Being Italian it was natural for me to want to include North Beach in this A to Z and I was happy to see there was a coloring page for it. “Little Italy,” as it is called, is known for St. Peter and Paul Church and was home to the likes of Joe DiMaggio, who lived there for a while with Marilyn Monroe. It was also the site of the “Beat Generation” beginnings. Our friend from Kerouac Alley, Jack Kerouac, hung out there as did Allan Ginsburg and in that neighborhood you can find the City Lights Bookstore! Amazing how all these things come together, because as you leave North Beach, you enter Chinatown. In fact, as I walked around Washington Square to take my pictures I think I saw more Asians than Italians!
I was lucky and found parking right across the street from the church (you can see the tail end of my Honda HRV on the right of the picture behind the tree) and got out to walk around Washington Square. There are lots of benches around the park, a nice pathway and in the middle is a statue of Ben Franklin with a time capsule in it, to be opened in 2079. It looks like there were not very many people around but actually it was quite bustling with people walking their dogs and doing exercises. As I have been taking these pictures around the city I’ve been particularly mindful of privacy issues so I waited until I had a clear shot.
Remember Lillie Hitchcock Coit, the woman who loved the volunteer firemen and who Coit Tower is named after? She also has a statue here in Washington Square dedicated to firemen.
All around the square are Italian restaurants and stores. I ate at Original Joes a few years ago. Great food.
And we can’t leave out the Italian Athletic Club. I can remember going to Knights of Columbus dances there with my parents. They were always hoping I would meet some nice Italian Catholic boy – LOL
A couple other snaps from around the square. The Barbary Coast was a red-light district on the edge of North Beach, home to brothels, bars, jazz clubs and variety shows like the current day Beach Blanket Babylon.
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I don’t know why people have to deface the street signs.
And as I was getting back in my car I looked up and this is what I saw. It is becoming an old friend!
I have one more “N” for today and that is another of the 7 Hills, Nob Hill, home to Grace Cathedral and many of the city’s upscale hotels like the Mark Hopkins, Fairmont, and Stanford Court. It is one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the city, sometimes called “Snob Hill.” Grace Cathedral is the cathedral church of the Episcopal Diocese of California. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave a sermon there in 1965 celebrating the completion of one of its renovations. I’ve never been inside but it is very impressive from the outside. (Times have changed of course but when I was growing up it was a “sin” for a Catholic person to go in a church of another faith). I mentioned trying not to get others in my pictures and that was a challenge in the case of the stairs, below. There was a guy running up and down them for exercise and I had to time my picture just right.
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Amazing carvings on the door.
The stained glass window is very pretty at lit up at night. Speaking of stained glass, across the street from Grace Cathedral is the Masonic Center Auditorium. It is a small venue and has an amazing stained glass window in the lobby depicting the story of the Masons. We went and saw the illusionist Michael Carbonaro there. It was a great show. If you have never seen the Carbonaro Effect on TV, you should check it out. I did text “CARBO” to try and meet Michael after the show but we didn’t get picked.
Okay, we are almost at the end of the second week! I hope you’ve been having fun with me as I travel the City of San Francisco and that you’ll continue on with the journey. I have a few more surprises coming up!
Disclaimer notice. The coloring book pages are from the inserts the San Francisco Chronicle put out and I mentioned them in my theme reveal so you can go to that to get the info about the artists if you are interested.
from WordPress https://scr4pl80.wordpress.com/2021/04/16/a-to-z-2021-n-is-for-north-beach-and-nob-hill/
Hi, Janet!
ReplyDeleteHappy N-day, dear friend!
Thanks for the guided tour of North Beach and Nob Hill. Imagine the excitement of living in North Beach aka Little Italy in the 50s when the Beatnik counterculture was emerging and Marilyn and Joe were your neighbors. I imagine a visit to Barbary Coast was also exciting. :) That church facade is spectacular. The clean and lovely Washington Square looks like the type of area where Mrs. Shady and I would love to linger on a bench and soak up the historic ambiance. I enjoyed learning about wealthy dentist Dr. Henry Cogswell's time capsule buried in 1879 beneath the statue of Benjamin Franklin in the center of the park. As the 100 year anniversary approached and the capsule was about to be opened, there was giddy anticipation that buried treasure would be inside. As it turned out, the items were rather ordinary. Two new time capsules were then buried under Ben to be opened in 2079. I also enjoyed seeing the statue that Lillie Coit had placed in the Square to honor firemen.
I have heard of Nob Hill and its nickname "Snob Hill." When I lived in York, PA, the exclusive development where the country club set resided was dubbed "Snob Hill." Grace Cathedral is another awesome structure. I applaud you for waiting until just the right moment to aim your camera and take pictures to avoid making fellow citizens and tourists uncomfortable. Thanks for showing us the Masonic Center Auditorium with its huge stained glass window directly across the street from the Cathedral's stained glass window.
I have not seen The Carbonaro Effect and appreciated learning about actor, magician and improv artist Michael Carbonaro and his hidden camera practical joke reality TV series and show which I gather is similar to Candid Camera and Ashton Kutcher's Punk'd.
Thanks for all the interesting info and great pics and colored illustration to go along with it, dear friend Janet. I'll be back tamale for your O-day expose'!
Thanks, Shady! I think people watching in Washington Square would be a wonderful way to pass some time for sure. Michael Carbonaro is amazing to watch. He really fooled us. "O" so glad you'll be back tomorrow.
DeleteNorth Beach has a great history and so is Nob Hill. I don’t know why but I always think of the 1936 film SAN Francisco starring Clark Gable and Jeanette MacDonald. The climax of the film is the earthquake which is quite excellently done. Anyway there is a character in the film that lived in Nobb Hill who lived in a beautiful home that had to be destroyed. It always got to me. The cathedral looks beautiful and those doors remind me of famous doors on a cathedral in Italy. I want to say Bernini but I think I am wrong. I also love the stained glass, the traditional which is my favourite but also the newer one which reminds me of the Seccession movement( I know I am spelling things wrong.)
ReplyDeleteHi Birgit. The whole area is just so interesting.
DeleteReally enjoying reading your posts Janet.
ReplyDeleteThanks Wendy!
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