Our SF Neighborhood

So, what is around 856 Green Street?  One thing for literary fans is Macondray Lane, the street that Barbary Lane in Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City books is modeled after.  I read the first Tales of the City years ago and remember being struck by the fact that Winnemucca, Nevada, was featured in it.  I connected right away...

The original Swensen's Ice Cream shop is on the corner of Union and Hyde and was founded in 1948 and so is the same age I am.   Unfortunately they don't seem to carry "Bittersweet Chocolate" as a flavor any more.  It was my favorite at the El Cerrito shop when we lived in Albany because it was wonderfully dark and rich and was absolutely decadent in a milk shake.

Another nearby attraction is the San Francisco Art Institute, with its Diego Rivera mural,  about 6 blocks away, and the twisty Lombard Street, another 6 blocks away.  Equally distant is Coit Tower, the one with the WPA murals that is closed for renovation.

In a San Francisco Chronicle article, "In heart of S.F., food and pleasure long linked," the author chooses a square mile that defines the city and that square mile is bordered by Fisherman's Wharf and the Embarcadero on the north, Hyde Street on the West, Sansome on the East and Clay Street on the south.  856 Green Street is within that definitive square mile so we should be able to eat authentically.  Of course when we visited as kids we stayed on Union Square and so were outside of that square and pretty much ate outside of that square (except for Grotto #9 at Fisherman's Wharf) and we did fine.  That "square" cuts out a lot of Chinatown.  Where was Tao Tao, the Chinese restaurant where we had bird's nest soup the first time we were there?  And Yamato Sukiyaki  was on California at Grant.  And the Tadich Grill is on California outside of that grid.  And the Ritz Old Poodle Dog was on Post, again outside of the grid.  Did you know that the Ritz Old Poodle Dog started out in 1849 as "Le Poulet d' Or" but the Americans mispronounced it as the "Poodle Dog" restaurant.  Jim Smith has a website with the history of the Poodle Dog restaurant, in case anyone is interested.