Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!

I finally got a chance to check out one of the best new programs San Francisco has going: Sunday Streets. It's the program that Mayor Gavin Newsom started last year to encourage people to get out and exercise -- walk, bicycle, skateboard, roller blade, you name it -- on selected city streets that are closed to traffic on the first Sunday of the month. It's already been done along the Embarcadero and in the Mission. Today, Sunday Streets took place out in the western part of San Francisco -- on the Great Highway along the Pacific Ocean. All four lanes were closed from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. from Golden Gate Park all the way to the San Francisco Zoo (where a furry penguin met us, see photo right).
We couldn't have asked for better weather. The day started out with a bit of fog that clung just along the beach, but it burned off by about noon. The temperature was in the mid 70s.
Now, there's nothing new about biking and walking along the Great Highway. There's a lovely path along the eastern side of it that's always very popular. But it was something else to actually bike down the middle of the road, the sand dunes and ocean to the west, the stretches of Sunset District houses to the east, along with thousands of other people. Musicians performed along the way and there were stands set up offering drinks, a bite to eat or a chance to chat with representatives from local nonprofits, such as the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, that encourages people to drive less and bike more.
With such gorgeous weather, most people hung out at the beach long after the highway reopened at 2 p.m. "Next time, let's keep Sunday Streets going until sunset," someone said. Yes. We've got the chance soon: the next Sunday Streets is scheduled for Sept. 6 and it's going to take place again along the same stretch of the Great Highway. Mark your calendars.

Grand Dame of Union Square Shines

The Westin St. Francis, which has towered over San Francisco's Union Square since 1904, has undergone a $40 million renovation. I toured the hotel with General Manager Jon Kimball recently to see the redesign of the main lobby and the rooms in the historic building overlooking the square.
The new decor is both classic and contemporary, which was the concept behind the project -- to refresh the St. Francis, which is known for its elegance, sophistication and the integral role it plays in the city and its history, he said.
One of the first new features of the renovation was the Clock Bar (right) which opened just off the lobby in July last year. It's been a popular spot since then, making a name for itself for its unique cocktails.
The is a terrific place to start -- or end -- a night on the town. Two columns lined in lovely colored glass hold clocks showing the time in cities around the world. The theme springs from the St. Francis' famous Great Magneta Grandfather Clock, built in 1856 in Europe (it was shipped by steamer around Cape Horn), which has stood near the hotel entrance off and on since 1907. The clock has been a traditional meeting spot for San Franciscans.
On the other side of the lobby from the Clock Bar is one of San Francisco's most highly rated restaurants, Michael Mina, by the award-winning chef. If you love lobster and haven't yet tried Mina's Maine Lobster Potpie, make plans now.
Much more casual, in the adjacent Tower Lobby, is Caruso's, a cafe and wine bar that's open all day and evening. Tuesdays through Saturdays from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Caruso's features what's being called the Unwind Hour, with a flight of three two-ounce pours of wines paired with gourmet hors d'oeuvres. The price is $15.
The renovated guest rooms were redone in restful neutral colors, with dark wood furniture accented by light-colored walls, upholstered furniture, crystal chandeliers and the plush Westin Heavenly Beds in their snowy white linens. The beautiful old architecture really shines: the decor highlights the handsome curved high ceilings and ornate moldings.
History buffs will enjoy six new displays in the Tower Lobby. The cases, designed by Bill White, curator at San Francisco's deYoung Museum, show visitors the role the grand hotel played in the rich history of San Francisco. The cases are filled with photos, menus, china, old guest ledgers, among other interesting old pieces.
The downturn in the hotel business has brought good deals at properties all over San Francisco, including the St. Francis. An example are five packages offered in conjunction with the blockbuster King Tut exhibit at the de Young Museum, which will run through March 28, 2010. Among the hotel's plans is a one-night stay, breakfast for two in the Oak Room and two tickets to the exhibit. Rates for that option start at $205 per night.

The Ferry Building, Upstairs

I've been spending a lot of time at the Ferry Building (more on that in a couple of weeks) and, to get to know it better, I took one of City Guides' regularly-scheduled free walking tours. In 45 minutes, you get a good idea of the role this landmark played in the history of San Francisco from the day it opened in 1898 to today.
For one, the building and its 245-foot clock tower are two extremely resilient structures, especially when you consider that they rest on the same 5,000 pilings of Oregon pine trees that were placed into the ground as support in 1898. The building has survived two major earthquakes, years as one of the world's busiest transportation hubs and, after years of decline, it emerged from a massive renovation, revived as a major foodie mecca.
For the first time, I went upstairs to the Grand Nave, which is stunning. This 600-foot long hall is topped by a long continuous skylight that illuminates the marketplace below. At the height of ferryboat travel -- before the bridges went up -- thousands of passengers every day boarded and disembarked here from upper decks of boats, which docked right up against the Ferry Building. The first floor, where the marketplace stands today, was used to load and unload cargo.
During the 1990s renovation, the stone arches and beautiful mosaic floor (upper right photo) from 1898 were brought back to life. You can't miss the seal of California, with the state's black bear, the goddess Minerva and the depiction of the California coastline when the Spanish explorers arrived.

It's quiet up here and hard to imagine the hustle and bustle of this area when an estimated 50 million people a year crossed this floor. But if you stand at the railings and look at the often-packed marketplace below, you get a sense of it -- and a feeling that the Ferry Building has come full circle as one of the most vibrant places in San Francisco. The City Guides tour starts at the front of the building every Tuesday and Saturday at noon.

The Old and New South Beach

In the 1850s, San Francisco was a wild town where lots of young men were making lots of money very quickly. We can only imagine. There aren't many places left where you wander among buildings of that time but one is South Beach, where some of the city's oldest structures lie alongside some of the newest. On a recent City Guides tour of the area guide Ward Miller took a group of us from the corner of Mission and Spear to a few blocks south of the Bay Bridge anchor. First off was the still-handsome Audiffred Building from 1880, built by a French businessman who struck it rich in San Francisco. Today, it's still elegant, the home of the restaurant Boulevard.
But this area has seen its ups and downs. It was originally not land at all, but part of San Francisco bay. Early San Franciscans bought "water lots" with the prospect that the "lots," where ships from all the world docked, would be filled in -- and they were, making some of the investors very wealthy as the area turnerd into prime port property (their mansions nearby on Rincon Hill were testaments to that; however none remain). The 1906 earthquake and fire changed everything. Rincon Hill was heavily damaged and the area was not rebuilt. For years the streets were lined with flophouses, bars and warehouses. The Port of San Francisco got another hit in the 1960s with the advent of container shipping, which went to the better-equipped Port of Oakland, leaving South Beach/Rincon Hill further in the dumps. All that has changed in the last few years, of course. The tear-down of the Embarcadero Freeway, the building of the Giants ballpark and the construction of thousands of new apartments and condominiums have turned it into a new neighborhood. There still are remnants of its working class past. Red's Java House (above right), a funky and fun old diner perched on a pier, still dishes out chili and hot dogs.
Hills Brothers Coffee, which for decades roasted beans along the waterfront here, is today an office complex but you can walk inside, under the old silo where the beans were stored and see the statue of the company's trademark Arabian mascot (left). As the security guard at the desk and he'll let you see the small display of historic photos inside. Make sure to stop in the Art Deco-style Rincon Hill Post Office to see the murals from the 1930s. Pick up a brochure describing their history at the information desk. A block south, at the corner of Harrison and Spear, is one of the oldest buildings in the city, a warehouse from 1856 now turned into live-work lofts. Heading south under the Bay Bridge, stroll Delancey Street and, near Federal Alley, note the plaque in the pavement marking the shoreline from 1857. At Delancy and Vernon Alley look up at the Oriental Warehouse Company building, one of the original warehouses from 1870, now renovated. From there we were on our own to stroll back along the Embarcadero, which has become one of the city's most delightful walking areas, with the grassy area around Cupid's Arrow sculpture (top left) by Claude Oldenberg and Pier 41, both terrific places to take a rest and watch tugboats, ferries, sailboats and kayakers glide by.