Civic Center and Hayes Valley Cathedrals of Culture and Urban Newcomers |
This trio of miners is part of the Pioneer Monument, sculptor Frank Happersberger’s tribute to San Francisco’s gold rush past.
BOUNDARIES: Market St., Leavenworth St., McAllister St., Van Ness Ave.
DISTANCE: 1.5 miles
DIFFICULTY: Easy
PARKING: There is an underground parking lot beneath Civic Center Plaza.
PUBLIC TRANSIT: Civic Center BART station; F streetcars; 5, 6, 9, 21, 31, and 71 Muni buses
San Francisco’s Civic Center is one of the most elegant and cohesively planned such complexes in the United States. Monumental Beaux Arts structures went up after the 1906 earthquake, making the area impressive but cold on the surface. Some of the buildings house offices of government, while others are pillars of high culture that contribute much-needed warmth to the neighborhood. The opera, the symphony, the Main Library, and the Asian Art Museum all cluster around City Hall, which itself is one of the country’s finest government buildings. The area is always busy, especially on weekdays when local, state, and federal workers file in and out of the buildings. On Wednesday and Sunday the farmers’ market, going strong since 1981, adds even more life and diversity to the area, making these days ideal for a trek through the neighborhood. Adding to the cultural heavyweights, the newly minted SF Jazz Center, the reborn Nourse Theater, and neighboring Hayes Valley, rife with boutiques and eateries, bring a contemporary twist to the classic arts scene.
Start at 
United Nations Plaza, at the corner of Market and Leavenworth. Designed by Lawrence Halprin in the mid-1970s and named in commemoration of the 1945 signing of the United Nations Charter near here (see Herbst Theater), the plaza is a somewhat awkward open space that on most days merely serves as a shortcut from Market Street to the library and City Hall. The lively and upbeat Heart of the City Farmers’ Market changes that on Wednesday and Sunday, when vendors from Northern California farms set up stalls overflowing with produce, nuts, seafood, baked goods, and flowers. An arts collaboration with the Exploratorium museum has also breathed life into the walkway, as rotating exhibits provide a distraction from the seagulls and drifters who congregate around the plaza’s fountain. From anywhere in the plaza, you can turn around and see Rigo’s Truth mural (2002) emblazoned on the top floors of a Market Street building.
Pass through the plaza and cross Hyde Street. Head west, up Fulton Street, which separates the Main Library (to the left) and the 
Asian Art Museum (to the right). In the middle of the street stands the intriguing Pioneer Monument, commissioned by millionaire James Lick, who made his fortune by playing the real estate game in the gold rush city. Lick hired sculptor Frank Happersberger to create a tribute to the argonauts of that era. Thus, we have this large monument with bronze miners panning for gold beneath the bronze figure of the Roman goddess Minerva, standing on what appears to be a huge granite fire plug.
The Asian Art Museum, home to one of the most comprehensive Asian art collections in the world, occupies the former Main Library, a Beaux Arts structure built in 1917. When the library moved into its current home across the street, the old library building was completely gutted and remodeled to accommodate the immense holdings of the Asian Art Museum, which had outgrown its space in Golden Gate Park. The core of the collection was donated to the museum by Avery Brundage, the Chicago developer who also served as president of the International Olympic Committee for two decades. Brundage’s huge bequest was the impetus for the founding of the museum and still composes nearly half the collection. Religious, military, and artistic objects span the entire region, from the Philippines to Iran, and some date back 6,000 years. The architecture is luxurious inside and out, and the collection and second-floor tearoom exhibit are well worth the $15 general admission price.
Retrace your steps and cross Fulton Street to the 
Main Library, which opened in 1995 to mostly positive reviews. Enter the building on the Larkin Street side, head down the stairs, and take an elevator to the fifth floor. From here, you can look down the building’s central atrium, or climb to the top floor via Alice Aycock’s Seussian spiral staircase, which ascends toward a fetching geometric glass ceiling. The library has many reading and research rooms that are worth perusing, including special collections with materials relating to the varied ethnic and cultural groups of San Francisco. The top floor is occupied by the excellent San Francisco History Center, which always has an informative exhibit of photos, newspaper clippings, and other items from its collection. Other thoughtful and interesting exhibits, some culled from the History Center collection, are in the Jewett Gallery, on the basement level of the library.
The gleaming dome of City Hall
Cross Larkin and walk through the middle of Civic Center Plaza toward the front entrance of 
City Hall. The plaza is home to two playground structures, as well as a fair number of homeless sunbathers. Sometimes you’ll catch a large group of office workers participating in an organized exercise routine.
On the left side of City Hall, a statue of Abraham Lincoln appears ready to converse with anyone walking by. Head up the steps and enter City Hall, which is open to anyone not brandishing a firearm. The building has had a tumultuous past. Its predecessor, which once stood where the Asian Art Museum is now, took two decades to build, and soon after its completion it crumbled to the ground in the initial temblor of 1906, shoddy construction having apparently resulted in a flimsy structure. All that remains is the head of the Goddess of Progress statue that stood atop the old City Hall dome (you’ll see her in the south-wing exhibit). The current Beaux Arts City Hall, completed in 1915 and designed by the firm of Bakewell and Brown, has much to admire. The dome, lovingly restored during Mayor Willie Brown’s tenure, is taller than the US Capitol dome in Washington, DC. Wander the main floor to gaze up at the magnificent rotunda and at the staircase spilling down like the train of a bridal gown.
Tragedy came to City Hall in 1978, when then-Mayor George Moscone and Harvey Milk, the first openly gay SF supervisor (city councilor), were shot to death in their offices by former supervisor Dan White. White’s lawyers persuaded a jury that he was mentally unstable owing in part to a junk food diet (the now-infamous “Twinkie defense”), and on the night that he was convicted of manslaughter rather than murder, outraged citizens rioted in front of City Hall—an event remembered as White Night. On a lighter note, Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio were married in a civil ceremony here in 1954. Fifty years later, so were some 4,000 same-sex couples in a remarkable display of civil disobedience. Newly elected mayor Gavin Newsom defied state law by permitting the weddings, and he even presided over some of them. Gay brides and grooms lined out the doors of city hall for weeks with an armada of media trucks clogging up traffic, creating a street-party atmosphere. Newsom was soon stopped and the state revoked the unions, only to reverse its stance a few years later.
A former high school auditorium, the Spanish Revival–style Nourse Theater now hosts arts programming.
After looking around City Hall, exit through the back on the Van Ness Avenue side. Two nearly identical landmark buildings share the block across the street. On the right (north) side is the 
War Memorial Veterans Building, also designed by Bakewell and Brown and completed in 1932. Inside, the Herbst Theater is an intimate performance hall that gained renown in June 1945 when the United Nations Charter was signed in a ceremony on its stage. Off the front lobby, the 
San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery is a never-dull exhibition space for contemporary artists. Admission is free, so definitely take a look.
From Veterans Hall, mosey on over to the 
War Memorial Opera House. The two buildings, which commemorate the soldiers who fought in World War I, were built at the same time; Arthur Brown Jr. (of Bakewell and Brown) designed the Opera House, and G. Albert Lansburgh designed its elegant interior. The San Francisco Opera was founded in 1923, and the opening night of each opera season is a big event among opera aficionados and socialites. The San Francisco Ballet also performs here, and on Christmas Eve in 1944 it hosted the American premiere of The Nutcracker, a still-beloved holiday tradition.
Linden Street is rife with vibrant street art, such as this mural by Sam Flores.
At Grove Street, turn left to admire 
Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall, a modern structure that looks its best on performance nights, when its curved glass facade is ablaze with warm light. The hall was built in 1980 and has housed the city’s lauded symphony ever since. Turn left on Gough Street to enter the lively Hayes Valley art gallery and restaurant corridor. One of the mainstays of the neighborhood, 
Absinthe Brasserie and Bar is on the corner of Hayes and Gough Streets. It’s a stylish re-creation of a Belle Époque brasserie where you can slurp raw oysters or eat traditional French fare.
Turn right at Hayes Street to meander a stylish block of art galleries, high-end boutiques, and trendy watering holes. It’s hard to believe that in the 1980s this was considered one of the seediest parts of the city. After the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, the elevated freeway that used to shadow Hayes Valley was damaged and eventually removed amid the rallying cry of local activists, and the neighborhood has been gentrifying ever since. At Octavia, turn left and enjoy 
Patricia’s Green, a beautiful open space featuring rotating art exhibits and playground structures. The park is named for Patricia Walkup, who spent decades working to curb crime in the community and was one of the most vocal champions in keeping the freeway from being rebuilt. If it’s sunny out, there’s no better patio to alight onto than that of the charming 
Biergarten, across the street from Patricia’s Green. You can also grab a snack from one of the many shipping containers–turned–snack shacks that overlook the green space.
To continue our walk, head east on narrow Linden Street, admiring the arty bars, cafés, and colorful murals that line the path. Turn right on Gough and left on Fell to make your way to the glass-enclosed 
SF Jazz Center, at the corner of Franklin Street. Christened in 2013, the $64 million building was designed by Mark Cavagnero and is billed as the first freestanding building dedicated to jazz performances and education in the country. Custom-designed acoustics and decades-long planning hope to ensure that this jewel box brings jazz back to the forefront of San Francisco’s musical scene.
Charles Gadeken’s soaring LED sculpture, Squared, in Patricia’s Green
As you continue left on Franklin, the Spanish Revival–style 
Nourse Theater takes up the block where Hayes meets Franklin. Originally built as an auditorium for the High School of Commerce, its storied walls have since seen everything from Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti reading poetry to Jim Morrison performing with an experimental-theater company to a historic courtroom case on asbestos. After decades of gathering dust as a storage facility for the public school system, City Arts & Lectures, a venerable live-conversation and arts-programming series, sank considerable cash into restoring the theater to its formal glory, staying true to its architectural highlights and details. The Nourse opened its doors again in 2013. On the other side of Franklin and Hayes, 
The Grove is a fun casual eatery that’s family owned and operated.
Outdoor eateries like the sun-drenched Biergarten lure hungry theatergoers to Hayes Valley.
Continuing past the Nourse awning on Hayes Street, turn left on Van Ness Avenue, and then head right on Grove Street. Keep your eyes peeled for the tiny 
Please Touch Community Garden, which occupies a once-abandoned lot between Van Ness and Polk Street. Artist GK Callahan partnered with the Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired to create a community space accessible to all, including a scented corner for those with visual impairments. It’s currently open to the public only on Wednesdays, but you can peek through the fence to watch the greenery grow.
As you cross Polk Street, the 
Bill Graham Civic Auditorium faces Civic Center Plaza. Named for the legendary rock and roll impresario Bill Graham, who based his operations in San Francisco, the auditorium is frequently the sight of performances by major rock artists. On the sidewalk in front of the building, you’ll stroll over a Walk of Fame embedded with plaques honoring local music figures.
Civic Center and Hayes Valley
Points of Interest
United Nations Plaza Market and Hyde Sts.; 415-831-5500, sfrecpark.org/reservablefacility/united-nations-plaza
Asian Art Museum 200 Larkin St.; 415-581-3500, asianart.org
Main Library 100 Larkin St.; 415-557-4400, sfpl.org
City Hall 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Plaza; 415- 554-4000, sfgov.org/cityhall
War Memorial Veterans Building/Herbst Theater 401 Van Ness Ave.; 415-621-6600, sfwmpac.org
San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery 401 Van Ness Ave.; 415-554-6080, sfartscommission.org
War Memorial Opera House 301 Van Ness Ave.; 415-861-5600, sfballet.org/visit/opera-house
Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall 201 Van Ness Ave.; 415-864-6000, sfsymphony.org
Absinthe Brasserie and Bar 398 Hayes St.; 415-551-1590, absinthe.com
Patricia’s Green Fell St. and Octavia Blvd.; 415-274-0291, sfrecpark.org/destination/patricias-green-in-hayes-valley
Biergarten 424 Octavia Blvd.; 415-252-9289, biergartensf.com
SF Jazz Center 201 Franklin St.; 866-920-5299, sfjazz.org
Nourse Theater 275 Hayes St.; 415-392-4400, cityarts.net/nourse
The Grove 301 Hayes St.; 415-624-3953, thegrovesf.com
Please Touch Community Garden 165 Grove St.; 707-975-6409, pleasetouchgarden.org
Bill Graham Civic Auditorium 99 Grove St.; 415-624-8900, billgrahamcivic.com
