San Francisco Sightseeing Articles

As fires raged downtown after the 1906 earthquake, residents of this city fled to two nearby districts to the south, Bernal Heights and Glen Park. Though part of San Francisco place, both areas looked more like scenery then, with open ranchland, vineyards and orchards, dirt roads and wetlands, and a few houses. The desolate peaks above Glen Park were called Little Switzerland.

Many of the earthquake refugees wound up settling there, and both neighborhoods also attracted waves of new immigrants. Today, Glen Park and Bernal Heights, two characteristic communities little more than a mile apart and accessible on foot from the Glen Park BART train station, retain a self-contained village atmosphere as well as some of their wild, open vistas.

Visitors to San Francisco can linger two or three days off the tourist track in this hilly and little-known tangle of streets, hiking, picnicking on fresh California fare and working up an appetite for the dozens of international restaurants and cafes they'll find.

With a jog to trendy Noe Valley to the north and a side trip to the nearby Mission Dolores, the itinerary includes both the hip and the historical. It's a San Francisco even some natives don't know. Hotels are scarce, but house and apartment rentals are even better, since they make it possible to shop at local specialty food shops and cook at home.

Bernal Heights Natural Area, a 24-acre knob of red Franciscan chart that rises from a sea of colorful row houses like the prow of a ship, has a 360-degree view of San Francisco in its pastel glory. The city ripples into the distance in all directions: from the downtown skyscrapers and Golden Gate mist to Candlestick Park and the industrial East Bay and to San Bruno Mountain to the south.