As a child you take for granted where ever you live since the means for comparison are not available. So this Writer growing up in San Francisco took all the interesting names, neighborhoods, scenic attractions and history as just the way things were.

Now when I return to San Francisco as a travel writer it is easy to see why the City is such a wonderful attraction for visitors from all parts of the world and I have a new appreciation for names that were so commonplace earlier.

San Francisco is not flat and its hills are part of its character. There is Russian Hill, and Nob Hill, Mt. Davidson, Lone Mountain, Bernal Heights, Telegraph Hill, Twin Peaks, and Potrero Hill, to name a few.

My folks had friends who had once lived on Russian Hill. North Beach was my grandparents home until they had to flee their residence forever when the earthquake struck in 1906. South of Market is where my Father worked and the Mission District was home to many of my cousins. The Presido was the place we went on Sunday afternoon automobile rides and Golden Gate Park where the museums were located.

Polk Street was Polk Gulch for me since my Dad and I went there dressed as cowboy and miner as part of the celebration that took place on the opening of the Bay Bridge. The embarcadero was my workplace for a few months between my graduation from high school in the Sunset District and induction into the U.S. Army.

Stadiums and such were not named for companies. There was Kezar Stadium for football, Seals Stadium for baseball, the Palace of Fine Arts, left over from the Exposition, for special events, the opera house where I graduated from High School and later was a supernumerary for some exciting opera performances, the Cow Palace and Mission Dolores.

Always the interesting names. Hunters Point, Lands End, China Beach, Mt. Davidson, which was my playground as a youth, and the list goes on with Chinatown, Maiden Lane and Fisherman's Wharf.

My father arrived in San Francisco from Portland, Oregon at the age of 18 and stayed. He loved the history of the city and was always seeking places with historic interest which was fortunate for me. We had to visit the Broderick-Terry dueling ground at Lake Merced, browse the Lone Mountain early era cemeteries before they disappeared, Coit Tower, the site of the Exposition and its Palace of Fine Arts, Fleishhacker pool, the zoo and Ocean Beach.

On a recent trip to San Francisco I had my oldest son with me. He and I were both born at St. Francis Hospital on Sutter Street and he was three years old when we moved to Southern California. Both my sons have happy memories of the City on visits to their grandparents as well as visits to museums and such with their Mother. On this visit I took my son on a tour of homes, streets and places that played important roles in the family's history.

This included their grandparents and great grandparents places of residence as well as his Father's places of adventure while growing up in Sunnyside district. Also the restaurant site where my Father proposed to my Mother and the museums and places of interest they visited as children with their Mother. Then the former homes of my aunts, uncles and cousins.

While San Francisco has changed since the days of my youth much has not. I had no trouble locating all the homes of family and friends. They were all still there and most looked unchanged.

There are still familiar memories to recapture on a drive down Mission Street. My Uncle's barber shop is still there. And Dolores Street still looks as it did when my folks took a picture of me there as an infant.

The abundance of cars has changed the residential districts in some ways. The street where I grew up had plenty of room for street games of football or baseball but now because of car street parking it is now one way and many of the other streets in my old neighborhood are one way as well.

Visitors are drawn to San Francisco for its atmosphere, ambiance, scenic beauty and restaurants. Leading attractions for visitors are in order Pier 39, Golden Gate Bridge and Golden Gate Park. Attractions like Fisherman's Wharf, Chinatown, Alcatraz and North Beach, then add the City's legendary fog, and you find the reason that San Francisco hosted 16 million visitors last year, three million of them from other countries around the world.

For better or worse from its earliest beginnings San Francisco has always been in the limelight. It was the port of entry for the Gold Rush which made it a sprawling town almost overnight. Then the 1906 earthquake and fire were events known worldwide.

Also many famous writers have written about San Francisco. They include Richard Henry Dana, Bret Harte, Mark Twain, Jack London and Peter B Kyne to name just a few.

There is its cosmopolitan ambiance as the most European of any American city with so many ethnic groups and neighborhoods. Most recently one can add the Thai and Vietnamese sections of the city adjacent to Van Ness and the Latin dominance of the Mission District.

This Writer spent five years as a working journalist in San Francisco before moving to Southern California for a further advance in my profession.

Those five years were exciting as I was able to experience all the famed restaurants, clubs and hotels that I had only heard about as a youth. I was a member of the Press Club and so met many other members of the media and I have written about some of the adventures we shared together.

Any travel writer will agree, San Francisco is indeed unique.

Back to Table of Contents..

Last Update:10/10/14