City Walk: Dolores Heights (#97)

• Posted on Dan
• in 100 things, city walks, San Francisco
• on July 25, 2010
• 1 Comment.

This city walk is in an area that’s sort of in between a couple of different areas that we commonly visit. Before we did this walk, we’d never been to this specific neighborhood. I’m going to guess that it’s because it’s on the top of a big hill. But since I went ahead and wrote out this ambitious list of things I want to do in a span of time that is ever growing shorter, we got our butts up the hill.

To be perfectly honest, this walk was pretty rough. It was a relatively warm day in SF, and the walk consisted of several stairways up, just to go downhill again. Not exactly a peaceful meandering stroll. The scenery was lovely, the architecture was great, and the views were breathtaking. My interesting information stops there though – this wasn’t a walk full of rich history. Photos, though. Photos we have.

Sculptured redwood bench, because that’s how San Francisco rolls. It was actually very comfortable.

So up near the top of the picture there, you can see that the house has what the book calls an “octagonal belvedere” and what I would call a “cupola.” You should know that it is roofed in a pattern of blue and lavender tiles. That’s right. These fools put a dome on the top of their house, and covered it with a mosaic. Friends, they need to find a new way to spend their money.

What you’re seeing above looks like two streets but is actually the same street. In 1924, San Francisco “improved” the street by lowering the grade on just one side of the street (on the left there) and raising it on the other. What resulted is a street where some people’s garages are now completely useless.

I want to live here. With a different car though.

Walk stats: 1.47 miles, 1.5 hours, same day that Spain won the World Cup!