Click MAP to locate destinations preceded by yellow numbers.

Begin your day downtown at 1 Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (701 Mission; 415-978-2700), the city’s home for local visual and performing artists plus a six-acre park and sculpture garden. At the south end of the circular esplanade is the Martin Luther King Memorial Waterfall, designed by African American sculptor Houston Conwill. Stop above the waterfall for refreshments at the African American-owned Clouds restaurant (720 Howard; 415-278-0432).

Across the street is the 2 California Historical Society (678 Mission; 415-357-1848), which features photos and artifacts, many from the Gold Rush era. In the library shop is the fall 1996 issue of the Society’s journal, California History, which is devoted entirely to African Americans in California.

Call 3 Alexander Bookstore (50 Second St.; 415-495-2992) to see if the Sister Circle is meeting that day — readings by primarily African American writers such as novelist Gwendolyn Parker and social psychologist Gaile Elizabeth Wyatt.

At First St. and Market, catch the No. 15 bus to Third St., the Bayview District's main thoroughfare. This historic neighborhood is home to the city's largest concentration of African Americans. Many settled here during WWII to work in the naval shipyard, and more arrived in the 1960s when the Fillmore District fell victim to urban renewal. Begin your tour at the landmark 4 Bayview Opera House (4705 Third St.; 415-824-0386), the city's oldest theater and the only one to survive the 1906 earthquake, now used primarily for community programming.

Close by are two notable churches, 5 All Hallows Church (1715 Oakdale; 415-285-3377), which was built in 1886, and 6 St. Paul of the Shipwreck (1122 Jamestown; 415-468-3434). Just off Third St. on Oakdale is the Southeast campus of 7 City College of San Francisco, one of nine college campuses in the city. The campus’ Josephine Cole Library is named for the African American woman who was the first non-Caucasian to integrate San Francisco’s public schools in the 1940s.

Along Third St. between Oakdale and Silver are blocks of African American arts and crafts stores, hair salons and novelty shops. At the top of the hill, stop for lunch at 8 Cliff's Barbecue Sea Food (2177 Bayshore; 415-330-0736), or go next door for gigantic sandwiches at 9 Piccolo Pete's (2155 Bayshore; 415-468-6601). Picnic over at 10 Candlestick Point, one of several developed open spaces in the Bayview. Looming nearby is Candlestick Park, home of the 49ers football team.

For dinner, music and dancing in the Bayview, the 11 Monte Carlo Bar and Restaurant (1705 Yosemite; 415-822-7338) specializes in Creole food and live R & B Saturdays and Sundays.

Martin Luther King Memorial Waterfall at Yerba Buena Gardens