Fodo_9780876371640_p02

Nob Hill and Russian Hill

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter | Table of Contents

In place of the quirky charm and cultural diversity that mark other San Francisco neighborhoods, Nob Hill exudes history and good breeding. Topped with some of the city’s most elegant hotels, Gothic Grace Cathedral, and private blue-blood clubs, it’s the pinnacle of privilege. One hill over, across Pacific Avenue, is another old-family bastion, Russian Hill. It may not be quite as wealthy as Nob Hill, but it’s no slouch—and it’s got jaw-dropping views.

Nob Hill and Russian Hill

Previous Map | Next Map | San Francisco Maps

Nob Hill was officially dubbed during the 1870s when “the Big Four”—Charles Crocker, Leland Stanford, Mark Hopkins, and Collis Huntington, who were involved in the construction of the transcontinental railroad—built their hilltop estates. The lingo is thick from this era: those on the hilltop were referred to as “nabobs” (originally meaning a provincial governor from India) and “swells,” and the hill itself was called Snob Hill, a term that survives to this day. By 1882 so many estates had sprung up on Nob Hill that Robert Louis Stevenson called it “the hill of palaces.” But the 1906 earthquake and fire destroyed all the palatial mansions except for portions of the James Flood brownstone. History buffs may choose to linger here, but for most visitors, a casual glimpse from a cable car will be enough.

Essentially a tony residential neighborhood of spiffy pieds-à-terre, Victorian flats, Edwardian cottages, and boxlike condos, Russian Hill has some of the city’s loveliest stairway walks, hidden garden ways, and steepest streets—not to mention those bay views. Several stories explain the origin of Russian Hill’s name. One legend has it that Russian farmers raised vegetables here for Farallon Islands seal hunters; another attributes the name to a Russian sailor of prodigious drinking habits who drowned when he fell into a well on the hill. A plaque at the top of the Vallejo Steps gives credence to the version that says sailors of the Russian-American company were buried here in the 1840s. Be sure to visit the sign for yourself—its location offers perhaps the finest vantage point on the hill.

Top 5 Reasons to Go

Macondray Lane: Duck into this secret, lush garden lane and walk its narrow, uneven cobblestones.

Vallejo Steps area: Make the steep climb up to lovely Ina Coolbrith Park, then continue up along the glorious garden path of the Vallejo Steps to a spectacular view at the top.

San Francisco Art Institute: Contemplate a Diego Rivera mural and stop at the café for cheap organic coffee and a priceless view of the city and the bay. It may be the best way to spend an hour for a buck in town.

Cable Car Museum: Ride a cable car all the way back to the barn, hanging on tight as it clack-clack-clacks its way up Nob Hill, then go behind the scenes at the museum.

Play “Bullitt” on the steepest streets: For the ride of your life, take a drive up and down the city’s steepest streets on Russian Hill. A trip over the precipice of Filbert or Jones will make you feel as if you’re falling off the edge of the world.

Quick Bites

Ritz-Carlton, San Francisco.
A harpist plays the classics and other tunes during afternoon tea, served weekends 1–4:30. A holiday tradition, afternoon tea is served daily between Thanksgiving and Christmas. | 600 Stockton St., at California St., Nob Hill | 94108 | 415/296–7465 | www.ritzcarlton.com.

Swensen’s Ice Cream.
The original Swensen’s has been a neighborhood favorite since it opened in 1948. An antique sign still fronts the tiny shop, but concessions to the times include such ice-cream flavors as green tea and lychee. | 1999 Hyde St., at Union St., Russian Hill | 94109 | 415/775–6818.

Getting There

The thing about Russian Hill and Nob Hill is that they’re both especially steep hills. If you’re not up for the hike, a cable car is certainly the most exciting way to reach the top. Take the California line for Nob Hill and the Powell–Hyde line for Russian Hill. Buses serve the area as well, such as the 1–California bus for Nob Hill, but the routes only run east–west. Only the cable cars tackle the steeper north–south streets. Driving yourself is a hassle, since parking is a challenge on these crowded, precipitous streets.

Making the Most of Your Time

Since walking Nob Hill is (almost) all about gazing at exteriors, touring the neighborhood during daylight hours is a must. The sights here don’t require a lot of visiting time—say a half hour each at the Cable Car Museum and Grace Cathedral—but allow time for the walk itself. An afternoon visit is ideal for Russian Hill, so you can browse the shops. You could cover both neighborhoods in three or four hours. If you time it just right, you can finish up with a sunset cocktail at a swanky hotel lounge or the retro-tiki Tonga Room.

Nob Hill

Top Attractions

Cable Car Museum.
The Cable Car Museum is one of the city’s best free offerings and an absolute must for kids. (You can even ride a cable car there, since all three lines stop between Russian Hill and Nob Hill.) The museum, which is inside the city’s last cable-car barn, takes the top off the system to let you see how it all works. Eternally humming and squealing, the massive powerhouse cable wheels steal the show. You can also climb aboard a vintage car and take the grip, let the kids ring a cable-car bell (briefly), and check out vintage gear dating from 1873.

The gift shop sells cable-car paraphernalia, including an authentic gripman’s bell for $600 (it’ll sound like Powell Street in your house every day). For significantly less, you can pick up a key chain made from a piece of worn-out cable. | 1201 Mason St., at Washington St., Nob Hill | 94108 | 415/474–1887 | www.cablecarmuseum.com | Free | Oct.–Mar., daily 10–5; Apr.–Sept., daily 10–6.

Grace Cathedral.
Not many churches can boast an altarpiece by Keith Haring and not one but two labyrinths. The seat of the Episcopal Church in San Francisco, this soaring Gothic-style structure, erected on the site of Charles Crocker’s mansion, took 53 years to build, wrapping up in 1964. The gilded bronze doors at the east entrance were taken from casts of Lorenzo Ghiberti’s incredible Gates of Paradise, which are on the Baptistery in Florence, Italy. A black-and-bronze stone sculpture of St. Francis by Beniamino Bufano greets you as you enter.

The 35-foot-wide limestone labyrinth is a replica of the 13th-century stone maze on the floor of Chartres Cathedral. All are encouraged to walk the ¼-mi-long labyrinth, a ritual based on the tradition of meditative walking. There’s also a terrazzo outdoor labyrinth on the church’s north side. The AIDS Interfaith Chapel, to the right as you enter Grace, contains a metal triptych by the late artist Keith Haring and panels from the AIDS Memorial Quilt. TIP Especially dramatic times to view the cathedral are during Thursday-night evensong (5:15) and during special holiday programs. | 1100 California St., at Taylor St., Nob Hill | 94108 | 415/749–6300 | www.gracecathedral.org | Weekdays 7–6, Sat. 8–6, Sun. 8–7.

A Walk through Nob Hill and Russian Hill

Start a tour of Nob Hill and Russian Hill with a cable-car ride up to California and Powell streets on Nob Hill (all lines go here). Walking two blocks east you can pass all the Big Four mansions-cum-hotels on the hill. Peek at the Keith Haring triptych in impressive Grace Cathedral; grab a Peet’s coffee in the basement café if you need a lift. Next, head down to the Cable Car Museum to see the machinery in action. Then make your way to Russian Hill—a cable car is a fine way to reach the peak—to visit some of the city’s loveliest hidden lanes and stairways. At Mason and Vallejo streets, head up the Vallejo Steps, passing contemplative, terraced Ina Coolbrith Park and beautifully tended private gardens. Take in the sweeping city and bay view from the top of the hill, then head right on Jones Street and duck right under the trellis to wooded and shady Macondray Lane. From here it’s a six-block hike to crooked Lombard Street. If you’ve still got some steam, be sure to go another block to see Diego Rivera’s mural and the surprise panoramic view from the San Francisco Art Institute.

Worth Noting

Fairmont San Francisco.
The hotel’s dazzling opening was delayed a year by the 1906 quake, but since then the marble palace has hosted presidents, royalty, movie stars, and local nabobs. Things have changed since its early days, however: on the eve of World War I you could get a room for as low as $2.50 per night, meals included. Nowadays, prices go as high as $8,000, which buys a night in the eight-room, Persian-art-filled penthouse suite. Swing through the opulent lobby on your way to tea (served weekends 1:30–3:30) at the Laurel Court restaurant. Don’t miss an evening cocktail (a mai tai is in order) in the kitschy Tonga Room, complete with tiki huts, a sporadic tropical rainstorm, and a floating bandstand. | 950 Mason St., Nob Hill | 94108 | 415/772–5000 | www.fairmont.com.

InterContinental Mark Hopkins Hotel.
Built on the ashes of railroad tycoon Mark Hopkins’s grand estate (constructed at his wife’s urging; Hopkins himself preferred to live frugally), this 19-story hotel went up in 1926. A combination of French château and Spanish Renaissance architecture, with noteworthy terra-cotta detailing, it has hosted statesmen, royalty, and Hollywood celebrities. The 11-room penthouse was turned into a glass-wall cocktail lounge in 1939: the Top of the Mark is remembered fondly by thousands of World War II veterans who jammed the lounge before leaving for overseas duty. Wives and sweethearts watching the ships depart gave the room’s northwest nook its name—Weepers’ Corner. TIP With its 360-degree views, the lounge is a wonderful spot for a nighttime drink. | 999 California St., at Mason St., Nob Hill | 94108 | 415/392–3434 | www.markhopkins.net.

Nob Hill Masonic Center.
Erected by Freemasons in 1957, the hall is familiar to locals mostly as a concert and lecture venue, where such notables as Van Morrison and Al Gore have appeared. But you don’t need a ticket to check out artist Emile Norman’s impressive lobby mosaic. Mainly in rich greens and yellows, it depicts the Masons’ role in California history. There’s also an intricate model of King Solomon’s Temple in the lobby. | 1111 California St., Nob Hill | 94108 | 415/776–7457 | www.masonicauditorium.com | Lobby weekdays 9–5.

Pacific Union Club.
The former home of silver baron James Flood cost a whopping $1.5 million in 1886, when even a stylish Victorian like the Haas-Lilienthal House cost less than $20,000. All that cash did buy some structural stability. The Flood residence (to be precise, its shell) was the only Nob Hill mansion to survive the 1906 earthquake and fire. The Pacific Union Club, a bastion of the wealthy and powerful, purchased the house in 1907 and commissioned Willis Polk to redesign it; the architect added the semicircular wings and third floor. (The ornate fence design dates from the mansion’s construction.) West of the house, Huntington Park is the site of the Huntington mansion, destroyed in 1906. Mrs. Huntington donated the land to the city for use as a park; the Crockers purchased the Fountain of the Tortoises, based on the original in Rome. TIP The benches around the fountain offer a welcome break after climbing Nob Hill. It’s hard to get the skinny on the club itself; its 700 or so members allegedly follow the directive “no women, no Democrats, no reporters.” Those who join usually spend years on the waiting list and undergo a stringent vetting process, the rigors of which might embarrass the NSA. Needless to say, the club is closed to the public. | 1000 California St., Nob Hill | 94108.

The Stanford Court Hotel.
In 1876 trendsetter Leland Stanford, a California governor and founder of Stanford University, was the first to build an estate on Nob Hill. The only part that survived the earthquake was a basalt-and-granite wall that’s been restored; check it out from the eastern side of the hotel. In 1912 an apartment house was built on the site of the former estate, and in 1972 the present-day hotel was constructed from the shell of that building. A stained-glass dome tops the carriage entrance. | 905 California St., Nob Hill | 94108 | 415/989–3500 | www.marriott.com.

Russian Hill

Top Attractions

Ina Coolbrith Park.
If you make it all the way up here, you may have the place all to yourself, or at least feel as if you do. The park’s terraces are carved from a hill so steep that it’s difficult to see if anyone else is there or not. Locals love this park because it feels like a secret no one else knows about—one of the city’s magic hidden gardens, with a meditative setting and spectacular views of the bay peeking out from among the trees. A poet, Oakland librarian, and niece of Mormon prophet Joseph Smith, Ina Coolbrith (1842–1928) introduced Jack London and Isadora Duncan to the world of books. For years she entertained literary greats in her Macondray Lane home near the park. In 1915 she was named poet laureate of California. | Vallejo St. between Mason and Taylor Sts., Russian Hill | 94133.

Lombard Street.
The block-long “Crookedest Street in the World” makes eight switchbacks down the east face of Russian Hill between Hyde and Leavenworth streets. Residents bemoan the traffic jam outside their front doors, but the throngs continue. Join the line of cars waiting to drive down the steep hill, or avoid the whole mess and walk down the steps on either side of Lombard. You take in super views of North Beach and Coit Tower whether you walk or drive—though if you’re the one behind the wheel, you’d better keep your eye on the road lest you become yet another of the many folks who ram the garden barriers. TIP Can’t stand the traffic? Thrill seekers of a different stripe may want to head two blocks south of Lombard to Filbert Street. At a gradient of 31.5%, the hair-raising descent between Hyde and Leavenworth streets is the city’s steepest. Go slowly! | Lombard St. between Hyde and Leavenworth Sts., Russian Hill | 94109.

Fodor’s Choice | Macondray Lane.
San Francisco has no shortage of impressive, grand homes, but it’s the tiny fairy-tale lanes that make most folks want to move here, and Macondray Lane is the quintessential hidden garden. Enter under a lovely wooden trellis and proceed down a quiet, cobbled pedestrian lane lined with Edwardian cottages and flowering plants and trees. Watch your step—the cobblestones are quite uneven in spots. A flight of steep wooden stairs at the end of the lane leads to Taylor Street—on the way down you can’t miss the bay views. If you’ve read any of Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City books, you may find the lane vaguely familiar. It’s the thinly disguised setting for part of the series’ action. | Between Jones and Taylor Sts., and Union and Green Sts., Russian Hill | 94133.

San Francisco Art Institute.
A Moorish-tile fountain in a tree-shaded courtyard draws the eye as soon as you enter the institute. The number-one reason for a visit is Mexican master Diego Rivera’s Making of a Fresco Showing the Building of a City (1931), in the student gallery to your immediate left inside the entrance. Rivera himself is in the fresco—his broad behind is to the viewer—and he’s surrounded by his assistants. They in turn are surrounded by a construction scene, laborers, and city notables such as sculptor Robert Stackpole and architect Timothy Pfleuger. The Making of a Fresco is one of three San Francisco murals painted by Rivera. The number-two reason to come here is the café, or more precisely the eye-popping, panoramic view from the café, which serves surprisingly decent food for a song.

The older portions of the Art Institute, including the lovely Mission-style bell tower, were erected in 1926. To this day, otherwise pragmatic people claim that ghostly footsteps can be heard in the tower at night. Ansel Adams created the school’s fine-arts photography department in 1946, and school directors established the country’s first fine-arts film program. Notable faculty and alumni have included painter Richard Diebenkorn and photographers Dorothea Lange, Edward Weston, and Annie Leibovitz.

Worth Noting

Feusier House.
Octagonal houses were once thought to make the best use of space and enhance the physical and mental well-being of their occupants. A brief mid-19th-century craze inspired the construction of several in San Francisco. Only the Feusier House, built in 1857, and the Octagon House in Pacific Heights remain standing. A private residence, the Feusier House is easy to overlook unless you look closely—it’s dwarfed by the large-scale apartments around it. Across from the Feusier House is the 1907 Firehouse (1088 Green St.). Louise M. Davies, the local art patron for whom Symphony Hall is named, bought it from the city in 1957. The firehouse is closed to the public, but it’s worth taking in the exterior. | 1067 Green St., Russian Hill | 94133.

Vallejo Steps area.
Several Russian Hill buildings survived the 1906 earthquake and fire and remain standing. Patriotic firefighters saved what’s come to be known as the Flag House (1652–56 Taylor St.) when they spotted the American flag on the property and doused the flames with seltzer water and wet sand. The owner, a flag collector, fearing the house would burn to the ground, wanted it to go down in style, with “all flags flying.” The Flag House, at the southwest corner of Ina Coolbrith Park, is one of a number of California Shingle–style homes in this neighborhood, several of which were designed by Willis Polk.

Polk also laid out the Vallejo Steps, which climb the steep ridge across Taylor Street from the Flag House. If the walk up the steps themselves is too steep for you, it’s possible to park at the top of the steps by heading east on Vallejo from Jones.

The Polk-Williams House (Taylor and Vallejo Sts.) was designed by Polk, who lived in one of its finer sections.The architect also designed 1034–1036 Vallejo, across the street from the Polk-Williams House. | Taylor and Vallejo Sts., steps lead up toward Jones St., Russian Hill.

Previous Chapter | Beginning of Chapter | Next Chapter | Table of Contents