Hundreds of public stairways traverse San Francisco's 42 hills, exposing incredible vistas while connecting colorful, unique neighborhoods, and veteran guide Adah Bakalinsky loves them all. Her updated Stairway Walks in San Francisco explores well-known and clandestine corridors from Lands End to Bernal Heights while sharing captivating architectural, historical, pop culture, and horticultural notes along the way. This revised and expanded edition has been thoroughly updated and includes two additional walks, new maps, and new color photographs. The two new walks presented are: The Blue Greenway Walking, a new history, which follows the Embarcadero and weaves along the present day contour of the Bay into the future parklands and new neighborhood of San Francisco; and Jazz Takes A Walk in the Sunnyside neighborhood where the undulating geology of San Francisco invites one to hear the dance in the walk. A comprehensive appendix lists every one of the City's 600-plus public stairways. Long-term residents and tourists alike have used the book for over 25 years to adventurously uncover San Francisco's unexpected details.

A concise, “colorful, well-told” history of the City by the Bay, from the Gold Rush to the Summer of Love to the twenty-first century (Los Angeles Times). This is the story of San Francisco, a unique and rowdy tale with a legendary cast of characters. It tells of the Indians and the Spanish missions, the arrival of thousands of gold seekers and gamblers, crackbrains and dreamers, the building of the transcontinental railroad and the cable car, labor strife and political shenanigans, the 1906 earthquake and fire, two World Wars, two World's Fairs, two great bridges, the beatniks and hippies and New Left—a story that is so marvelous and wild that it must be true. A new afterword from the author in this updated third edition brings The City into the twenty-first century—a time just as hectic, experimental, and opportunistic as its rambunctious past.

Mike Sullivan loves his adopted city of San Francisco, and he loves trees. In The Trees of San Francisco he has combined his passions, offering a striking and handy compendium of botanical information, historical tidbits, cultivation hints, and more. Sullivan's introduction details the history of trees in the city, a fairly recent phenomenon. The text then piques the reader's interest with discussions of 71 city trees. Each tree is illustrated with a photograph--with its common and scientific names prominently displayed--and its specific location within San Francisco, along with other sites; frequently a close-up shot of the tree is included. Sprinkled throughout are 13 sidelights relating to trees; among the topics are the city's wild parrots and the trees they love; an overview of the objectives of the Friends of the Urban Forest; and discussions about the link between Australia's trees and those in the city, such as the eucalyptus. The second part of the book gets the reader up and about, walking the city to see its trees. Full-page color maps accompany the seven detailed tours, outlining the routes; interesting factoids are interspersed throughout the directions. A two-page color map of San Francisco then highlights 25 selected neighborhoods ideal for viewing trees, leading into a checklist of the neighborhoods and their trees.

Kids will count to 10 with some of San Francisco's most beloved symbols—the Golden Gate Bridge, cable cars, fortune cookies, Dungeness crabs, and the sea lions on Pier 39—in this board book featuring contemporary illustrations, dazzling colors, and bold, clear design. The end of the book includes a complete location list, in both English and Spanish, to help parents locate the symbols and landmarks and plan an entertaining trip to San Francisco.

Tensions of opposites in America's oldest Chinatown Following up his award-winning book on San Francisco's Mission District, Dick Evans turns his attention to the fifth of a square mile that attracts more tourists than the Golden Gate Bridge but where the median household income is a quarter of the citywide average--Chinatown. From delicious dim sum to wok-filled shops, from iconic red lanterns to elaborate parade floats, from inside single-room occupancy apartments to outdoor games of Chinese chess in Portsmouth Square, Evans captures a place filled with diverse residents and a unique mélange of American and Chinese architecture, cuisine, and culture. Vibrant images are interspersed with sidebars highlighting particular people and institutions, deepening viewers' immersion into this community. Kathy Chin Leong's lucid text introduces readers to the history of the neighborhood, as well as to themes of tourism, daily life, and celebrations. At the heart of the book is a tight-knit community and a thriving neighborhood, which welcomes immigrants with supportive institutions and entices tourists to experience a wide array of Chinese traditions. Evans's photos highlight a place undergoing visible progress but, unlike other San Francisco neighborhoods that are gentrifying, maintaining its unique character and authenticity.