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By
George Medovoy, Editor (The tour group, with guide Deborah Ogden in forefront, left, holding a booklet, poses for a photo on one of San Francisco's rooftop gardens. All photos by George Medovoy). I always thought that I knew this glorious city by the bay. But a City Guides walking tour, sponsored by the San Francisco Public Library, awakened me to the fact that so many of San Francisco's fascinating gems lie hidden away…even to the experienced visitor. Thanks to Deborah Ogden, our spry retiree-turned-expert-guide, all of this changed when I joined 10 other people - locals as well as visitors from Australia and Holland -- in front of the Native Sons of the Golden West monument at the corner of Market and Montgomery Streets for a walking tour of the Financial District's hidden delights. I've never really spent much time down here amid San Francisco's towering symbols of wealth, where the original shoreline existed before landfill extended the city, once known as Yerba Buena, beyond its original limits…allowing massive glass and steel to eventually take hold. Finding Out about Our Guide As we headed across the street to the Wells Fargo Bank rotunda and our first hidden garden atop the bank at 50 Post Street, I wanted to know something about Ogden herself.
(Guide Ogden points out an antiquated ink well, still part of a bank desk, but now out of use). Was she from San Francisco? I asked. "No," the retired travel writer began to joke. "I've only lived here 54 years. After 46 years, I thought I knew my city. Then I took the City Guides course, and (I found that) there's so much more." The Romanesque hidden garden, on the third floor of the bank, showed off creeping ivy, hedges, and even a small running track around the edge. It was so distant from the crowds on the street -- a perfect place to bring a sandwich for lunch. My only disappointment, repeated at other banks, was that Wells Fargo does not allow photos, most likely due to security concerns after 9/11, Ogden told us. Developers and Preservationists Compromise From up here, she said, we could begin to understand the compromise that was made between developers and preservationists.
(Guide Ogden describes the vegetation on one of the rooftop gardens) "The planning commission said that by law you have to have some open space and…a public thoroughfare," she said, "so the architects tore off the top eight stories of the (former) Crocker Bank and built the galleria and roof gardens." From our lookout above Market Street, we spotted another example of compromise across the street, where the little Boudin bakery, originally a hofbrau, remains by agreement a free-standing, one-story eatery sandwiched between two newer Market Street architectural giants. A Must-See Art Deco Building From the standpoint of art deco design, a must-see is the office building at 111 Sutter Street, the former home of NBC Radio, where the "Maltese Falcon" was filmed in 1941 and "The Game" (with Seam Penn and Mike Douglas) in 1989.
(This art deco ceiling remained hidden beneath years of cigarette smoke until it was uncovered during cleaning work) You can still ride the original Otis elevators here behind classic gold doors and admire the magnificent art deco ceiling, uncovered by cleaners after years of cigarette smoke kept it hidden away. This is also the spot where James Lick built his own high-rise -- a three-story hotel -- which was destroyed by the 1906 fire. Known as San Francisco's greatest miser, Lick really turned out to be one of its greatest public benefactors, funding the Mechanics Library, among many others. Lick spent 10 years earning a small fortune in Lima, Peru, returning to San Francisco in 1848 with $30,000 in Peruvian gold and 600 pounds of chocolate made by his Lima neighbor, one Domingo Ghiradelli, who followed him to San Francisco and brought the city, excuse the pun, "sweet fame." As our group walked down Sutter, the warm sunlight, filtering through the tall buildings, felt good. At Sutter and Sansome, CityBank offered a voluminous marble space illuminated by a giant atrium. I'm sure I have passed this space many times, but I guess I never really noticed it. At one end of the space is Alexander Calder's "Star Girl," his theme piece for the Panama Pacific International Exhibition. But my biggest surprise occurred at Bush and Sansome Streets, where Ogden pointed to something she called the "suspender building."
(The skinny, gold-crowned protrusion is what guide Sarah Ogden lovingly referred to as the "suspender building," sandwiched between two skyscrapers). I thought she was kidding, but she was very serious. There, before my eyes, was a skinny protrusion crowned in gold, measuring 10 stories high, 80 feet deep and 20 feet wide - which, indeed, was once a suspender factory! Unless you know it's there, it's hard to spot it because it's sandwiched between the former Never Rip Overall Company and the imposing Shell Oil Building, circa 1929. Many More Gems to See on the Tour Among other delightful gems on our tour: The City Club, 155 Sansome Street, original site of the Pacific Coast Stock Exchange, which commissioned Diego Rivera to do a mural, which is open to the public on the first Wednesday of the month.
(A heroic, 1930's-era statue stands in front of The City Club, original site of the Pacific Coast Stock Exchange) The former Mercantile Building, 300 Montgomery Street, now California Bank and Trust, featuring an intricate ceiling design by artist Julia Morgan, who also designed Hearst Castle. Union Bank of California, 400 California Street, with a small basement museum of 19th-century Californiana, including territorial coins. An apothecary museum in an office building at 343 Sansome, with colorful bottles and other 19th-century apothecary relics uncovered during a routine excavation. Tiny Empire Park on Commercial Street, with a painted white arbor, lacquered benches, and tables. The rooftop garden on the 15th floor of the Bank of San Francisco, at 552 Montgomery Street, whose olive trees, flowers, and garden tables and chairs around the perimeter make it ideal for a lunchtime getaway. Tour Ends at Redwood Park Our
tour ended at Redwood Park, a little slice of the California redwoods in the shadow
of the majestic Transamerica Pyramid.
(Redwood Park stands adjacent to the giant Transamerica Pyramid) The sounds of the city disappear as you enter an enclosure of redwood trees, spreading moss, and a pond filled with water jets shooting into the air above bronze jumping frogs. "Puddle Jumpers," Glenna Goodacre's bronze statue of six happy children, decorates one end of the park.
(Glenna Goodacre's "Puddle Jumpers" reflects the careless abandon of childhood in a corner of Redwood Park, a quiet respite in the middle of the city) It is all yet another hidden gem…waiting to be discovered. IF YOU GO… San
Francisco City Guides is a non-profit program of the San Francisco Public Library
and a project of the Tides Center. More than 200 trained city guides conduct 30
different tours year round. Reservations
are not required, except for groups of eight or more. For more information, call City Guides at (415) 557-4266 or visit www.sfcityguides.org.
(Click
below for more travel).
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