Andrew Nash
Vienna Transport Strategies

Mission - Haight - Golden Gate Park

Start this tour by taking BART to the 16th and Mission Streets Station or riding any of the many Muni routes that pass through this busy area.

The Mission Neighborhood - The Mission District neighborhood formed around San Francisco's original mission church. The historic building is located at 16th Street and Dolores.

The Mission neighborhood is centered on Mission Street, which is jammed with restaurants, food stores, and variety stores catering to all ethnic groups, particularly Spanish-speaking. This is the street for exploring food and drink from almost every South American city, with restaurants often featuring live music.

Parallel to Mission Street on the west is perhaps San Francisco's hippest street: Valencia. Valencia Street is home to some of San Francisco's most innovative restaurants and cool bars (there are also many on Mission and Guerrero Streets as well as the connecting streets between 16th Street and 24th Street. Check out the furniture and junk stores too - they'll have things you never knew you needed.

From the planning perspective, the recent transformation of the Mission neighborhood has been a mixed blessing. Gentrification has pushed many of the neighborhood's original residents out. The pace of gentrification has slowed from the dot-com boom in the late 1990's, but affordable housing remains one of San Francisco's most pressing problems.

Haight-Ashbury Neighborhood - The Muni's #33 Stanyan bus travels up 17th Street from the Mission, up along the edge of Twin Peaks (be sure to look back out the windows for an unforgettable view), and down Clayton to Haight Street. Get off and walk west along Haight, you will pass through the intersection of Haight and Ashbury streets, famous from the Summer of Love. The neighborhood still has a counter-cultural flair although it has a smattering of chain stores. You can walk along Haight Street to the gates of Golden Gate Park.

Golden Gate Park - Golden Gate Park is the crown jewel of San Francisco's park system stretching from Haight-Ashbury to Ocean Beach over three miles away. Visit on a weekend and the park will be filled with people playing, picnicking, and visiting the cultural facilities. Most of Golden Gate Park's activities are focused on the east end, as you head west you find fewer and fewer people and more nature. The San Francisco Parks Trust offers a series of different walking tours of Golden Gate Park. The San Francisco Chronicle's tourist website describes Golden Gate Park and its attractions as well as providing practical advice.

Golden Gate Park also includes many cultural institutions. The Conservatory of Flowers is over 125 years old (it was renovated following a windstorm in 2000).

The M.H. deYoung Art Museum was re-opened in 2005. The new building was designed by the Swiss architectural firm Herzog and de Meuron. The photo on the right is from the museum's observation tower - great views! If you take Muni to the Park, keep your Transfer for $2 off the admission price (Muni passes are also accepted for $2 off).

The Golden Gate Park Concourse is the site of summertime concerts. The concourse was recently remodeled as part of a controversial project to build an underground parking garage. The garage was opened in 2005, read about the controversy in this SF Chronicle article. Controversy continues today over whether Golden Gate Park's roadways in the East part of the park should be closed to motorized traffic on Saturday as well as the current Sundays. The Sunday closure is a wonderful opportunity to walk, bike, skate through the Park without worrying about auto traffic. Highly recommended!

Across the Golden Gate Park Concourse from the DeYoung Museum is the California Academy of Sciences. The Academy is reopened in 2008 after having been rebuilt by the Italian architect Renzo Piano. It's a fantastic building with wonderful exhibits.

Also in the concourse area are: the Japanese Tea Garden adjoining the DeYoung Museum; the arboretum, a short walk from the concourse, and the AIDS Memorial Grove, just behind the Academy of Sciences.