North Beach

About North Beach

San Francisco’s Italian quarter and the birthplace of the Beat Generation. Espresso, fresh focaccia, world-class pizza, and literary history packed into a few steep blocks between Chinatown and the waterfront.

About North Beach

North Beach has been an Italian neighborhood since the 1880s, and the families that built it are still here. Columbus Avenue runs the spine of the district, angled between the old trattorias and cafes where regulars have claimed their seats for decades. The Beats arrived in the 1950s and gave the neighborhood a second identity: literary, rebellious, loud. Both layers remain.

City Lights Bookstore on Columbus changed American literature. Lawrence Ferlinghetti opened the doors in 1953 and published Allen Ginsberg’s Howl when no one else would touch it. The store is still independently owned and still open daily, 10 AM to 10 PM.

Washington Square Park anchors the neighborhood. Tai chi on the grass in the morning. Italian nonnas on the benches at noon. Dogs chasing each other across the lawn in the afternoon. Saints Peter and Paul Church rises on the north side; Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe took their wedding photos on the steps here in 1954. The park is where everyone ends up.

Coit Tower crowns Telegraph Hill at the eastern edge. The 1930s WPA murals inside show California labor, agriculture, and industry, and they caused a political firestorm when they were unveiled. The view from the top is the entire bay.

The Character

The neon still glows on Broadway. The bakeries still open before dawn. The espresso machines still hiss behind counters that have not been replaced. Liguria has been making the same focaccia since 1911. Specs’ still looks like a junk shop exploded inside a bar. Caffe Trieste still runs live opera on Saturday afternoons because the Giotta family started that tradition in 1956 and has not stopped.

The Beats drank at Vesuvio, next door to City Lights. Kerouac ducked into the bar between bookstore visits. Jack Kerouac Alley, the actual alley between them, has his words embedded in the pavement. Read them.

Broadway runs neon at night. The strip clubs are still there. The Italian restaurants with checkered tablecloths are still there. A new generation of wine bars and third-wave coffee has moved in around them without displacing anything. That coexistence is the neighborhood’s trick.

How to Move Through North Beach

Start at Washington Square. Walk the perimeter. Then head south on Columbus through the commercial stretch past Caffe Trieste, Tony’s Pizza, and Molinari Delicatessen. City Lights and Vesuvio are at Columbus and Broadway. Cross Broadway and you are in Chinatown, which is part of the point: the two neighborhoods share a border you can feel.

For Coit Tower, take the Filbert Steps up the east side of Telegraph Hill, not the parking lot road. Wooden staircase through hidden gardens and cottages. The wild parrots in the trees will probably scream at you. This is the best walk in the neighborhood.

Getting There

Muni buses: The 30 Stockton cuts from Union Square up through Chinatown into North Beach. The 8 Bayshore runs Columbus. The 45 Union crosses east-west through Washington Square.

F Market streetcar: Historic streetcars run from Castro down Market to the Embarcadero and up to Fisherman’s Wharf. Stop at Pier 39 or Bay Street and walk five minutes south into North Beach.

On foot from downtown: Walk up Columbus from the Transamerica Pyramid. Fifteen minutes, mostly flat until you hit Broadway.

Driving: Do not. Parking will ruin your day. Garages at Vallejo Street and Stockton-Sutter are your least-bad options if you must.

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