3/5 Of A Mile In 10 Seconds!

Are you planning a visit to San Francisco? Do you want to know how to find the famous buildings of the psychedelic era? Then read on.

Please note:-
This tour covers about 15 miles, so make sure you've plenty of time to do it, or cut down on the time needed by taking taxi's. Some of the buildings no longer exist, while others have changed beyond all recognition. All I've done here is tell you how to find them! Also, as I've not yet got around to visiting the city myself, this tour has been prepared from maps and guide books. As a result, S.F. residents may find they can pick all kinds of holes in it, but it's the best I can do up to now. If anyone has any corrections or additions to this route, I'd be happy to hear from you.

Have you got everything? Good, then let's begin.

Our start and finish point is the Jefferson Airplane mansion at 2400 Fulton street, opposite the eastern end of Golden Gate park. We'll spend a few moment's here taking Hal Broome's window tour of the place before moving off. Finished? Right, let's start the rest of the tour.

Walk east along Fulton St. to the NE corner of the park. Here you want to turn right along Stanyan St. passing the end of Haight St. before turning left into Waller St. After a few moments, you will reach the top of Ashbury St. A short walk down here leads us to 710 Ashbury, home of The Grateful Dead. In the early days of the Haight scene, this was THE place to be during the day.

After a few minutes grovelling and shouting "We're not worthy", it's time to move on. Returning to Waller St., we turn left to retrace our steps as far as Clayton St. Here we turn right for one block to join Haight St. Before we go any further, I know that being a caring soul, you'll take a few moments out from the tour to drop a small donation in at the Haight-Ashbury Free Clinic at 409 Clayton. (on the corner of Clayton and Haight).

Turning right along Haight St. and crossing to the north side of the street, we first pass the Haight-Ashbury Tribune at 1776 Haight, and then The Print Mint poster gallery at 1542. Crossing back to the south side, we then pass The Psychedelic Shop, founded by the late Ron Thelin, at 1535. A few minutes more brings us to The Phoenix, another Head shop at 1377, with the San Francisco Oracle a few doors down at 1371.

A left turn for one block along Divasadero Ave brings us to Page St. Walking right for about 300 yards brings us to 1090 Page, the original home for Big Brother And The Holding Company, and one of the original gathering places for the key characters in the S.F. scene. We now want to carry on along Page to Laguna St, where we turn right to join the street at the heart of San Francisco, Market Street.

Around half a mile along Market St, we come to 1545 Market, which began life as the El Patio Ballroom, before becoming the Carousel Ballroom and, eventually, the famous Fillmore West. A few yards further on, we turn right down Van Ness Ave and then left onto Howard St. A long walk of around a mile and a half eventually brings us to the Calliope Ballroom at 924 Howard, just before Howard St. crosses 5th St.

Rejoining Market St. via 5th St, we continue along for about 300 yards, before turning sharp left onto O'Farrell St. Here, at 859 O'Farrell, we find the Great American Music Hall, venue for the annual Bay Area Music Awards (Bammies) which have, over the years, seen the San Francisco public debut's of the KBC Band and Jefferson Starship - The Next Generation among others. A right turn where O'Farrell crosses Van Ness Ave brings us, after a couple of minutes walk, to the corner of Van Ness and Sutter St.

Here, at 1268 Sutter, we can find the site of the Avalon Ballroom, venue for many early events in the burgeoning S.F. scene of the late-60's. Continuing along Sutter, we pass many of the major San Francisco art galleries, before turning left to join Montgomery St. Passing the distinctive TransAmerica Pyramid at 600 Montgomery, we bear left onto Columbus Ave to pause for a few minutes at the famous City Lights bookstore. (If you do go in, don't spend too much, as we're only about half-way round, and you don't want to carry too much, do you?)

A right turn off Columbus Ave onto Green St. takes us past the site of KMPX, the original underground radio station. (The station was literally underground, as it was in a warehouse basement!) At the end of Green St, a left turn brings us down onto the Embarcadero, also known as the waterfront. Walking north along the Embarcadero, past the disused wharves, we eventually reach, on the left, North Point St. Here, at 400 North Point St, we find Longshoremans Hall, venue for the legendary Trips Festival of January 1966. Continuing along North Point St. brings us to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. This is the perfect place to pause for a rest, as it lies just over half-way on our tour, and from now on, it's nearly all uphill!

Leaving the Golden Gate National Recreation Area by any of the streets to it's west brings us to Fillmore St. A few minutes walk up Fillmore finds us at the home of Jefferson Airplane, The Matrix, at 3138 Fillmore. Again, after a few "We're not worthy"'s, we're off again. Carrying on along Fillmore we have a long walk ahead of us to reach our next destination at 2125 Pine St. Here we find the Charlatans house, home of the originators of the S.F. scene, before turning south at the junction of Pine and Steiner St's. passing the Winterland Auditorium, venue of the final original Jefferson Airplane concert, before reaching the intersection of Steiner st. and Geary Blvd.

Warning: If you're on your own, or in a small group, it's advisable to ignore this next paragraph, as you're now on the NW corner of the Western/Addition district. This has the reputation of being not the best of S.F. districts, and has at times had quite a high crime rate.

OK, if you're in a group, turn left here and walk along Geary Blvd to the Fillmore Auditorium at 1805 Geary. Here, Bill Graham began his legendary career as a promoter, moving to the Fillmore West in July 1968 following an increase in racial violence in the area. Next door to the Fillmore is the Geary Temple, an old synagogue used as a rehearsal hall by Jefferson Airplane while Bill graham was their manager. Now you've seen that, it's time to turn 'round and return to the junction of Steiner and Geary.

So, we've arrived at Steiner and Geary. We need to walk west along Geary until we reach Divasadero Ave. Here we have to make a decision. If you're a hard-case Jefferson Airplane fan like me, skip this next paragraph, and use the route in the following one. If your any other sane person, follow this route.

Turn left down Divasadero until you reach Fulton St, then turn right to return to the Airplane mansion to finish the tour.

Ah!, So you're a real 'plane-brain then. You realise you've just talked your way into an extra half mile walk here! Carrying straight on past the intersection of Geary and Divasadero, we walk for about a mile and a quarter, until we reach French hospital at the corner of Geary and 5th Ave. Why do we want to see a hospital? Because this is where the number one woman of rock, Grace Slick gave birth to her daughter, China. Walking south down 5th Ave brings us back to Fulton St, and a left turn along the edge of Golden Gate park returns us to the Airplane mansion.