Ah, San Francisco.
Hard to believe it's been over twenty years since I lived there.
I still return as often as I can, which is never often enough.

This isn't really a "guide" in the usual sense— there are already
plenty of of those.
Instead, I've combined photographs I've taken with old postcards I've collected,
and assembed this portrait of The City by the Bay.

Here is the way
I see San Francisco.
It may or may not be the way someone
else sees it.
Oh, well.  That's what makes it
idiosyncratic!

Enjoy!


(Click on any of the topics below)
THE INTERACTIVE MAP
An overview of the entire downtown area, featuring dozens of links to click on.  Each link brings up of picture of what's at that location.
THE BRIDGES
Ever have trouble telling the Golden Gate Bridge from the Bay Bridge?  This handy comparison will end your confusion forever, at least about which bridge is which!
MARKET STREET
Once nicknamed "The Slot," Market Street remains the busiest, most eclectic street in San Francisco.
THE MARKET STREET
VIRTUAL TOUR
You'll see it all as you stroll from the Embarcadero to Van Ness Avenue  --without ever leaving your chair!
NORTH BEACH
Don't bring your swim trunks.  North Beach isn't a beach at all, but rather one of San Francisco's best-known neighborhoods: home of first-rate Italian restaurants and third-rate strip joints.
UNION SQUARE
Ground zero of the San Francisco $hopping district.
CHINATOWN
Charming tourtist attraction or dangerous, overcrowded ghetto?
You decide!
GOLDEN GATE PARK
A thousand acres of greenery in the middle of The City, and currently going through some major changes.
THE CLIFF HOUSE
For over a century, it's been "where SanFrancisco begins."  (or ends, I guess, if you happen to be coming from the other direction...)
THE FERRY BUILDING
After decades of exile behind the Embarcadero Freeway, San Francisco's Ferry Building has come back in a big way.
THE POWELL ST. TURNTABLE
Time and time again, the postcard photographers have returned to the spot where the cable cars turn around.
COIT TOWER
Most people have seen "the world's largest firehose nozzle" atop Telegraph Hill.  But the real show is inside.
THEY'RE GONE!
Places and things it's too late to go visit.
STREET SCENES
Random looks at The City, past and present
1940s POSTCARD SET
A set of classic black & white views of The City, and the folder they came in.
OLD 35mm SLIDES, part 1
Vacation pictures from somebody's trip to San Francisco.  (My wife Carla found these at an estate sale.)
OLD 35mm SLIDES, part 2
From the same estate sale:  A very color-faded set of slides from some long-forgotten giftshop.
HERB CAEN
Gone but not forgotten, Herb Caen's column was a part of every San Franciscan's morning.
McDONALD'S BOOKSHOP RETURNS
After a long hiatus, a downtown classic has reopened its doors.
FILM NOIR SAN FRANCISCO
No, these pictures aren't from some old Warner Brothers gangster movie.  They're just supposed to look like that way!
KTVU's CAPTAIN SATELLITE
Afternoon TV hero to millions of Bay Area kids during the sixties.
"MY ROADTRIP WITH MIKE"
A cautionary tale to anyone considering driving to The City with me, as told by my friend Perry Lake..
"OUR LADY OF DARKNESS"
Perry Lake returns to San Francisco to search out the real-life locations described in Fritz Leiber's classic horror novel.
THE DAKOTA HOTEL
Spotlight on a San Francisco hotel with its own idiosyncratic character.
LINKS TO OTHER SITES
All San Francisco, all the time!
The Dashiell Hammett Website

The mikehumbert.com homepage

Comments or questions? E-mail me!


Text and photographs (excluding those in public domain) ©2005, 2006 - all rights reserved