and bustle of city life, with crowded sidewalks, shops on Grant Street offering traditional wares, tea shops, Chinese herbal shops, bakeries, butchers (Stockton Street) and more. It’s common to see colorful and ornate balconies and windowsills draped with laundry. Architectural spots to note are St. Mary’s Cathedral (where you can often find older Chinese men playing cards and checkers), and the Dragon Gate at the entrance to the neighborhood on the intersection of Grant and Bush Street. The Republic of China gifted the gate to the city of San Francisco in 1969. Chinese villages often feature similar ceremonial gates, and the ornate dragons and concrete guard dogs are said to keep evil spirits away. Chinatown is also known for people doing tai chi in the mornings in the park, as well as several small and narrow alleyways (Waverly, Spafford, Ross) where you can sometimes find musicians playing traditional instruments. Fun stop offs in this neighborhood include taking in a tea demonstration at Red Blossom, ordering an egg tart at the Golden Gate Bakery, or watching how fortune cookies are made at the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Company. Chinatown is very colorful and offers good opportunities for photos of people and architecture.

North Beach is also known as Little Italy and is one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city. It’s often known because of the Beat Generation and historical figures like Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg who used to hang out here. North Beach offers a different visual experience with its well known landmarks such as the TransAmerica Building, City Lights Bookstore, the Jazz mural, Jack Kerouac Alley, Washington Square Park, Francis Ford Coppola’s Sentinel Building, and St. Paul’s Church. Fun stop offs in this area include Vesuvio Cafe or Cafe Trieste (which offers Saturday afternoon opera), or hiking the Filbert Steps to Coit Tower, which gives you a great view of the Golden Gate Bridge, Lombard Street, Alcatraz and the Bay Bridge (as long as the fog cooperates. Note, these steps are a work out!).

Photo opportunities: people/street photography, architecture, food, city views (optional, from Coit Tower).

Distance Covered: 1.5 miles

Terrain: Paved sidewalks. Some narrow walkways, moderately steep hills, optional (strenuous) stairs to Coit Tower.

Pier 39, Fisherman’s Wharf, Palace of Fine Arts, Golden Gate Bridge

Fisherman’s Wharf, often known for its many stalls offering touristy t-shirts, also offers open air fish stands selling fresh crab and lobster, whaling ships tied up at dock, Ghirardelli Square (free chocolate samples!) and the famous “Bushman” who likes to jump out at people and surprise them as they walk along the sidewalk. If you’re lucky and the weather is nice, you may also see the “Tin Man” who covers himself from head to toe in silver and stands still until you tip him.

Pier 39 is located within Fisherman’s Wharf and is best known for its aquarium, pinball/vintage game museum, lounging sea lions and view of Alcatraz. This area can often be very windy and cold, so be sure to bring your jacket!

The Palace of Fine Arts is a gorgeous building originally created for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition. The building offers soaring Roman and Greek-inspired architecture surrounded by a pond with resident swans.

The end of the tour brings us through the Marina, generally regarded as one of the most affluent areas of San Francisco. As you stroll by multi-million dollar homes, we get great views of Golden Gate Bridge, Crissy Field and Fort Point. (For those who want to extend their tour, we will make our way down Marina Blvd to the foot of the Golden Gate and Fort Point).

Photo opportunities: people/street photography, architecture, and landscapes.

Distance Covered: 2.7 miles (5.5 miles if include Crissy Field, Fort Point, and Golden Gate Bridge)

Terrain: Flat, paved sidewalks.

Haight Ashbury & the Painted Lady houses of Alamo Square

Haight Ashbury is best known for the hippie generation of the 1960’s. On our walk we stroll past the former homes of musicians like Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead and Graham Nash. Today, this neighborhood offers a mix of young and old, from punk rockers and hippies to artists and young families. Haight Street offers an eclectic mix of bars, ethnic restaurants, vintage clothing stores and head shops, which usually brings an interesting mix of people to photograph along the way.

After leaving Haight Ashbury, we can choose between hiking up to Buena Vista Park, which offers a windy, yet great view of the city, or walking along the very flat Panhandle (a narrow extension of Golden Gate Park). At the end of either route, we find ourselves at Alamo Square, home to the famous Painted Lady Victorian houses. The park gives a nice view of the homes and of downtown San Francisco.

Photo opportunities: people/street photography, architectural photography of Victorian homes.

Distance Covered: 1.5 miles

Terrain: Majority flat, paved sidewalks. Moderate incline leading up to Alamo Square.