lime, and soda) while sampling a miyagi oyster with
Prosciutto di Parma and pickled cauliflower.
Our last stop is famous Bi-Rite Creamery and
Bakeshop where the line outside the door sprawls down
the sidewalk a good two blocks. Happily, we are
whisked to the front of the line for salted caramel ice
cream — a perfect way to end an afternoon of gluttony.
The next day, we try a different kind of tour:
“Haight Ashbury, A Musical Trip of the 60’s.” Our
guide, J.Joe, a twenty-something co-founder of Wild SF
Walking Tours, has a guitar slung over his shoulder
and wears a jaunty newsboy cap, a yellow vest, red
bowtie, and polka dot pants. He says, “In 1906, the San
Francisco earthquake had a 7.8 magnitude, but Haight
Ashbury didn’t go up in smoke until the 1960’s.” We
walk through the Panhandle wafting in the aroma of
the eucalyptus trees and — yes — pot. What else would
you expect in the Haight?
Janis Joplin lived here, J.Joe tells us, as did Jim
Morrison, Country Joe MacDonald, Jack Kerouac and
Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Why hippies? They were young,
under 25, and the rent was cheap. You could get a
house for $175 a month, share it with a lot of people
Keila, our guide, points out Mission Dolores, built
in 1776, which is both the oldest intact Mission in
California and San Francisco’s oldest building — it
survived the earthquake and fire. Everywhere are huge
murals covering building walls depicting social political
narratives. San Francisco has more than 1,000 murals,
mostly concentrated in the Mission. The mural painted
on the Women’s Building, our meeting place, is four-
stories tall, wraps around the entire building, and took
seven artists two years to create it from 1992-1994. The
mural features narratives of feminine independence
and strength, depicting famous women from Georgia
O’Keefe to Aztec mythology’s Coyoxauqui.
There are seemingly as many restaurants in the
Mission as murals. First stop is a Tex-Mex eatery, West
of Pecos, where we sample yummy pork flautas with
chipotle aili and spicy salsa, washed down with Cherry
Tomato Tequila Bloody Marys. At Tacolicious, we taste
Pacific Cod tacos and a delicious mint salsa. The
bottom of the menu says, “Save Water, Drink Tequila.”
The blackboard at Hog & Rocks reads, “Did you know
that 2 drinks a day can reduce your chances of giving a
damn?” We down Shiso Collins (vodka, cucumber,
RIGHT
(clockwise, from
top-left)
An Avital
tour guide during
tour introduction;
Mission Dolores;
Hog & Rocks’ Ham
and Oyster plate;
Bi-Rite Creamery’s
salted caramel ice
cream; one of the
Mission’s many
eclectic murals.
196
THE AFFLUENT TRAVELER
|
Destination Spotlight
Photo Credits (clockwise from top-left):
©Jon Bauer, Avital Tours; ©AK2 / istock.com; ©Jon Bauer, Avital Tours;
©Jon Bauer, Avital Tours; ©Susanne Friedrich / istock.com
