If you'd rather see pictures of North Beach than read about it, click over to our photo tour. Don't forget to print this page and also our North Beach map to take along.
North Beach Walking Tour
Start along Columbus Avenue at a sidewalk cafe or coffee shop. San Franciscans have been mad about coffee since the Gold Rush, and there are plenty of excellent coffee roasters here.- Saints Peter and Paul Church: (666 Filbert) Built in 1924, the church boasts twin spires 191 feet tall.
- Washington Square: Facing the church, this is North Beach's center. One of three parks set aside by San Francisco's first mayor in 1848, this unpretentious place is an official Historical Landmark. In the morning, Chinese women often do tai chi exercises on the lawn, a visible symbol of the area's changing ethnic balance.
San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen wrote of Washington Square: "...its heart is Washington Square, which isn't on Washington Street, isn't a square, doesn't contain a statue of Washington but of Benjamin Franklin." The central statue, stands atop a (now closed) water fountain erected by Henry Cogswell, a crusader for temperance.
Watch out for doggy deposits as you walk toward the park's northeast corner.
- Juana Briones Monument: At Stockton and Filbert, you'll find a monument where you will learn about Juana Briones, an extraordinary pioneer who was the area's first settler.
- Mama's: (1701 Stockton) Standing on land that once belonged to the church, this is the best breakfast spot in town.
- Liguria Bakery: (1700 Stockton) This small shop across from Mama's has been baking focaccia bread and nothing else since 1911. Go early. When they run out, they go home.
Walk uphill on Stockton from here.
- Telegraph Hill Parrots: A flock of wild parrots live on Telegraph Hill just below Coit Tower. You may hear them squawking overhead.
- Coit Tower: The white monolith atop Telegraph Hill boasts some nice views and notable WPA-era murals in its lobby. Walk up or take Muni Bus 39, which stops on Union at Columbus.
Turn right on Grant Avenue.
- Upper Grant Avenue: Some call sometimes-gritty street a barometer of San Francisco's economic health. When times are good, shops extend all the way up to Filbert, and when the economy is bad, they move back down toward Columbus. This is a neighborhood street, with laundromats and nail parlors among the trendy boutiques and restaurants.
- Caffe Trieste: (601 Vallejo) A great place for coffee any time and the West Coast's first espresso coffee house. On Saturday afternoons, they serve up live opera with their Italian-style coffee.
Turn right onto Vallejo Street.
- National Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi: This former parish church has a beautiful interior and often hosts free concerts.
- Corner of Broadway and Colubmus: If you wonder why a place called North Beach has no beach, look down Columbus toward the Transamerica Building and you'll see where once was, where the street flattens out. The triangular-shaped, green building to its right is owned by Francis Ford Coppola. The Grateful Dead recorded their first album in its basement.
- North Beach Mural: Across the street is a mural celebrating of North Beach history. Look for the lateen-sailed fishing boats used by Italian fishermen. The figures in the lower left (right to left) include former Mayor Art Agnos, Senator Diane Feinstein, former San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen, and former Mayor Willie Brown, whose likeness was painted over Senator Barbara Boxer in a recent restoration.
- The Condor: This is where "it all began," according to a fake historic marker outside, "it" being topless dancing, which started here when a manager persuaded former prune-picker Carol Doda to don a topless swimsuit and dance for patrons. The sign outside once sported a woman outlined in neon, with two blinking lights. We'll let you guess where they were.
Turn left on Broadway, and go one block.
- The Beat Museum: (540 Broadway) features writings, photographs and other materials from the "Beat Generation."
Return to Columbus, cross it and turn left.
- Lawrence Ferlinghetti's City Lights Bookstore: (261 Columbus) A great independent bookstores, this place is popular with serious readers and fans of Beat Era literature. The section nearest Columbus and Broadway was once a topless shoeshine parlor.
In the alley next to City Lights is a humorous mural on the wall of Vesuvio's and a reproduction of a mural painted by a Mayan community in Chiapas, Mexico and destroyed by the Mexican Army in a military raid on their village in April 1998.
- Vesuvio's: (225 Columbus) A Beat-Era hangout that's little changed. Across the street are two other famous San Francisco bars, Specs Adler's and Tosca.
Go back on Columbus, staying on the same side of the street as City Lights.
- Molinari's Deli (373 Columbus) This place is famous for their salami and imported Italian delicacies, and it's a great place to get a sandwich.
- Sidewalk Cafes: Any of them a good place to stop for coffee and people-watching.
At Stockton, turn left.
North Beach Museum: (1435 Stockton in the Mezzanine of Bayview Bank), open during banking hours. Don't miss photos of the 1906 earthquake and fire, child-sized shoes made for a Chinese woman's bound feet and Lawrence Ferlinghetti's poem, Old Men Dying.
- Green Street Mortuary: One of San Francisco's most multi-cultural events, Chinese funeral processionss start at Green Street Mortuary, near Stockton and Columbus. A brass band playing traditional Christian music precedes an open convertible bearing a large photograph of the deceased, followed by the hearse and other vehicles. More important funerals go through Chinatown; others go straight down Columbus.
Cross Columbus at Union and go left on Columbus.
- Fireman Statue: Built using money Lillie Hitchcock Coit bequeathed to the city.
- XOX Truffles: This homey place produces some of the country's best chocolate truffles. You get one free with a cup of coffee.
