San Francisco Bay Area

This Drive Comes From...

America's Hidden Corners

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This loop drive begins in many travelers’ favorite American city, San Francisco, which you’ll explore from the top of Telegraph Hill to the bottom of the chowder bowls on Fisherman’s Wharf. The city (never “Frisco”) is situated on the tip of a peninsula, upon which the route leads south to burgeoning San Jose, the capital of Silicon Valley. Then you return north along the east side of San Francisco Bay, passing through small historic towns and the university city of Berkeley before arriving back in San Francisco. Here’s a city that has it all—heart-swelling views, a picturesque bay that is by turns sunny or shrouded in romantic fog, Victorian houses on steep hills, fine restaurants, and high culture. CONTINUED

- San Francisco
- Half Moon Bay
- San Jose
- Livermore
- Danville
- Benicia
- Oakland

(Continued From Top)

San Francisco
San Francisco (Visitor Information Center +1 415 391 2000) started out as a rough-and-tumble child of the California Gold Rush. With its new wealth, the town picked up big-city sophistication and style, but always kept its bohemian soul. Its reputation for tolerance made San Francisco a home of the 1950s beat generation and the hippie-go-lucky generation of the sixties; today it’s a capital of the gay community.
The heart of downtown is Union Square, a plaza planted with boxwoods and bright flowers. Scores of elegant hotels, clothiers, and restaurants surround it.

Before exploring northward on your tour of the city, duck south of Market Street to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (151 3rd St. +1 415 357 4000. Closed Wed.; Adm. fee). With appropriately modernist lines, the West Coast MoMA houses more than 17,000 modern works, specializing in Mexican painting, fauvism, German expressionism, and American abstract expressionism. Famous works range from Matisse’s “Femme au Chapeau” (1907) to pop artist Andy Warhol’s “National Velvet” (1963).
Also south of Market, in the Mission District, wisps of incense and the past permeate San Francisco’s oldest building. Built in 1791 along California’s chain of missions, Mission San Francisco de Asís (Mission Dolores) (16th and Dolores Sts. +1 415 621 8203. Adm. fee) still has its painted ceiling and original bells.
Back at Union Square, you’re in a good place to board the city’s unique cable cars (+1 415 673 6864. Fare), clanking machine-age delights that “climb halfway to the stars.” To see an original 1873 model and the powerhouse that drives the entire system, catch a ride from Powell Street to the San Francisco Cable Car Museum (Washington and Mason Sts. +1 415 474 1887).

Nearby Chinatown (Grant Ave. area between Bush and Broadway) is a maze of sights and smells—pagoda roofs and dragon-entwined lampposts, restaurants, and shops crammed to the rafters with Asian arts both fine and facsimile. To learn about the Chinese who came to San Francisco during the gold rush visit the Chinese Historical Society of America (650 Commercial St. +1 415 391 1188. Call for hours). For architecture, see the painted balconies and temples along Waverly Place. Stockton Street is the neighborhood market, offering ginger roots and bamboo shoots and crates of cackling chickens.
That aroma—is it espresso? Follow your nose northward along Columbus Avenue into North Beach, whose coffeehouses were haunts of the beat generation in the fifties. Must-sees include Washington Square, the social hub of Little Italy, edged by beautiful Saints Peter and Paul Church; and City Lights Booksellers (261 Columbus Ave. +1 415 362 8193), founded in 1953 by beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti.
Atop Telegraph Hill at Coit Memorial Tower (+1 415 362 0808. Fee for elevator), you’ll enjoy a dazzling view of the city from this 1933 landmark. Across Columbus Avenue rises flower-terraced Lombard Street (between Hyde and Leavenworth Sts.). Called the “crookedest street in the world,” it zigzags nine times down a single steep block.
Now direct yourself to the waterfront. Although the fishing fleet still docks at Fisherman’s Wharf (Taylor and Jefferson Sts.), the biggest fishes landed here now may be tourists, baited by picturesque views over the water and the chance to hook into overpriced seafood dinners. Still, it’s fun to eat a walk-away shrimp cocktail, browse the trinket shops, and see such odd attractions as the Ripley’s “Believe It or Not!”® Museum (175 Jefferson St. +1 415 771 6188. Adm. fee ).
Stroll around Ghirardelli Square, a 19th-century chocolate factory reborn as shops and restaurants. The nearby Buena Vista (2765 Hyde St. +1 415 474 5044) is a classic San Francisco saloon that in 1951 reputedly served the first Irish coffee in America; you know what to order.
Also on the waterfront, the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park (Beach and Polk Sts. +1 415 556 3002. Adm. fee to ships) encompasses a museum full of figureheads and ships-in-bottles, plus historic ships moored at Hyde Street Pier—notably the globe-roaming 1886 square-rigger, Balclutha.
Several attractions lie offshore and are accessible from piers. Let your bad-apple imagination roam at Alcatraz Island (Tours leave from Pier 41. +1 415 705 5555 for information; +1 415 546 2700 for advance reservations, which are recommended; fee), a former federal penitentiary (1934-1963) where Al Capone was a houseguest. You’ll see cellblocks, the mess hall, library, and exercise yard; and learn about a tricky, seemingly impossible escape.
More benign is 740-acre [300-hectare] Angel Island State Park (+1 415 435 1915. Ferries leave Pier 43 1/2. +1 415 546 2896. Adm. fee). The largest island in the bay has felt every footprint of local history—as Native American hunting ground, landfall of the first European to sail through the Golden Gate (Ayala in 1775), cattle ranch, Army post, immigration station, prisoner-of-war camp, and Cold War Nike missile base. Hiking trails wind past historic sites and up to a stunning, 360-degree view of the entire bay area.
Now head west through the Marina District on Marina Boulevard, turning left on Baker Street to the neoclassic Palace of Fine Arts, the last remaining structure of the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition. Behind the rotunda stands the Exploratorium (3601 Lyon. +1 415 563 7337. Daily mid-May–mid-Sept., closed Mon. rest of year; Adm. fee). A cross between mad scientist’s lab and penny arcade, it has been rated best science museum in the world by Scientific American. Among 650 bleeping, buzzing, hands-on exhibits, you can touch a tornado, find out why your bicycle doesn’t have square wheels, blow a bubble bigger than your dog, and leave a shadow image of yourself on the wall.
The city’s northwest section has remained a shady wood, thanks to the U.S. Army having maintained a base called the Presidio (Visitor Center, Main Post Bldg. 102 on Montgomery St. +1 415 561 4323), founded by Spain in 1776. It’s now part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The Presidio Museum (Funston Ave. at Lincoln Blvd. Wed.-Sun.) has history displays. The adjacent Civil War-era Fort Point National Historic Site (Off Lincoln Blvd. +1 415 556 1693. Wed.-Sun.) served as a coastal fortification during World War II. Besides seeing artifacts and cannon drill demonstrations, you have a rare perspective on the Golden Gate Bridge—from underneath.
To see the view from above, take an exhilarating 1.8-mile [3-kilometer] drive (or walk) across the Golden Gate Bridge (Viewing area off Lincoln Blvd. or US 101), which spans the entrance to San Francisco Bay.
West of the bridge, via Lincoln Boulevard, stands the California Palace of the Legion of Honor (34th Ave. and Clement St. +1 415 863 3330. Closed Mon.; Adm. fee), which has ancient and European art from 2500 B.C. through the 20th century, including 70 Rodin sculptures.
The city’s green playground, 1,017-acre [412-hectare] Golden Gate Park (Bounded by Fulton and Stanyan Sts., Lincoln Way, and Pacific Ocean) is a place to stroll, paddle a rental boat, remember the sixties’ “summer of love,” and visit world-class museums. The museums cluster together in the eastern end of the park; enter from Fulton Street on Eighth or Tenth Avenue. The M.H. de Young Memorial Museum (+1 415 863 3330. Wed.-Sun.; Adm. fee) has American masters and traditional arts from Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. The adjacent Asian Art Museum of San Francisco (+1 415 668 8921. Wed.-Sun.; Adm. fee), the world’s largest museum devoted to Asian art, encompasses works from 40 countries, including China, India, and Tibet. Close by is the captivating Japanese Tea Garden, with its cherry trees and carp ponds; the teahouse reputedly served the first fortune cookie. Across the way, the California Academy of Sciences (+1 415 750 7145. Adm. fee) embraces a natural history museum, a hall of earth and space sciences (hip-shakin’ earthquake simulator and moon rock), an evolution exhibit (Tyrannosaurus Rex skull), the Steinhart Aquarium (alligators and dolphins and more), a planetarium, and a display of original “Far Side” cartoons. Other park attractions include the Strybing Arboretum and Botanical Gardens (Ninth Ave. at Lincoln Way. +1 415 661 0822. Donation); the Bison Paddock (JFK Dr., E of Chain of Lakes Dr.), opened in 1892 when fewer than 600 bison survived in the U.S.; and the Conservatory of Flowers (JFK Dr. E., near Middle Dr. Closed for renovation).

Half Moon Bay

Blooming ice plants, near Half Moon Bay

Photograph © Phil Schermeister

Heading south out of San Francisco on 19th Avenue/California 1, you skirt the ocean and pass through Pacifica, the “fog capital of California.” Follow the twists and turns to Montara State Beach, then go on to Half Moon Bay (Chamber of Commerce +1 650 726 8380), known for its pumpkin fields and the sandy stretch at Half Moon Bay State Beach.
Crossing inland on California 92 offers impressive views of rolling hills. Then head south on I-280, making a stop in Palo Alto and Stanford University (Sand Hill Rd. exit. +1 650 723 2300. Guided tours). Once the horse farm of railroad magnate Leland Stanford, the 8,180-acre [3,310-hectare] campus is notable for its Quad, edged with Richardsonian Romanesque sandstone arcades; the 1903 Memorial Church, complete with biblical mosaics and stained glass; views from Hoover Tower, which contains Herbert Hoover memorabilia and an original copy of the Communist Manifesto; and the 1-acre [.4-hectare] Rodin Sculpture Garden.

San Jose
Continue south on I-280 to San Jose (Visitor Information +1 408 977 0900), founded in 1777 to raise crops for the nearby presidios of San Francisco and Monterey. The settlement served as the state’s first capital between 1849 and 1851. In the 1960s fruit trees gave way to the industrial parks of Silicon Valley.

Winchester Mystery House, San Jose

Photograph © Phil Schermeister

Ghosts of the past remain, perhaps literally, at the Winchester Mystery House (525 S. Winchester Blvd. +1 408 247 2101. Adm. fee), a strange, 160-room Victorian mansion built by Sarah Winchester, widow of the firearms heir. According to legend, a spiritualist medium said she’d live as long as construction continued—and so it did, around the clock, from 1884 until after she died in 1922. Among the house’s mystifying features are doors that open to blank walls.
Just as mysterious in its way is the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum and Planetarium (Naglee and Park Aves. +1 408 947 3636. Adm. fee). Founded by the Rosicrucians (a group that explores the “development of man’s unawakened faculties”), it displays mummies of priests, cats, and even a fish; Egyptian jewelry; and a re-created 4,000-year-old rock tomb.
Revitalized in recent years, downtown San Jose is anchored by the San Jose Museum of Art (110 S. Market St. +1 408 294 2787. Closed Mon.; Adm. fee), devoted to 20th-century works. At the Tech Museum of Innovation (145 W. San Carlos St. +1 408 279 7150. Closed Mon.; Adm. fee), a robot will make you a (simulated) lunch. You can “fly” over the surface of Mars via computer animation, extract DNA from a cow’s thymus gland, and see how a computer chip is fabricated. Also downtown, the San Jose Historical Museum (Kelley Park, 1600 Senter Rd. +1 408 287 2290. Adm. fee) is a 25-acre [10-hectare] outdoor collection of historic and re-created buildings, including a fruit barn and corner gas station.

Livermore
Travel north on I-680, then northeast on California 84, where your surroundings suddenly grow more countrified, with oak trees and horses. In Livermore you can view the world’s oldest continuously burning lightbulb (Livermore Fire Dept., 4550 East Ave. +1 925 454 2361), aglow since 1901. And there’s a cautious optimism to be gained at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Visitor Center (N. Greenville Rd. at East Gate Dr. +1 925 422 6408. Call for hours and tours), with its small exhibit on nuclear fusion, lasers, DNA research, and new materials (including the lightest substance ever made, resembling frozen smoke). Tours visit the world’s most powerful laser.

The fertile land around Livermore nurtures a decent wine industry. Two historic wineries to visit are Concannon Vineyard (4590 Tesla Rd. +1 925 456 2505) and Wente Vineyards Estate Winery (5565 Tesla Rd. +1 925 456 2300), both founded in 1883; the latter is California’s oldest continuously operating family winery.

Danville
Follow I-580 and I-680 north to Danville (Diablo Rd. exit to Danville Blvd.), a sleepy residential town with a Western-style main street full of shops and restaurants. Overlooking golden hills, the Eugene O’Neill National Historic Site (+1 925 838 0249. Wed.-Sun. Tours by reservation) preserves Tao House, where Eugene O’Neill—the only American playwright to win the Nobel Prize for Literature—wrote such plays as Long Day’s Journey Into Night.
Across the interstate via Diablo Road, you can stretch your legs on a side trip to Mount Diablo State Park (+1 925 837 2525. Adm. fee), which encircles the sedimentary rock cone of Mount Diablo (3,849 feet; 1,173 meters)—not a volcano, although it looks like one. From the top, reached by car or hiking trail, a 360-degree view (on infrequent clear days) sweeps from the Pacific Ocean to the Sierra Nevada. Wildlife includes deer, possums, bobcats, and the rare mountain lion.
If you continue on Diablo Road (which becomes Blackhawk Road), you’ll reach the Blackhawk Automotive Museum (3700 Blackhawk Plaza Cir. +1 925 736 2280. Wed.-Sun.; Adm. fee), which displays a rotating exhibit of one-of-a-kind automobiles—perhaps you’ll see the rare 1931 Bugatti Royale, or Lucille Ball’s Dual Ghia.

Benicia

Living history at John Muir N.H.S., Martinez

Photograph © Phil Schermeister

Back on the main route, proceed on I-680 to the city of Walnut Creek, where a spur leads to Martinez and the John Muir National Historic Site (4202 Alhambra Ave. +1 925 228 8860. Wed.-Sun.; Adm. fee). Here is preserved the 1882 Italianate home of writer and naturalist John Muir, who influenced the creation of Yosemite National Park. Just north across Carquinez Strait lies Benicia (Chamber of Commerce +1 707 745 2120), a pleasant waterfront town that proudly served as California’s capital in 1853-54. The Benicia Capitol State Historic Park (115 West G St. +1 707 745 3385. Adm. fee) contains the state’s oldest existing capitol. Next door stands a gold rush hotel that was converted to a private home, the furnished Fischer-Hanlon House (+1 707 745 3385. Guided tours only. Call for schedule; Adm. fee).

Sather Gate, University of California at Berkeley

Photograph © Phil Schermeister

From Walnut Creek, the drive continues west on California 24 for about 30 miles [48.3 kilometers] to the College Avenue exit. Turn right and head into Berkeley (Convention and Visitors Bureau +1 925 549 7040 or 800 847 4823), known best for the university campus that became the proving ground of the 1960s Free Speech Movement. The 30,000-student University of California at Berkeley (East of Oxford St. between Bancroft Way and Hearst St. Visitor Center in University Hall, Rm. 101, at Univ. Ave. and Oxford St. +1 510 642 5215. Tours available) is renowned for its advanced research and social thought. Among its notable institutions, the Bancroft Library has the definitive research collection on the American West; exhibits include the nugget that reputedly started the California Gold Rush. Atop 307-foot [93.5-meter] Sather Tower (Adm. fee) awaits a panoramic view of the bay area and the Berkeley Hills. The University Art Museum (2626 Bancroft Way. +1 510 642 0808. Wed.-Sun.; Adm. fee) features Asian and 20th-century American art, while the adjacent Pacific Film Archives (+1 510 642 1412. Call for schedule; Adm. fee) shows international films. In the hills above the main campus, the Lawrence Hall of Science (Centennial Dr. +1 510 642 5132. Adm. fee) has lots of fun, hands-on exhibits that explore the worlds of computers, outer space, animals, and more. For a study break, flop into a chair at any of the coffeehouses near campus.

Oakland

Boating on Lake Merritt, Oakland

Photograph © Phil Schermeister

Backtrack to California 24 and continue west to Oakland (Convention and Visitors Authority +1 510 839 9000 or 800 262 5526). At I-580 go southeast to the Grand Avenue exit and take the second right onto Lakeshore Avenue. This busy thoroughfare traces Lake Merritt, a natural saltwater lake edged with some 150 acres [61 hectares] of paths and gardens.
Follow Lakeshore Avenue around the lake, and turn right on Twelfth Street to the Oakland Museum of California (1000 Oak St. +1 510 238 2200. Wed.-Sun.; Adm. fee), which has three major galleries. One provides a crash course in California history, proceeding from Indian baskets and a gold rush assay office to a pumper from the 1906 San Francisco fire, beatnik coffeehouse, and Apple computer. Another gallery focuses on natural sciences, and the last features artwork from the early 1800s and on, including old photographs, a light-drenched painting of Yosemite Valley by Albert Bierstadt, and 1920s arts and crafts furniture.
Oakland is a port city, whose booming waterfront is lined with nearly 20 miles [32 kilometers] of berths and terminals. Overlooking the activity you’ll find the rather touristy Jack London Square (Foot of Broadway), named for the writer of The Call of the Wild, who spent most of his life in Oakland. Stop by Heinold’s First & Last Chance Saloon (1883) (+1 510 839 6761), where London sold newspapers as a youngster; its floors are slanted from the 1906 quake. The Jack London Cabin, moved from the Yukon, is where London lived as a prospector in 1897. At the Jack London Museum (30 Jack London Sq. +1 510 451 8218. Closed Mon.) are signed first editions; a model of London’s sailboat, the Snark; and photos of the author. Docked nearby is the 165-foot-long [50-meter-long] Potomac (+1 510 839 8256. Ship tours April-Oct. Wed. and Sun.; Adm. fee. Call for schedule of bay cruises; fare). A restored former Coast Guard cutter, it served as FDR’s floating White House.
The route ends with a crossing of the Bay Bridge, which stretches 4.5 miles [7 kilometers] in two sections, linked by Yerba Buena Island. You’ll be driving on the top deck, affording a panoramic view of San Francisco.