Cable Car Museum

The Cable Car Museum is one of my favorite museums in San Francisco. Located in the powerhouse where the motors turn the four cables that run under the streets, this free museum has much to see. Not only can you see the mechanics of the system, but also historic exhibits.

The cable car traces its heritage back to 1869 when Andre Hallidie witnessed a horse struggling to pull a cart up Nob Hill. According to local legend, the horse collapsed and the cart dragged the horse back down the hill. Four years later, on August 2, 1873, Hallidie demonstrated his new-fangled contraption -- the cable car. They have been going up and down San Francisco's hills ever since, except from 1982-1984 when the system was closed for renovation.

In the 1890s, there were eight cable car lines in the City. Today there are three: Powell-Hyde, Powell-Mason, and California Street.

The Cable Car Museum is a must stop if you have children between the ages of 7 and 13. It is open daily from 10:00 - 6:00, except from October 1 - March 31 when the museum closes at 5:00 p.m. The museum has a gift shop with interesting books and souvenirs.

If you would like to take a San Francisco tour that includes a stop at the Cable Car Museum, please call me at (866) 326-4237 (toll free) or e-mail me by clicking here.

Wells Fargo History Museums

If you are a history buff like me, you enjoy visiting history museums. Even the smallest of towns often has a local history museum. San Francisco, being a city of 750,000, has a few museums that feature our unique history. One of my favorites is the Wells Fargo History Museum.

This little museum is open Monday - Friday from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. Inside you will see a Concord Coach that was actually used by Wells Fargo. When you see stagecoaches today, it's hard to imagine that they seated up to 20 persons: 9 inside, 9 on top, driver, and shotgun. Imagine bouncing across the West in these vehicles; stopping only to change horses. While the Wells Fargo staff unhitched and hitched the horses, passengers usually dashed into a so-called restaurant to down awful to mediocre food. Mark Twain provides an excellent description of Western travel on a stagecoach in his book "Roughing It."

The museum also features exhibits on Wells Fargo's role in San Francisco's history from the Gold Rush of 1849 through the Earthquake of 1906. The museum is located at 420 Montgomery Street (near California Street). Admission is free.

There are also two Wells Fargo Museums in Sacramento. The larger of the two museums is at 400 Capitol Mall and also houses a Concord Coach. The museum is open from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. on weekdays. A small storefront museum is at 1000 2nd Street in Old Sacramento, which is open every day form 10:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. Admission to both museums is free.

If you would like to take a private tour of San Francisco that focuses on the city's rich history, please call me at (866) 326-4237 (toll free) or e-mail me by clicking here.

Visit the Newly Restored Grounds Surrounding the Palace of Fine Arts

The Palace of Fine Arts was the art museum in the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition. This world's fair commemorated the opening of the Panama Canal, but also showed the world that San Francisco had recovered from the 1906 Earthquake and Fire.

The Palace was the only building from the Fair that was allowed to stay in its original location after the fair closed. However, like all the buildings, the Palace was built with little more than chicken wire and plaster. So by the 1950s the Palace was in need of a major restoration. To save the Palace, the original was torn down and a replica was built of concrete. The replica opened in 1967.

Now the replica is in need of restoration. Recently the exterior of the dome was fixed. For the past year, extensive renovation of the lagoon and surrounding grounds was undertaken.

A few days ago, the chain link fence around the grounds came down. The end result is beautiful. No longer do you risk having the walkway crumble beneath your feet as you stroll around the lagoon, which looks great. Instead of green scum on the surface, their are birds swimming in clear water. Recently I saw migrating ducks taking a break in the lagoon.

Now is the perfect time to visit the Palace. Take a relaxing stroll around the colonnade and lagoon. Enjoy a picnic lunch on the lawn. The Palace sits along Lyon Street between Francisco Street and Marina Boulevard in the Marina District.

If you want to include a visit to the Palace of Fine Arts in a San Francisco private tour, please call me at (866) 326-4237 (toll free) or e-mail me by clicking here.

Beat Museum in San Francisco

Most folks seem to know about the 1967 Summer of Love and the hippies in San Francisco. But few remember their 1950s predecessors: the Beats or Beatniks. The latter term was coined by local journalist Herb Caen who said shortly after the Russians launched the first spacecraft, Sputnik, that they may have a Sputnik but we have Beatniks. Or something to that effect.

To inform the public about Jack Kerouac, Alan Ginsberg, and other Beat writers is the mission of The Beat Museum. Located in North Beach, this new museum contains a nice collection of books and poems written by Beats and other Beat-related items that may be purchased. There is also a small exhibit of historical photographs and documents that trace the history of the beats in San Francisco.

The Beat Museum is located at 540 Broadway (near Columbus). It is open from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. from Tuesday through Sunday. Admission to the exhibit is $5.00. There is no charge to browse through the items for sale.

If you would like to take a private tour of San Francisco that includes a visit to North Beach, please call me at (866) 326-4237 (toll free) or e-mail me by clicking here.

Streetcars in San Francisco

While San Francisco is most famous for the cable cars that go up and down Nob Hill, we are becoming equally well known for our fleet of historic streetcars. Known as the F Line, these cars from around the country and the globe run from the Castro District (Castro and Market Streets) to Fisherman's Wharf (Taylor and Jefferson Streets) via Market Street and the Embarcadero.

Now you can learn about the history of streetcars in San Francisco and our historic fleet by visiting the new San Francisco Railway Museum at the Steuart Street streetcar stop (77 Steuart Street, between Market and Mission Streets). Operated by the non-profit Market Street Railway, the inaugural exhibit is "Vehicles of Recovery: How San Francisco’s Street Railways Led the City’s Response to the 1906 Earthquake and Fire." The museum also contains streetcar artifacts, videos on San Francisco's street railway systems, and a gift shop. The museum is open Wednesday through Sunday from 10:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. Admission is free; although, donations are appreciated.

The Market Street Railway is the City's nonprofit partner that does much of the restoration work on the historic streetcars. In addition, the group advocates for the expansion of the streetcar system. In the near future, streetcars may run directly from the CalTrain Terminal and AT&T Park to Fisherman's Wharf. Longer term plans call for expanding the streetcar line from Fisherman's Wharf through the Fort Mason tunnel to lower Fort Mason. You can learn more about this wonderful organization by visiting their website at www.streetcar.org.

If you would like to take a private San Francisco tour that includes a stop at the San Francisco Railway Museum, call me at (866) 326-4237 (toll free) or e-mail me by clicking here.

Friday Night at the De Young

Looking for something to do on a Friday night? Visit the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park. One of the two Fine Arts Museums, the de Young houses art from the United States, the Americas, Africa, and Oceania. (The other Fine Arts Museum, the Legion of Honor, is located in Lincoln Park and is home to collections of European Art.)

On Friday nights, the de Young stays open until 8:45 p.m. After 5:00 p.m., tickets cost just $5/person. While not all galleries are open, there are special music performances and docent-led talks. In addition, the cafe serves dinner until 8:00 p.m. and cocktails are served at a cash bar in the entry court. I was particularly impressed to see that supervised tables were available for young children to draw while their parents visited the museum.

This past Friday, the special exhibitions, "The Quilts of Gee's Bend" and "Chicano" were open. The latter consists of three related exhibitions: "Chicano Visions: American Painters on the Verge," "Chicano Now: American Expressions," and Chicano Now: Local Places and Global Encounters."

The de Young should be applauded for extending its hours so more visitors can enjoy some of the museum's works. The de Young is also open from Tuesday through Sunday from 9:30 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. Regular tickets cost $10, $7 for seniors, and $6 for youth (13-17) and college students with identification.

Gold Rush Tour of San Francisco

Last week I received an unusual request for a tour. I was asked if I could provide a "Gold Rush Tour" to two visitors. My quick response was, "Sure." This was a chance to show off some sights that are not on my usual San Francisco Tour.

While gold was discovered by James Marshall on January 24, 1848 in Coloma, about 150 miles east of San Francisco, and the mining for gold took place in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, San Francisco was the port of entry for nearly all who came seeking their fortune.

A tour of San Francisco circa 1849 must start in today's Portsmouth Square in Chinatown. Portsmouth Square is the site of the plaza in the Mexican Village of Yuerba Buena. Captain John Montgomery captured the village of 300 people in 1846 for the United States and the following year the village changed its name to San Francisco. The square features a monument to the Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson who came to northern California to ask the woman he loved to leave her abusive first husband and marry him.

Nearby is the Jackson Square antique district, home to the oldest surviving buildings in downtown San Francisco. Many of the buildings on Jackson and Pacific Streets between Montgomery and Sansome Streets were built in the 1850s and 1860s and survived destruction in the 1906 Earthquake and Fire three times. Here you can see the buildings where the Ghirardelli chocolate empire began and where William Tecumsah Sherman worked as a banker before rejoining the army and burning Atlanta during the Civil War.

Two nearby museums contain artifacts from the Gold Rush era. The Pacific Heritage Museum houses Asian art, but is on the site of San Francisco's first mint and subtreasury. The art is upstairs and the late 19th century artifacts are in the basement. The Wells Fargo Museum is on the site where the company was founded in 1852. Many Gold Rush era items, including a stage coach, are on display.

There are other Gold Rush era sights in San Francisco, including the Presidio and Mission Dolores. If you want to learn more about the Gold Rush in San Francisco, I would be pleased to customize a San Francisco Tour for you. To book a tour, please call me at (866) 326-4237 (toll free) or e-mail me by clicking here.

The Rains

As you have undoubtedly read, or experienced if you live in the Bay Area, we've been getting buckets of rain. While there was significant damage in the city of Napa and in San Anselmo in Marin County, San Francisco was pretty much unscathed. Heavy rain is normal for this time of year, but there are also many warm sunny days between the storms, such as yesterday. The clearest days of the year are often during the winter. Often you can see the Farallon Islands, which lie 30 miles off the cost, on a clear, winter day.

I did a few tours during the rains and my guests were able to enjoy many of San Francisco's wonderful sights in the dry comfort of Blue Heron's van. Coit Tower still provided one of the great views of San Francisco Bay. Old Fort Point, below the Golden Gate Bridge, is always a great vista point; however, on foggy or cloudy days it frequently provides the best view of the Golden Gate and the Bridge. I took one couple to see the beautiful murals on Balmy Alley in the Mission District. Rather than walking the block, we stayed dry and slowly drove this block-long treasure. Don't let the rains stop you, with Blue Heron you can stay dry and see the sights.

If you are traveling on your own, San Francisco's many museums are great activities on rainy days. In addition to the major museums -- San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, De Young museum, Legion of Honor, and Asian Art museum, there are great small museums. I highlighted some of these small museums, along with other rainy day activities, in the December 2003 "Rick's Tips." The Museums of African Diaspora and Craft and Folk Art, which I discussed in my last post, are also good places to visit on rainy, and sunny, days.

If you would like to take a private San Francisco tour, please call me at (866) 326-4237 or e-mail me by clicking here.

New Museums Near Yerba Buena Gardens

Two museums have recently joined the Yerba Buena Gardens neighborhood. The Museum of Craft and Folk Art moved from its long-time space at Fort Mason to 51 Yerba Buena Lane, a walkway that runs from Market to Mission Streets behind the San Francisco Marriott. "Folk Art for the Soul," the opening exhibit at this new locale, features a fine array of items from private collections in the Bay Area. The museum store has been revamped to feature jewelry and other crafts from local artists. The Museum is open Tuesday - Friday from 11 am to 7 pm and Saturday and Sunday from 11 am to 5 pm. The Museum is closed on Mondays and major holidays.

The other newcomer to this district is the Museum of the African Diaspora. This new museum showcases art from throughout the African Diaspora. The inaugural exhibits include "Linkages and Themes from the African Diaspora," "Dispersed: African Legacy/New World Reality," and "Made in Africa." This Museum is a part of the new St. Regis Hotel building at 685 Market Street (at Third Street). Hours are Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday from 10 am to 6 pm; Thursday from 10 am to 9 pm, and Sunday from noon to 5 pm. The Museum is closed on Tuesdays and major holidays.

These two museums join the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Cartoon Art Museum, and California Historical Society in this great arts community. The Mexican museum and Contemporary Jewish Museum are scheduled to move nearby within a few years to create an even more vibrant neighborhood.

Interested in taking a tour of public works of art in San Francisco? Blue Heron can take you on a private, custom tour to see San Francisco's contemporary murals in the Mission District, works by the famed Mexican muralist Diego Rivera, public buildings with Depression era murals, and sculpture by an array of artists. To arrange your custom public art tour, call me at (866) 326-4237 (toll free) or e-mail me by clicking here.