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Stairway Walks in San Francisco: The Joy of Urban Exploring
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About Stairway Walks In San Francisco: The Joy Of Urban
Product Description The Essential City Walking Guide for Over 30 Years Hundreds of public stairways traverse San Francisco’s boundless hills, revealing scenic vistas and linking colorful, diverse neighborhoods. Since 1984, Stairway Walks in San Francisco has been helping urban explorers discover the best of the City by the Bay via riser and handrail. Now in its ninth edition, this beloved guidebook by Mary Burk with Adah Bakalinsky includes three new walks, updates of classic favorites, and many new photographs. The amazing routes invite you to explore 35 featured walks that incorporate San Francisco’s magnificent stairway network, from Marshall Beach and Noe Valley to Lands End and Telegraph Hill. Lively route descriptions, at-a-glance Quick-Step summaries, and easy-to-read maps―as well as parking and public-transportation information―provide all the details you want to know. Plus, a comprehensive appendix lists all 600-plus stairways. Whether you want to learn about the city’s history and architecture, elevate your exercise routine, or just let your feet lead the way to new adventures, Stairway Walks in San Francisco has something for everyone. Review “Stairway Walks in San Francisco retains the city’s history; appreciates the city’s beauty; and, most importantly, encourages healthy activity.” --Gavin Newsom, Lieutenant Governor of California About the Author Mary Burk has been walking the stairways of San Francisco since the 1980s. While researching the city and its seven hills, she discovered Adah Bakalinsky’s book and quickly fell in love with her unique way of bringing the city to life. Mary and Adah first met at a book event for the fourth edition at the San Francisco Main Public Library. The two became fast friends, bonding through their deep interest in exploring the city on foot. Adah shared with Mary how every walk has its own rhythm, and so the two of them began improvising new walks together. Three editions later, Adah passed the torch to Mary. But Mary and Adah still walk together and scout out new stairways and interesting routes for upcoming editions. When not out walking, Mary works as a software systems consultant and enjoys swimming and cooking. She shares a home with her husband, their two cats, and their 19-year-old catfish. Adah Bakalinsky grew up in Saint Paul, Minnesota, surrounded by flat land. She remembers trying as a child to walk up icy Ramsey Hill (near Pleasant Avenue) in winter, slithering down, trying again, and finally reaching the top. Fifty years later, while walking the old neighborhood on a visit, she discovered that a stairway had been built to ascend the hill! Looking for a synthesis for her backgrounds in social work, music, and film, she discovered, surprisingly, that it was walking. She walks, and as she walks, she talks to whomever will talk with her. She carries a tape recorder to capture stories; she finds that walks shape themselves into a variety of musical forms and dances, and she redesigns a walk until it has just the rhythm it must have. She walks to see and returns to photograph the objects that give flavor to the walk. She feels lucky to live in San Francisco, where walking seems the most natural way to traverse the city. Happy heeling, frisky footing, and merry walking! Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. WALK 4: Russian Hill South Speaking of Intangibles Every San Francisco neighborhood has its own unique character, a distillation of the folklore and stories of its early days surviving through continual modifications. Russian Hill acquired its name from an early cemetery located on the east side of Vallejo and Jones where Russian sailors were buried before the Gold Rush (a stairway is located on the site). Greek Orthodox crosses and bones have been unearthed there. The sailors had probably come down from Fort Ross, the Russian settlement, with the pelts of seals and otters. In the late 1800s and even more so after the 1906 earthquak
