Oh boy, it’s good to be breathing that crisp San Francisco air again!

Let me tell you, I had some rough times ahead of this trip. I caught COVID maybe 5 weeks prior and it took me every single day of those 5 weeks to get back on my feet. It was one of the worst experiences of my life, and by the time I showed up in San Francisco, it wasn’t quite over. I had tested negative weeks prior, but my stamina was still not great. I never realized how much WORK it is to travel the way I am used to. During my last trip, I was averaging more than 10 miles per day. On this trip, I had to learn to accept my limitations and just fucking relax for once in my life. Instead of staying out all day like I usually do, I had to go back to the Airbnb and sleep many afternoons. I was probably a boring travel-mate. But luckily I was here with family so they’re stuck with me.

The good news is that I was here long enough that I did accumulate some “blog-worthy” things and pretty pictures along the way—but we’ll get to that later. Today I just want to share something chill and nice.

SF’s Mosaic Tiled Staircases

San Francisco is not a flat city. The word “hilly” doesn’t quite cover it. So it should come as no surprise that there are lots of interesting staircases (600+) scattered throughout the city, helping pedestrians scale the city’s steepest nooks and crannies. This much is to be expected. But what I did not expect was that many of these staircases have been turned into hidden works of art. I’ve been to San Francisco a few times, and I have somehow never stumbled across even one of these before. And what you’re about to see isn’t even all of them! We’re going to start in the Richmond District, but then we’re going to head south and spend the rest of this article in the Sunset District.

Lincoln Park Steps (📍Richmond District)

Before we head down to the Sunset District, we’re going to the far western end of California Street to scope out the Lincoln Park steps. These steps actually date back to 1903, and they didn’t receive a lot of TLC during those first 100 years, so by the early 2000s they had slipped into a state of disrepair and decay. That’s when Friends of Lincoln Park founders, Anna Yatroussis and Meg Autry, enter the scene. They put a plan in action to rescue these iconic stairs from blight. From there, a coalition force of local organizations, many working pro-bono, came together to hire local artist Aileen Barr and bring this vision to life. The result? Well, I’ll let you see for yourself.

The view from the top of these steps back down California Street does not suck.

Hidden Garden Steps (📍Sunset District)

Next, we’re headed down to the Sunset District, where we’ll spend the rest of this article. Our first stop in Sunset is a tucked-away little staircase, scaling the jungley cliff separating Kirkham St. and Lawton St. If you’re trying to find it, lower 16th St. runs straight from Golden Gate Park, dead-ends into the bottom of these steps, and then picks back up at the top of these steps.

They’re called the Hidden Garden Steps, and they really are hidden. It’s a b-list tourist attraction at best, and it would be very easy to walk right by them without even noticing them. As I said, San Francisco’s landscape has created lots of nooks and crannies—and this is definitely one of the coolest. The project of designing the art for these stairs started with fundraising back in 2010. By 2012 artists were officially working on the stairs, and they were officially opened to the public on December 7, 2013.

There are 9 distinct sections with a total of 148 stairs. The whole ascent functions as one work of art, with a garden-themed flow that carries you from bottom to top. However, each section has a verdant sub-theme within that flow, focusing specifically on particular elements of this tiled garden, like flowers, mushrooms, snails, etc. But what makes this staircase so cool (as if everything else wasn’t enough) is the detail. These tiles are inscribed with more than just the names of those who contributed to the project (as seen above on the Lincoln Park steps) but with custom messages from each of those contributors. Some of them are truly heartwarming, while others made me chuckle. These steps really feel like a reflection of the community that surrounds them. Here are some pictures.

16th Avenue tiled steps (📍Sunset District)

I saved the best for last! These are probably the most famous of all the tiled steps in San Francisco, and there is some very cool stuff at the top of them.

The 16th Ave steps are located in a little enclave of Inner Sunset called Golden Gate Heights, climbing the steep hill separating 16th Street from 15th Street. The foot of these stairs is located at the intersection of Moraga and 16th, which is already at the top of a small but unpleasant-to-climb hill. From there, a gorgeous sea-and-stars themed mosaic flows beautifully up the stairway’s 163 steps. It really is a work of art.

These steps actually pre-date the Hidden Garden Steps by almost 10 years. It was conceived in 2003 by a couple of ordinary neighborhood residents: Jessie Audette and Alice Yee Xavier. It was actually inspired Jessie’s former life living as an ex-pat in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. There is a famous staircase in Rio that leads up a long hill to the neighborhood of Santa Teresa—and it looks a lot like what I’m about to show you.

Anyway, this project was intended as a grassroots effort to beautify the area and connect the members of their community. The community quickly got on board and collectively selected artists Aileen Barr and Colette Crutcher to collaborate in the creation. And if you remember from earlier in the article, Aileen Barr is the same artist who worked on the Lincoln Park Steps. It seems like she’s a big deal in SF, so here’s a link to her website. Now feast your eyes on her creation!

Further Up: Grandview Park (📍Sunset District)

The view from the top of these stairs is great. There are some pictures below. BUT, as soon as you get up there, it immediately becomes clear that you can climb even further up, into Grandview Park. And it certainly is a grand view. The hike up the narrow path to the top took up past a hilarious old Chinese man with a mouth full of gold teeth, shamelessly singing along to traditional Chinese music blaring from a small, worn-out boom box at the top of his lungs, even as people walked by him. He appeared to have been in the zone long before we arrived, and he was still going strong as we finally left.

High above the noise of the bustling streets below, and slightly less high above the noise of that old man, Grandview Park sat in (mostly) quiet reverence to its surroundings. Back down on the streets of San Francisco things were often noisy and stressful, but up here there was only the sound of the wind. And the view was 360 degrees across what has got to be the most beautiful city in America. Lots of famous San Francisco sights are visible from up here, but I think the best view was looking due west, over the Sunset District. This is not an area with much clout to it… but it has a certain je ne sais quoi energy to it. It is quiet, yet connected to the crowded heart of the big city. It is urban, yet connected to the ocean in the same way a lazy little beach town might be. It is incredibly diverse… and distinctly Californian. It’s not at the top of anybody’s list, and I had only been here in passing during my previous visits… but I found myself thinking about this area a lot after I left. I wanted to come back here and just chill. And that is what I did.

Here are some pictures from Grandview Park.

Sunset In Outer Sunset

Man, if I can just get a bit real here, the pandemic has been just awful for me. I have spent more time in my house (and walking around my neighborhood) than I ever thought I would have to, and in that time I did a lot of thinking about the other places where I would have preferred to be living instead. San Francisco obviously made regular appearances in these thought patterns, but the one piece of it that I always thought about specifically was this stretch of Ocean Beach that runs across Outer Richmond, Golden Gate Park, and Outer Sunset. How incredible it would have been to walk on this sand every day of COVID. I thought about it a LOT. And now, we’re going to get to visit exactly this place!

The photographs that follow are from 2 separate visits to this place. It was a bit chilly out there on the sand, but I could have stayed there all night. And as I walked down the beach, a funny thing happened. I walked right by an old friend—an old roommate in fact!—whom I had not seen or spoken to in a couple of years. We were friends but had definitely fallen out of touch. I didn’t even know that he lived here, so after seeing his face for that brief moment… I wasn’t even sure if it was him. It was just so out of context. I have maybe 12-15 friends that live in SF, and in my head, he was not one of them. But I rolled the dice and called his name, and it was him! In this vast city, we literally walked right past each other! It was such a small world experience.

The next night, I was meeting up with some friends at an awesome little bar (which I HIGHLY recommend) called Woods Beer & Wine Co. It’s a small, specific place, and we were sitting in a hard-to-find little nook out back of the bar, when who should walk in BUT THAT SAME DUDE. It was too funny. I wish the world was smaller so that stuff could happen more often. Shout out to my dude Clint. It was great catching up. Now beach pics.

Goddammit. I need to man up and just move here. I love San Francisco so much. It’s good vibes.

This has been a brief foray into niche SF community art projects and the Sunset Districts. I hope you enjoyed.

Up next there’s more San Francisco headed your way, and then we’re piling into the car and headed up to Point Reyes National Seashore. It’s going to be very aesthetically pleasing.