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 assembled 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 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.

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

Epicenter 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, which has gone through some major changes in recent years.

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!

Twenty places and things it's too late to go visit.

EARLY 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.  If you’ve ever wanted to see The City tinted pinky-orange, this is your chance!.

HERB CAEN

Gone but not forgotten, Herb Caen's column was a part of every San Franciscan's morning.  Here we’ll examine some of Herb’s lesser-known writing...

KTVU's CAPTAIN SATELLITE

Afternoon TV hero to millions of Bay Area kids during the sixties.

"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.

"MY ROADTRIP WITH MIKE"

A cautionary tale to anyone considering driving to The City with me, as told by my friend Perry Lake..

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) © 2003-2012 by Mike Humbert.