at the Cable Car Museum. The quake damaged the 30-year-old cable car system, and the advent of the streetcar and the trolley bus (both popular modes of transportation in the city) led to the system's near demise by the 1940s. In 1947, the city voted to save the three lines that are still running today.
San Francisco's famed cable cars are worth the fare just to experience a century-plus-old tradition, but they're also a good way to get from downtown to Fisherman's Wharf, as pictured here, and back. Stop by the Cable Car Museum atop Nob Hill for a look at the history of the system. Photo courtesy of Friends of the Cable Car Museum.
If you're going to be walking the city for the day or for several days, get a single- or multi-day pass it will save you money and a lot of huffing and puffing as you try to navigate the city's notorious hills.
In the shadow of one famous hill, Nob Hill, lies Chinatown, a fascinating look at the Gateway to the East and some good, inexpensive food as well. Atop Nob Hill are the Cable Car Museum and some of the most expensive hotels and mansions in the city, only two of which survived the 1906 quake and fire, including the Flood Mansion (now the exclusive Pacific-Union Club, not open to the public) and the exquisite Fairmont Hotel, which was gutted by the fire.
Get back on the cable car (or walk, if you are ambitious) down Nob Hill toward Russian Hill. Atop Russian Hill, along Hyde Street, tourists can jump off the Powell/Hyde cable car and wander down Lombard Street, called the "crookedest street in the world," past stately Victorian mansions. Keep going on Lombard until you reach Columbus Street, and you'll find some fantastic dining in North Beach, San Francisco's Little Italy.
North Beach is also where you'll find the beginnings of the Bank of America,
and another important stop along the earthquake trail. As geologist Lisa Rossbacher
wrote in a July 2005 Geotimes column, owner A.P.
Giannini saved the Bank of Italy from the inferno by filling a horse-drawn wagon
with $2 million in gold and securities, covering the valuables with vegetables,
and heading toward Fisherman's Wharf. The day after the quake struck, Giannini
opened for business.
From the gold reserves he saved from the fire, Giannini granted many of the loans that were used to rebuild San Francisco, as the quake and fire destroyed most of the other banks. In 1929, Giannini bought out Bank of America for the name. Although Bank of America is no longer headquartered in San Francisco, a walk through North Beach could give you a sense of the days of yore, with old-fashioned restaurants, shops and the beautiful expanse of green at Washington Square.
Coit Tower atop Telegraph Hill offers great views of San Francisco, if visitors can make the climb up there. The tower was built with money left to the city by Lillie Hitchcock-Coit, the patroness of San Francisco's firefighters, who admired their work during the blazes following the 1906 earthquake. Photo by Lewis Sommer is courtesy of the San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau.
After some pasta and gelato, head up Telegraph Hill to Coit Tower, which offers spectacular views of the city and San Francisco Bay, and is yet another reminder of the earthquake and fire. Coit Tower was built with money bequeathed to the city by Lillie Hitchcock-Coit, a turn-of-the-century patroness of the firefighters of San Francisco. The tower resembles a fire hose nozzle, and thanks to residents and volunteer firefighters, many of the houses atop the hill were able to survive the fire in 1906.
From Telegraph Hill, head down the hill toward the water and Fisherman's Wharf. Check out the Aquarium of the Bay, take photos of the throngs of sea lions lying on the rocks and piers sunning themselves, and enjoy the beginning of the restaurants, shops and hotels that line the wharf. The area is a tourist trap and usually crowded.
Visitors can catch a ferry to Alcatrez Island, pictured here, from Fisherman's Wharf also a great place to watch sea lions lounging in the sun. Photo by Jeff Greenberg is courtesy of the San