Day Four

Nob Hill • Chinatown • Civic Center

Elegant Nob Hill is a compact area of first-class hotels, a historic mansion, Grace Cathedral, and a working cable car barn. Start down below with breakfast at 39 Sears Fine Foods Restaurant (439 Powell; 986-1160), known for its Swedish pancakes and generous portions. Head up California Street to Mason. The 40 Mark Hopkins Hotel is on your left, 41 the Fairmont Hotel and 42 the Flood Mansion (now the exclusive Pacific Union Club) on your right. Across the street is the 43 Huntington Hotel. At 44 Grace Cathedral, seat of the Episcopal bishop of California, notice the Rose Window, the Doors of Paradise (full-scale replicas of the Ghiberti doors in Florence) and, in the courtyard, the Labyrinth, which offers only one route to its center, a trial-and-error journey that is said to cleanse the spirit.

45 The Cable Car Museum (1201 Mason; 474-1887) has a collection of vintage cable cars, memorabilia, historic photographs and a room for watching the complex system of cables in operation. 46 Old St. Mary’s Church (California and Grant Avenue), California’s first cathedral, was built in 1886. Across the street in St. Mary’s Square is sculptor Beniamino Bufano’s stainless steel and rose granite 47 statue of Chinese revolutionary leader Sun Yat-sen.

48 Grant Avenue, Chinatown’s central artery, runs for eight blocks from Bush to Columbus. This bustling community spokes out into nearby streets, all crammed with gift shops and restaurants for visitors and food markets for neighborhood residents.

To get to the 49 Civic Center, an architectural blend of contemporary and Beaux Arts buildings, walk to Market and take any bus or an F-Line historic streetcar. Most of the fleet’s 28 multihued, lovingly restored cars were built in the ’40s and ’50s but one dates from 1896. Get off at Eighth Street for 50 United Nations Plaza, which commemorates the 1945 signing of the U.N. charter in the nearby War Memorial Opera House. On Wednesdays and Sundays, the plaza is the site of the colorful Heart of the City Farmers’ Market, its abundant seasonal foods reflecting the cuisine of the many Southeast Asians and Filipinos living nearby.

A block west is the gilt- and copper-domed 51 City Hall, built in 1915. Facing it is the 1894 52 Pioneer Monument, symbolizing California settlement and one of the city’s largest historical statues. The old Main Library now is the 53 Asian Art Museum (200 Larkin, 581-3500), the largest museum in the United States devoted exclusively to Asian art. Its pan-Asian collection spans 6,000 years.

The interior of 54 the new Main Library (Larkin and Grove; 557-4400), light and spacious, contains notable public art works: “Constellation,” a five-story wall of lamps inscribed with authors’ names; murals of catalog cards annotated in different languages by local readers; and the conical “Fantasy and Functional Stairway.” For lunch or a beverage, stop by the Library Cafe.

In front of the modern 55 Louise Davies Symphony Hall (Van Ness and Grove) is the bronze “Large Four Piece Reclining Figure” by British sculptor Henry Moore. Tour Davies Symphony Hall and nearby War Memorial Opera House (301 Van Ness; 552-8338) Mondays 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

Herbst Theater, in 56 the War Memorial Veterans Building, 401 Van Ness, is home to City Arts and Lectures’ year-round programs (392-4400) and San Francisco Performances’ (398-6449) presentations of world-class and local artists. Also in the building are the San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery (554-6080) and S.F. Performing Arts Library and Museum (255-4800), archives of the city’s performing arts legacy.

At the War Memorial Opera House, the S.F. Opera (864-3330) season extends from September through November with Summer Opera in June. S.F. Ballet (861-5600) productions begin in December with “The Nutcracker” and run through early May. The San Francisco Symphony (864-6000) performs at Davies Symphony Hall from fall through the spring, plus summer concerts.

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