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FISHERMAN'S WHARF SIDEBAR
An Update to Our San Francisco Trip Report
By Darryl Musick
© 2004
This summer, after taking the plunge on a London vacation earlier, we decided to stick a little closer to home. It has been some time since we've been to the Bay Area so it was ripe for an update.
The drive up from Los Angeles was about six hours along the coast on Highway 101. Technically, you can get there a bit faster using Interstate 5 but in our trip to Monterey last year, this proved to save us only fifteen minutes and the drive up I-5 is intensely boring.
Our hotel would be the Homewood Suites along the waterfront near Oakland's Jack London Square. You can get the details of that hotel in the separate review I wrote about our lodging.
Day One - Sunday (July 4th)
After breakfast, we drive over the hills east of Oakland and visit the town of Pleasanton to take in the Alameda County Fair. On arrival I must admit, this is the shadiest fairgrounds I've ever seen in my life! It must be an assortment of old groves (the parking lot is filled with walnut trees) as there are trees everywhere. It's very pleasant on a hot summer day like today.
This fair, as all do, has buildings, streets, and many lawns devoted to vendors trying to separate you from your money but it also has a great model train display and some good old fashioned country contests sprinkled liberally throughout.
Near the farm animal exhibit (separate from the great building that holds the livestock that is competitively displayed) is a contest over who has dressed up there bunny the best. Corny, but still kinda fun to watch as kids have their bunnies dressed like golfers, Uncle Sam, etc.
We make our way over to a garlic fries stand and pay $3.75 for a rather small order. After that, we immediately find another stand that sells a huge platter of them for $3.25…
The wine garden has tastes of the award winning wines ranging from $3.00 to $20 a taste. No thanks…this is much more expensive than the dollar a taste wine competitions I've seen at many other fairs.
Horse racing is going on in the grandstand so we put a few dollars down and have a ball, but we're not going to win today.
Lunch is Thai food, Italian Sausage, and a Polish sausage. All good, in that fair-food kind of way.
We watch a country and western duo perform. She was mediocre but he was an outstanding singer. A few more strolls down the exhibitor halls and we call it a day and head back over to Oakland.
Dinner tonight would be a Pizzeria Uno in Jack London Square. Dinner there was very good and inexpensive, although the waitress chased me down afterward and said I didn't leave the credit slip. Turns out, she dropped it by the cash register.
The square was extremely crowded due to the holiday so we went over to Trader Joe's in nearby Alameda and bought some wine, cheese, and bread to watch the fireworks from our hotel with.
By the time the fireworks started, traffic anywhere within a couple of miles was gridlocked and people were parking in the middle of the street, leaving their cars, and watching the show. Luckily, we'd gotten back early enough to park in the hotel lot and avoid the jam. The fireworks were great, although some locals were a little over exuberant…we were startled out of our sleep at 2:15am when some kids set off an M-80 right outside our hotel window.
Monday
Tickets in hand and breakfast in belly, we head over to the nearest BART (the Bay Area Rapid Transit system - one of the local subways) at the Lake Merritt Station.
Being a holiday, downtown Oakland around the Lake Merritt station is a sleepy place. I park in the BART lot (25 cents per day, what a bargain) and we head over to the elevator. We descend into the station and try to figure out the fares on the machines. I ask the woman manning the booth about fares, especially disabled fares, since I'm not from around there and not sure what to do. She assures me that we need to pay full fare for everybody because there are no offices open today to process the disabled fare.
Doesn't sound completely kosher to me but OK, I just want to get going.
I purchase three full fares and find we need to walk to the end of the station…about 300 yards away…to take an elevator down to the platform.
We get to the elevator and are about to go on when the lady from the booth calls us via an intercom and asks us if we've validated our tickets. No, we didn't know we had to we reply. She says we must return to the booth to validate them.
Upon returning, my wife asks her why she didn't tell us when we were there. This instantly sends the lady into a rage saying she didn't know we didn't know the system (see above when I asked her about the fares because "I'm not from around here"), it's our responsibility to know (and that's why I asked her, to acquire such information), and that…and this is a direct quote…"people will make up any excuse to complain."
So I just want to leave and she finally tells us how to validate the tickets…by putting them through the turnstiles and exiting the station. We do it and head back to the elevator and descend to the platform having survived our encounter with our first rude Bay area transit worker…it won't be our last.
Checking the Giants web site before we left, I learned that upon reaching the Embarcadero station in San Francisco, I need to get a free transfer to the MUNI system (which would take us the rest of the way to the stadium) at tables set up for that purpose before I left the BART station.
Upon arrival, I cannot find any such tables. I see a gentleman with an orange vest, obviously a worker, sitting in a chair next to the station attendant booth and decide to ask him how to get this transfer. You'll have to take my word for it that I asked as politely as possible, "excuse me, but could you tell me where I can get the transfer to MUNI for SBC Park?"
His response was "all BART passengers must ask the BART personnel if they have questions." Which wouldn't be bad except he screamed this at the top of his lungs. Literally. No exaggeration. I was standing 2 feet away and could hear him if he talked in a normal tone but, no, he had to scream as is someone had just stuck something blunt and painful up his nether regions. Second extremely rude transit worker in less than an hour.
I went to the BART booth about fifty feet away and asked there. A number of ball park passengers seeing what had just happened followed along, avoiding the screaming MUNI worker from Hell. At the BART booth, the gentleman there said they would not distribute MUNI transfers for another few minutes, then changed his mind and started handing them out. To his credit, he was professional and polite. I made it a point to let him know how much I appreciated his professional demeanor.
We descended to the MUNI platform (the station has three levels - the concourse just below the street, the MUNI platform one level below that, and the BART platform below MUNI), boarded the trolley, and went to the stadium with no further incident. The stadium was beautiful and the staff professional and very friendly - you can see details of it in my <a href="http://www.epinions.com/content_147994545796">review of SBC Park</a>.
After the game, we caught a MUNI bus nearby and went over to have dinner at Village Pizza on Van Ness. Years ago, we had dinner here and really enjoyed it. Tonight, my wife orders penne pasta with basil and olive oil while Tim and I share a pepperoni and sausage pizza. It's good (the pasta very good) but not quite as good as the pizza we had the night before at Pizzeria Uno.
We head back to the hotel (via BART of course), enjoy the swimming pool & spa, have a few drinks at the hotel's happy hour, and call it a day.
Tuesday
Back on BART we go, this time to spend the day exploring San Francisco. We have been here many times and have seen most of the main sights (like Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge, etc). Today we just want to walk through the neighborhoods around North Beach and Chinatown to snack away and do some shopping. We plan to start at Fisherman's Wharf and slowly make our way south along Columbus and Stockton where we'll end up our day back at the BART station on Market Street.
Today, it's back to the Great Bay Transit Follies. We disembark the BART train again at Embarcadero station and head up to the street level where we'll catch the historic trolley (F Line) to Fisherman's Wharf. (accessibility side note - almost all of the MUNI system is wheelchair accessible, including these old trolleys - see photo at the top of this report - but the famous cable cars are not so we cannot take them to the wharf).
Tim goes to the designated wheelchair area and upon arrival of the beautifully restored 1940's vintage Italian trolley from Milan, the driver activates the lift and puts him on board. I go in via the front door and immediately find the driver and my son arguing about something.
I ask the driver what's going on and he tells me he needs to know where we're getting off at. Tim told him Fisherman's Wharf but I guess there's a few stations in that area and the driver wanted a more precise location. I told him that I don't know the streets of the area but we wanted to get off at the main area of Fisherman's Wharf where the big round sign shaped like a ship's wheel is located.
His answer to me was "there are lot's of signs in Fisherman's Wharf. I don't know which one you're talking about." So I ask him if he can just drop us off wherever he thinks is the most central part of Fisherman's Wharf and that I'll trust his judgment. He again, and not in a nice tone of voice, says he needs an exact location because not all stations are accessible. We're both getting exasperated when a nearby passenger suggests telling him to drop us off at Pier 39. I tell him to do this and he ignores me. I ask him if he heard me and he still ignores me. (I'm standing right next to him) Fine. I deposit my fare and my wife deposits hers and I ask him for transfers. He gives me one. I tell him we paid two fares and he says he didn't see it. I tell him it's not my fault he's not looking at the fare box (which shows the two fares paid) and he silently gives me one more transfer.
We take our seats and a number of passengers remark to us about how rude the driver was. I tell them not to worry…we're getting used to it (but I do take his number, the trolley number, and note the time so I can file a complaint - this is getting ridiculous).
The driver drops us off at Pier 39…about a block away from the accessible station right next to the big Fisherman's Wharf sign (only one of it's kind I see all day) shaped like a ship's wheel….without any more incident.
Third rude transit employee…luckily, he's to be our last. I have to note that these three employees have been, by far, the rudest transit workers I have encountered in my life and that includes major transit systems in the U.S. and Europe that have major reputations for rudeness. MUNI, BART…it's just not necessary to treat customers this way. I'm not taking away a star for it because the rest of the time everything was fine but this really does mar what otherwise is a great and extensive accessible public transit system.
Over at the wharf, we walk along the many seafood stands until one gentleman with a great sales pitch catches our ear. With lines like (directed at people lining up at the next stand over) "don't stand in line over there, we've got better food and no waiting" and "a two dollar tip! People, they wouldn't leave a tip if they didn't love our food! Have a free sample!." You really had to see this guy in action to appreciate his infectious enthusiasm. We try a sample of the chowder - which is really good - and take an order to go.
The shops along here are of the tacky touristy style and we head over the nearby Ghirardelli Square where there are even more. Free samples of chocolate temp us and we buy some chocolate to go and snack at the beautiful park across the street where gorgeous views of the bay compete with the colorful cable car turntable.
Afterward, we catch a North Beach bound MUNI bus and head over to this Italian-American enclave. For me, this was the best part of our short time in San Francisco. We'd wander along and find an Italian bakery. After having a delicious dessert, we'd find an Italian coffee shop and have some deliciously strong coffee. An Italian deli provide some prosciutto, cheese, and wine to be savored later back at the hotel and Tim's pop out at the adult cabarets that sit on the south end of this area. Easy there son, you're still a few years away from being able to get in those places!
Dinner was to be at one of the many wonderful Italian restaurants that line the streets here but I was outvoted by my wife and Tim who wanted to try the Stinking Rose where, not exactly Italian, everything is heavily dosed with garlic.
We have the 40 clove chicken and pasta and, while good, it wasn't quite as tasty as I thought it should be. I had imagined a place so dedicated to garlic would be able to produce tastier fare. In past trips, we have enjoyed other places nearby such as Capp's Corner and Figaro.
After dinner, we went through Chinatown and then ended up at Union Square window shopping at the high-end shops there that sit adjacent to the large homeless population of the square itself. As the sun set, we went back underground to the BART and returned to the hotel to enjoy our wine and Italian delicacies.
Wednesday
After breakfast, we load our luggage into the van (we're checking out) and head north on a bearing that will lead us to the town of Napa. Today, we're going to spend a couple of hours in Napa Valley before the conclusion of this part of our trip.
Expecting the bucolic vistas if endless vineyards and rolling hills, the town of Napa destroys this expectation immediately. Instead, we arrive in a generic suburb lined with industrial parks and mini (plus a couple of mega) malls.
Fortunately, the Napa Valley does indeed feature the longed for stunning vistas as soon as you leave the town of Napa.
Heading up Highway 29…the "wine trail" we pass many wineries. Stop at just about any (look for the "tasting today" or "tasting room open" signs) and pick up a free map to the areas wineries. The map also has many coupons in it for discounts at the wineries.
At the V. Sattui Winer
Our first stop is the V. Sattui winery just south of Saint Helena. The wine here is very good, our favorites being the chardonnay and the Grenache rose. Their wines are mid-priced running for the most part between $12 - $20 per bottle.
Next, we stop at the Sutter Home winery just up the road. They're know for the bargain priced wine they produce but also have a proprietor's reserve and Trinchero labels of premium wines (we also get a coupon for a free reserve tasting for two - regularly $14 - on the wine map). They are very tasty, especially the proprietor's merlot and pinot gregio and the Trinchero barbera.
We now have a quandary…neither one of us like to go wine tasting and not buy at least a sample bottle of wine. But, with just two wineries under out belt, I've just spent $200 on a few cases of wine…I'm not buying any more.
Outside is a beautiful garden so we sip a little of our bounty while watching the Napa Valley Wine Train amble by. Deciding to save another day for wine touring, we head back to the town of Rutherford for lunch before leaving the Bay Area portion of our vacation.
The Original 1998 Trip Report:
The Trip...click on picture for full-size photos!
Give me a cheap fare to San Francisco...and I'm there!
Surfing on the 'net one day before Christmas, I noticed some cheap fares advertised on the Southwest Airlines web page. Your webmasters, being the intrepid travelers that we are, couldn't pass this opportunity by.
Although they were advertised, I couldn't find the fares available on Southwest's site. Luckily, I happened on to Yahoo's excellent on-line travel agency which found us a great fare exactly when we wanted to go. Tickets arrived 2 days later via Federal Express & we were ready to go.
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Burbank airport, old & small, was as good as remembered with no crowding and close in gates. They did move the long term parking out of the airport though...the old lot was given to the valet service. Now you must park a few blocks away. Thumbs up to the airport with another thumbs down to the parking.
Southwest gave us a superb flight that was right on time with great service. The seats were comfortable, the staff was friendly & helpful. We were even treated to a song before takeoff by one of the flight attendants (good singer too!). Southwest gets a big thumbs up!
Oakland, the shortcut to San Francisco.
Oakland Airport bills itself as the shortcut to San Francisco and many travel writers have said that you will arrive quicker in San Francisco if you fly to Oakland instead of SFO. I have to agree, it is faster during busy times (beginning & end of the week) but on regular weekdays it'd probably be just as fast at SFO. The fares to Oakland to tend to be lower though.
Oakland airport is very easy to navigate around and is much smaller than SFO. Access to public transportation is very easy although when BART finishes building its extension into SFO nothing will be able to beat that. Oakland airport gets a thumbs up.
Transportation to our motel was via Bayporter Express shuttle. This is your typical airport shuttle service, a la Supershuttle, and they have one wheelchair accessible van in their fleet. There is also public transportation available via AirBART bus to the local BART station, BART to downtown SF, and then MUNI bus transportation to our motel (see below for details on this option).
Not wanting to deal with a lot of transfers & also with the unknown (this was our first time flying here via the Oakland airport & with the electric wheelchair), we opted for Bayporter, even though it was a $18 premium over public transit, because we wanted to minimize the amount of surprises that would await us.
Although the wheelchair ramp was not working at first, the driver fixed it promptly and we were on our way. The ride was smooth, uneventful, and fast with only about a 15 minute wait for the van when we arrived. We give Bayporter a thumbs up.
Food, Food, & even more food!!!
After stowing our bags at our motel, lunch was the first order of the day. We hopped on MUNI's #19 line (Polk Street) and headed south.
One of our main objectives on vacation is to find good food. Mrs. Webmaster is a big fan of the cookbooks put out by the California Culinary Academy which just so happens to be located in Baghdad by the Bay! What's even better for us budget-conscious travelers is that the academy runs a gourmet restaurant (staffed by students & instructors) where a truly first class meal can be had at coffee shop prices...except on Fridays (like the day we were there).
On Fridays the CCA features the Grand Buffet. Now there are buffets and then there is the Grand Buffet. Here, the CCA puts out a spread of some of its more famous signature dishes. Roasted leg of lamb, grilled halibut, polenta with bleu cheese, chicken with cranberry bean sauce, and eggplant Parmesan are just some of the hot entrees to choose from.
To start off, you have a freshly tossed salad, fresh sushi, a large selection of hard meats & cheese and more. To end your meal there is a desert bar with such pastries as chocolate decadence, pound cake, napoleons, & cheesecake.
All this takes place in an old refurbished theater with 80 foot ceilings surrounded by the kitchens of the CCA (all have big viewing windows so you can see America's future culinary superstars at work). All in all a marvelous meal.
Now the downside to the CCA. While every other day you can get a good meal here for less than $10, on Friday's the buffet will set you back $20 per person plus drinks. While worth it for the meal you get, $70 for lunch (for three people) is a budget buster on a trip. Even with the price, though, CCA gets a thumbs up for some really great food in a unique atmosphere.
The Wharf & Pier 39
After lunch we hopped back on the 19 bus, this time going north, to Ghiradelli Square. From there it's a short walk to Fisherman's Wharf and pier 41. We'd been to Fisherman's Wharf and it's too touristy for us but you must come here to get on the boat to Alcatraz Island.
NOTE: If you've never been to SF you're probably telling yourself you must see Fisherman's Wharf. If you can, do yourself a favor when everybody says it's a big tourist trap & believe them and just skip it...this is not the real San Francisco. If you just can't resist, go ahead & see it so you can bypass it the next time.
These are the only things we have seen at Fisherman's Wharf that are worth seeing or doing besides the Alcatraz Trip...maybe the submarine and the Blue Chip cookie place (which has since folded).
The above rant does not include such nearby big tourist draws like Ghiradelli Square, the Buena Vista Bar, and the Aquatic Park area, just Fisherman's Wharf itself.
...and now back to the trip...
Webmaster Jr. has never been to Alcatraz and had his curiosity piqued after watching the movie "The Rock" so it seemed like a good time to take him. Our plan was to head up here after lunch and, if tickets were available, catch to boat over and spend the afternoon there. Unfortunately, the last boat was sold out so we bought tickets for the next day and continued on. As a side note here, we just missed the last boat on February 28 and prices were increased on March 1 so we got to pay extra too!
THE MARITIME MUSEUM
While we were in the area with nothing to do, we went to the Maritime museum which is just on the other side of Fisherman's Wharf from pier 41 (about a 3 block walk). This worthwhile stop has several historic ships on display including a couple of old schooners, tug boats and the Eureka, an old wooden railroad & car ferry.
The Eureka was the highlight of the day for Web, Jr. We are all fans of the Don Johnson show, Nash Bridges, which in large part is filmed on this ferry. The set of Nash Bridges was intact on the ferry when we visited. The security guard was in his last day of employment in the production company and was in a particularly generous mood.
The guard allowed Web,
Jr. to go onto the set & look around. He also provided us with many
pages of script changes that were faxed to Don Johnson on the set and
also gave us some official Nash Bridges yellow police tape. Check out
this picture (above) of Web, Jr. taken on the set.
The ship itself is pretty remarkable with its 4 story boiler and side paddle wheels. It's amazing to think that this is how people crossed the bay before there were any bridges here.
Another very interesting vessel here is the San Francisco Ark, an old Sausalito houseboat restored for the museum. People used these houseboats (and still do) as floating weekend getaways from the city. The Maritime museum gets a thumbs up as well.
After the museum we walked back to Aquatic Park to watch the cable car turntable in action. We tried to go to the Buena Vista for an Irish coffee, but it was just too crowded to get in. After a stroll through the shops at Ghiradelli Square, we wandered back to the motel where we had still yet to see our room (we had just dropped off the bags earlier).
OUR ROOM
Lodging was at the Travelodge by the Bay and our room with 2 queen sized beds was nicely adequate & just roomy enough. We had gotten the room through Central Reservations (800-677-1500) for an unbelievable price of $59 plus tax. That's dirt cheap in SF! I was glad we did because the front desk was quoting arriving guests a price of $95 for singles.
The motel was centrally located on Lombard Street, just off the corner of Van Ness, in the Marina District. It can be noisy, thankfully we had quiet neighbors. You can hear everybody else's TV around you. There was also a very bright light just outside our door that streamed into our room. We did get a good night sleep and rate this motel well. We've had much worse here before. TL by the Bay gets a thumbs up this time, but we would like to have had a switch for the %#!$ light!
CHESTNUT STREET
For dinner we headed down Chestnut Street (one block north of Lombard). The business district is about a 1/2 mile walk from our motel.
Web, Jr. let us know in no uncertain terms that he wouldn't eat any Chinese food on this trip except for rice. To keep the peace, while we had hoped to get some of SF' great Chinese food this trip, we went looking for something else. We ended up at one of Village Pizzeria's branches on Steiner at Chestnut. Village Pizza is our favorite pizza in SF so we knew we'd like that.
Village Pizza didn't disappoint. Mrs. Web had a very good baked rigatoni dish while Web & Web, Jr. had a delicious pepperoni pizza. One thing they do here that is neat is they give the kids some raw pizza dough to play with to pass time until the food arrives like play-dough. Web, Jr. had a lot of fun trying to mold his into as many shapes as he could.
We were able to make small talk with some other diners & the staff here who were all very friendly. About halfway through dinner, the street outside became full of bicycles. Not just a few, but thousands!
For a good 20 minutes, masses of bike riders filled the street, shouting & laughing as they rode by, followed by a SFPD escort. We found out that this is Critical Mass, a demonstration conducted by bay area riders on the last Friday of each month to promote bike riding as an alternative means of commuting.
They start at the ferry building at the end of Market Street and ride to the Golden Gate bridge filling the streets as they go. Later on the news we learned that many drivers hate this (although the bikes have as much right to use the road as the cars) and that's why the SFPD provides escort for safety. We didn't see any hateful drivers in our area though.
With a liter of Cabernet to wash down our dinner, we had a great time here and decided to call it a night. Village Pizza gets a big thumbs up.
SATURDAY
Day Two of our trip started with breakfast. Cafe Caravan, one block north of our motel at Chestnut and Van Ness, provided the start for our day. Breakfast was good in this very small hole in the wall. Web had sausage & eggs, Mrs. Web had an omelet, and Jr. had some pancakes. The coffee was delicious, and everything on our plates was delicious. Cafe Caravan gets a thumbs up.
CABLE CAR BARN
We had a morning to kill before our boat to Alcatraz left (at 12:45pm) so we decided to spend it by going over to the Cable Car Barn on Washington Street. This is one area of the city that is not real well served by accessible transportation...everyone else can get there via cable car...so we ended up walking here, about 1 1/2 miles. It didn't look bad on the map but that doesn't show all the hills there.
After getting a good dose of exercise, we made it to the barn. This is where the machinery that runs the entire cable car system is located. You can watch the cables go through their various pulleys and wheels on the way to their journey underneath the streets. The cable cars operated by clamping onto these cables and being pulled along their routes.
The displays here are
interesting as are some of the old historic cars located here. Any museum
that can hold a kid's interest, as this one does, gets a thumbs up from
us. A big thumbs down though to Muni for not providing adequate transportation
to its own museum. A good gift shop sells some great souvenirs here.
After awhile here, it
was time to start heading over to pier 41 to catch our boat to Alcatraz.
We walked over to Columbus & Jackson (about 6 blocks from the Cable
Car Barn) to catch Muni's #15 bus to Fisherman's Wharf. In between,
we waded through the very crowded bustle of Chinatown where some sort
of protest was going on. We never found out what it was about (all the
signs & pamphlets were in Chinese).
We made it to Fisherman's Wharf at 11:30am, which gave us enough time to buy a lunch to take with us. Web, Jr. was having fast-food withdrawal pains so he had an early lunch of a cheeseburger & fries at the Burger King located in the mall at 350 Bay Street. In that mall there was also a Safeway with a deli where Web & Mrs. Web picked up a couple of hoagies to go.
THE ROCK
Finally, we were ready
to go over to Alcatraz. The Red & White Fleet provides transportation
over to the island. The full price of $11 for adults includes a voucher
for an audio tour when you get there (there are also discounted tickets
available if you don't want the audio tour).
The ride over was uneventful. The boat does make a complete circuit of the island before docking giving you great views of the entire island.
Once on the island, rangers greet you and give a brief history of the island before leading you up to the cell house. You can also skip this if you want & head up by yourself.
We had our lunch at the dock (the only spot on the island where you are allowed to eat or smoke) and then headed up.
The buildings down at the dock date back to 1857 when the island was a fort erected to protect California's gold fields. There are some interesting tunnels behind the bookstore that meander through the old basements here. Most are roped off except a series of tunnels that lead to a small museum display.
The tunnels also lead to an alternate path up to the cell house that, to us, was more interesting than the more heavily used path. Here you can see much more of the old military barracks ant the guardhouse/sally port.
Up at the top of the hill you can see California's oldest lighthouse
location (still in operation, current lighthouse dates to 1909) and
the ruins of the warden's house which burned down in 1971. Then you
enter the cell house.
Entering the cell house, you pick up a walkman style tape player with headphones. Then you proceed into the cell block to a point where you are told to turn it on. The tour itself is fascinating, conducted (on the tape) by a former guard and former inmates.
You see the cells... Al Capone's former cell, Robert Stroud's (the birdman) cell, the cells where convicts tunneled their way out, isolation cells, and others where rioting inmates herded in hostages and shot them. You can enter some regular & isolation cells to get a feeling of what it was like.
You also visit the dining area & the library, where the worst Alcatraz riot originated from.
Apart from the tour, you can visit the prison hospital, the military morgue, the recreation yard, and paths around the island where many, many flowers bloom (see picture).
After the tour you can meet former inmates who have wrote books about Alcatraz in the bookstore. Today's guest was Jim Quillen who was sent here for kidnaping about half a century ago. He is also one of the voices you here on the audio tour.
We rode the boat back with Mr. Quillen which led to an interesting point where Web, Jr. was allowed (for the only time in his life, we hope) to take candy from a convicted kidnapper! We talked with Mr. Quillen on the way back, who seems like he's made peace with his past and insists on being called FORMER prisoner of Alcatraz (when Jr. asked if he was a prisoner here), and got some more stories in between book signings for other passengers.
COIT TOWER
After Alcatraz, although still too early for dinner, Mrs. Web didn't feel like going back to the motel & going right back out for dinner. To pass the time, we took Muni's #39 bus up to the Coit Tower on top of Telegraph Hill.
This famous SF landmark was given to the city as a tribute to it's firefighters after the big quake & fire of 1906 by a wealthy woman of the time. The tower is shaped like a fire hose nozzle and the views from here are exceptional but the tower itself has no access for wheelchairs so we were stuck at the bottom of the hill. Thumbs down to the city for not installing a ramp here (it would be very easy to put one on the west side of the tower).
The view from the bottom is still on top of the hill and is spectacular. This landmark has a very small parking lot and waits of over an hour are commonplace on weekends for a spot to park. Taking Muni's #39 avoid much of this wait & the hassle of finding a spot. Thumbs down to all the impatient drivers who almost run you down trying to cut in front of everybody else who waits patiently but thumbs up to the view.
Heading back down the hill, the #39 bus takes you to North Beach, one of SF's best neighborhoods for fun. Here you will find many nightclubs, bars, shows, and great Italian restaurants.
This is one of the best spots for dinner in SF so we decided to see what we can find here. We have gone to Capp's Corner (on Green & Powell, next door to Club Fugazi-Beach Blanket Babylon) many times in the past (thumbs up) but wanted to try something different on this trip.
Figaro Ristorante Italiano owner Luigi Dominici was standing at his front door giving us mouth-watering descriptions of the food within, so we decided to put him to the test. We were not disappointed.
Mrs. Web had the angel hair pasta with prosciuto, Web had the spinach ravioli with tomato cream sauce, and Web, Jr. had the penne with marinara. An order of polenta with mushrooms for antipasti started us off along with the freshly baked sourdough bread with olive oil. Delicious, plus great service. Figaro, at 441 Columbus Street (at Vallejo) gets a big thumbs up from us.
After dinner we headed
up Columbus a couple of doors for desert at Stella's Italian Pastries.
Washed down with some delicious coffee, we had some napoleons, cheesecake,
and Italian donuts. We died & went to heaven that night (see picture)
so another big thumbs up here.
We caught Muni's #15 bus back to the Wharf where we transferred to the #42 back to our motel. On the way in we bought a bottle of wine to settle down with before turning in.
SUNDAY
After a good night's sleep, we headed up Lombard in search of breakfast. Today we went to Mel's Drive In, famous as the drive in in American Graffiti (not filmed at this location though). Although Mel's has cashed in on the diner craze, it is an authentic one (over 30 years) as opposed to the recreations you see at most diners.
Breakfast was good and basic and Mel's was crowded but fun. Thumbs up.
Lunch would be about the time we flew home so instead of expensive airport food we bought some Balance bars at the GNC store on Chestnut before heading out.
Back at the motel we packed, and feeling confident from the trip so far, decided to forgo the shuttle and take public transit back to the airport.
BACK TO THE AIRPORT - THE ADVENTURE CONTINUES...
We waited...and waited...for Muni's #42 bus to take us to the BART station. We were noticed that about every other #30 bus (which also goes to a BART station) was accessible despite being listed as not and was also coming by every couple of minute. So we switched and walked up one block to the #30 stop and caught it to BART.
At the BART station, we almost missed the train because we didn't know that the Fremont bound (and OAK airport) train didn't run this way on Sundays. Luckily someone told us at the last minute & we climbed aboard. This made a transfer to another train in Oakland necessary after an interesting trip under the bay (which makes your ears pop).
At the Coliseum/Oakland Airport BART station, we had a choice of taking AC Transit's number 58 bus or the AirBART shuttle to the airport. We chose AirBART. We were chose wrong...
The first AirBART bus shows up...and does not have a wheelchair ramp. The bus driver assures me that SOME of the AirBART buses do have lifts, and to just wait. At this time, Mrs. Web is starting to be concerned that we are running out of time & may miss our flight. The tickets for AirBART (which must be purchased in advance via a machine in the station) has soaked up the last of our spare change so it's either walk or wait. A recheck of our flight tickets lets us find out that our flight leaves at 2:55 (we thought it was 2:00), so with 55 minutes gained, we decide to wait.
15 minutes later (AirBART is supposed to run every 7-10 minutes) an unmarked, white shuttle van pulls up which does have a lift. A handwritten note in the side window says "Airbart". I ask the driver if this is indeed the AirBART shuttle and she says yes so before any passengers board I tell here that my son needs to board in a wheelchair. She says ok...just wait a minute.
After loading my wife and about 10 other passengers, the driver comes to me and tells me I should wait for another bus because this one is full. At this point my cork, holding back much pressure already, pops. I, in no way gently, inform her that is why I #@%! told you before you started loading passengers on board about my son and to either get us on board or look for a new job.
That bit of persuasion seemed to do the trick & we were finally on board (after we had to show the driver how the lift worked) and made it to the airport 30 minutes before departure. AirBART gets a very big thumbs down...next time either AC Transit (who seemed to have their act together much better) or a shuttle van.
The flight home was as good as the first with just a minor delay (7 minutes) out of Oakland because the plane's radio wouldn't come on. It was fixed immediately (the pilot said otherwise we would have to get another plane) and we were on our way home after a very nice weekend...AirBART notwithstanding!
MUNI NOTES
Muni, San Francisco's main transit authority, has given us problems in the past with rude drivers & wheelchair lifts that were inoperable. We have seen other signs on the net about high crime, dirty buses and many other shortcomings.
We are glad to report on this trip that we encountered no major problems with Muni. One bus did show up with an inoperable lift but it was followed almost immediately by one with a working lift. Not one rude driver all weekend, in fact they were to a person very friendly.
There still is a tendency to have many buses show up at one time (as opposed to being spread out at regular intervals), but we were only impacted badly on this once (see above for our trip back to the airport). There could also be more thought given to accessible routes (see more about this by clicking on the wheelchair icon).
All in all, Muni was much improved over our last few visits and even then we thought it was a remarkable transit system compared with the piecemeal approach L.A. uses. There is still room for improvement but our hats are off to Muni as well as a big thumbs up for a job well done in making this a great weekend.
OTHER SIGHTS WORTH SEEING
San Francisco has a lot to offer. Much more than you can fit in over a weekend or even a week. We try to get up here at lease one weekend a year and try something different each time. Below are some other worthy sights in the area that we've seen on other trips but are not covered here.
BROTHER JUNIPER'S BREAD BOX has to have SF's best breakfasts at the most reasonable prices. Run to help support an shelter, this little cafe on Sutter St. makes 7 different kinds of breads and delivers the goods every morning to a grateful clientele. You will have to bus your own table here but it's well worth it for getting this quality of a meal for less than $5.
CAPP'S CORNER is a family-style Italian restaurant on the corner of Green & Powell. I've heard some bad things about this place but we have only had great service & food here every time we've been. Small, cramped, & always crowded but very fun, filling & reasonable. A great pastime here is to show up without reservations and watch the maitre'D go through all the motions, telling you you'll have to wait an hour or so, only to end up seating you in a matter of minutes! The staff at this place has some great stories to share and they're very willing to share them.
GOLDEN GATE PARK seems to go on forever. Kids love the big playground here.
GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE is one of the world's most recognizable landmarks. Take the ferry to Sausalito and walk back via the bridge. Not for those with a fear of heights (I did not know I had such a fear until I walked across this bridge...my stomach was in knots!).
MARINA GREEN is a great park for kite flying and people watching. Walk over to the marina and see the wave organ. It's amazing what people can come up with.
SUTRO BATHS, now in ruins just south of the Golden Gate, was a huge swimming pools & baths that the former mayor of SF built. Just looking at the old pictures will make you wonder how much fun this place was. Located next to the Cliff House.
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| The Budget (from 1998)- 2 adults & 1 child
$192.00 - Round-trip airfare from Burbank to Oakland. $ 35.00 - Transportation from Oakland Airport to San Francisco $134.52 - Lodging $ 70.00 - Lunch at the California Culinary Academy. $ 30.00 - Dinner at the Village Pizzeria $ 19.50 - Breakfast at Cafe Caravan $ 10.00 - Lunch at Burger King & Safeway $ 4.00 - Admission to Maritime Museum $ 47.00 - Dinner at Figaro $ 6.00 - Desert & coffee at Stella's Italian Pastries $ 5.29 - Bottle of wine $ 21.00 - Breakfast at Mel's Drive-in $ 27.75 - For admission & tour of Alcatraz Island. $ 9.40 - For 2 days worth of fares on Muni $ 11.70 - Transportation back to Oakland Airport. $ 3.00 - Lunch for the plane (Balance Bars) $ 27.00 - Airport parking at Burbank $663.16 - TOTAL |
Access Information for San Francisco
We took a Quickie P-500 power chair for our son. This was our first trip via a plane with the power chair (we usually take the manual chair) and we were a little nervous about how the airline would handle it.
Parking in general, regular & handicapped, is very scarce in SF. Public transportation is much more vital here than in L.A. It's more like New York where you find many people do without cars & depend on public transit. There is no stigma here about it...you'll find many people dressed up & on a date taking the MUNI bus to get there.
Most of the city has good general accessibility. There are a few steep hills where the sidewalks turn into stairs and we did find a few curbs without cuts. Drivers here sometimes cut it perilously close whizzing by us when we crossed the street. The sight of a 10 year old in a wheelchair with the right of way didn't seem to faze these drivers a bit...look very carefully when crossing the street!
Parking at Burbank Airport was adequate, we parked in the long term lot located about 2 blocks away. This is not as good as it was the last time we came here a few years ago when the long term lot was located on the airport property where the valet lot is now. The shuttle at Economy Lot C is wheelchair accessible while we are uncertain as to the other lots nearby offering parking for a dollar less per day. There is plenty of handicapped parking in all of the lots we saw.
The airport terminal itself is fully accessible and gate are located close in which is easier than most airports. The airport does not have any jetways using stairs located outside instead. See below for more on this.
Southwest Airlines personnel seemed to know what they were doing in regards to the power chair we brought along. Although the reservation agent told us we would have to remove the batteries, whether they were gel or wet, this proved not to be the case. The baggage handlers inspected the batteries to make sure they were gel and let them stay on the chair. They did disconnect them from the motors for the flight.
Boarding in Burbank you either must be helped up the stairs or the airline has a lift that can lift you up to the plane where you would then be helped to your seat. It's your choice.
Disabled passengers board first, a help on Southwest which does not have assigned seats. The best seats are in the lounge area in the front of the plane (where the seats face each other)...all of Southwest's planes are identical.
We found the crews on our flights to be quite helpful & knowledgeable about special circumstances like ours.
Once we arrived, our chair was no worse for the wear and waiting for us when we exited the plane. Oakland does have jetways which make using wheelchairs there much easier.
Bayporter Express has one van in the fleet equipped with a lift. Click on the link for info. Our experience: The lift balked a little at working but did when it had to. The driver also told us that this particular van had over 300,000 miles on it...although he insists that the maintenance is impeccable. You do need to reserve at least one day in advance to assure the van when you get there. Although when we reserved we were told to expect to wait up to an hour after we arrived, the van was there in 15 minutes.
Not all of MUNI's buses are accessible, but most of the lines are (this shouldn't be in this day & age of the ADA). All MUNI lines listed in this report are wheelchair accessible. MUNI is in the slow process of replacing its non-accessible fleet. This is made up exclusively of the older electric trolley-buses. These are being replace by newer double-accordion style expansion trolley-buses. Several of the older non-accessible routes are now running these buses that do have lifts in them.
The Cable cars, unfortunately, are not wheelchair accessible and no plans are in place to ever make them so because of their historic nature. The historic street cars that run along Market Street have been retrofitted with lifts to make them wheelchair accessible.
MUNI's disabled fare is $.35 with photo ID required (I could not see how to get this ID if you were just there a few days) however, most drivers will take your word for it especially if it's obvious. If there's any doubt, I would ask the driver why would I pay thousands of dollars for a wheelchair just to save 65 cents in bus fare.
The California Culinary Academy's restaurant is accessible to the door immediately north of the main door. Look for the signs noting the accessible entrance. All seating is at tables which are accessible. There are also accessible restrooms in the lobby.
Alcatraz Island is part of a national park & is accessible. There are accessible restrooms available at the dock where the boat drops you off and also at the top of the hill next to the old warden's house. No food is available on the island and you are only allowed to eat in the dock area. The Red & White fleet's boats are accessible. Crew members will be glad to assist with boarding if you are at all nervous. The tunnel behind the bookstore & the alternate route up the hill are both accessible. Be aware that both routes up are moderately steep.
The only parts of the island that are not accessible are the prison's recreation yard and hospital.
The Maritime Museum is partially accessible. The schooners and the house boat are not accessible. The Eureka is accessible on the main deck. The rest of the museum is fully accessible. Restrooms are located near the entrance.
The Travelodge by the Bay at 1450 Lombard Street had, as advertised, fully accessible rooms. Our room had 2 queen size beds with an accessible restroom. This restroom was big enough to roll into and had a roll-in shower with a shower seat as well. The shower head was on a hose that you could hold or mount in a holder about 3 feet off of the floor. We got the reservations by calling Central Reservations at (800) 677-1500 and telling them what area we wanted to stay in and our requirements. They did a good job.
Village Pizzeria, located on Steiner at Chestnut Street, was accessible, had accessible restrooms but is a small place. Not small enough to be a big problem, though. Braille menu available.
Cafe Caravan has a booth just inside the front door that is removable for wheelchairs. There is also a small table inside and a bigger table out front on the sidewalk. The restroom is accessible only for narrow chairs.
The Cable Car barn is accessible via a ramped entrance immediately to the left of the main entrance. An elevator inside provide access to the other floor. Displays are also marked in braille. Restrooms are fully accessible. The nearest accessible public transportation is about 6 blocks away (MUNI #15, Stockton & Columbus) and the walk is uphill but not as steep as most of the hills around here are.
Coit Tower itself is not accessible. There is about 30 steps to negotiate to the entrance. There is also no handicapped parking at the tower. The bus to the tower, MUNI #39 is accessible. The perimeter sidewalk around the parking lot is accessible from the east end. There are no restrooms available here.
Figaro Ristorante is accessible. The restroom here is very cramped, however. We had a very difficult time with the chair here but managed to get it squeezed in.
Stella's Italian Pastries is accessible but the restrooms located here are not available (there was a sign saying restrooms were for employees only).
Mel's Drive In is accessible but the employees need a lesson on what exactly it means. We were seated way in the back forcing us to negotiate through a very narrow aisle. Next time we'll need to hold out for a table up front. The restrooms here are accessible & roomy. Braille menu is available.
The trip to Oakland was no picnic, thanks to AirBART (see above for that nightmare). The MUNI bus was fine, although this line (#30) has only about half of its buses converted with lifts. BART was also fine but could use some ticket machines that give change or have change machines capable of changing bills larger than $1.00. All BART stations had elevators and a sign in front of each elevator warned you which station(s) had broken elevators before you boarded. It would have been nice too if there was some sort of sign or warning that the SF to Fremont train did not run on Sundays.
Oakland Airport is fully accessible and is about the same size as Burbank. All gates use jetways. Everything was easy to get to and the Southwest Airlines crew here were very good about traveling with the chair. In fact, they even guaranteed its safe arrival (something I've never seen any other airline do).
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