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Nob Hill and Russian
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At the top of California Street is Nob Hill, the site on which
San Francisco’s early millionaires – Gold Rush and railroad nabobs
(slang for wealthy men, which gave Nob Hill its name) – built their
mansions, now established as some of the city’s finest hotels: The
Fairmont, the Huntington, and the Mark Hopkins. At 1100 California
Street at Jones is Grace Cathedral, known for its treasured furnishings
including doors which are replicas of Ghiberti’s “Gates of Paradise” and
its restored stained glass windows. For information, call 415-749-6300.
The Cable Car Powerhouse And Museum, 1201 Mason Street at
Washington, is the working center of the cable-car system, with on-site
gallery and gift shop. Adjacent Russian Hill offers steep streets and
remarkable views.
On the east side of Russian Hill sits the San Francisco Art
Institute, 800 Chestnut Street, which has been educating artists since
the 1800s. Stop into the Diego Rivera Gallery to view his 1931 mural
"The Making of A Fresco Showing the Building of a City."
Our famous Lombard Street, dubbed “crookedest street in the
world,” winds in a series of eight hairpin turns on a 40-degree slope in
a single block between Hyde and Leavenworth. Built in the 1920s to
accommodate the steep incline, this landscaped street has recently been
redirecting car traffic during peak times, so plan for possible delays.
Actually Lombard Street is neither the crookedest street (that honor
would go to Vermont Avenue near 20th Street) nor the steepest in San
Francisco-- but it's the best-known. The Powell-Hyde cable car stops at
the top of Lombard Street. You can also get there by walking up Hyde
(very steep) from Ghirardelli Square, or by walking west from North
Beach on Lombard Street. If you plan on driving down Lombard Street,
approach it from Hyde Street. Lombard Street is one-way, and you can't
drive up from from Leavenworth. There are pedestrian stairways on either
side. Running west from Van Ness through the Marina, Lombard Street
becomes the major conduit to Golden Gate Bridge.
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