North Beach
Walking Tour
The Italian quarter that became the center of the Beat Generation. Ten stops linking the bookstores, cafes, and bars where it happened, ending at the top of Telegraph Hill with the Coit Tower murals.
A few walkable blocks, two histories.
North Beach packs Italian San Francisco and the Beat Generation into a few walkable blocks around Columbus Avenue. This self-guided walk strings together the places that defined both, from the bookstore that published Howl to a bakery that has sold focaccia since 1911, and finishes with the climb up Telegraph Hill to Coit Tower. It runs about 1.6 miles; everything is flat except the final hill.
Plan on about two hours including the climb, and more if you sit down anywhere, which is the point of North Beach. Each stop below is a pin in the free SFGuide app, with directions and a short audio note you can play on the spot.
City Lights Booksellers
Founded in 1953 by Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Peter D. Martin, the first all-paperback bookstore in the country. It published Allen Ginsberg’s Howl and Other Poems in 1956, and the 1957 obscenity trial ended with a ruling that the book was not obscene. Three floors are open to browse, including the upstairs poetry room.
Jack Kerouac Alley
A pedestrian lane renamed for Kerouac in 1988 and repaved in 2007 with quotations from Kerouac, Ferlinghetti, Confucius, Maya Angelou, and Steinbeck set into the pavement. It links City Lights to Vesuvio and North Beach to Chinatown. Read the lines underfoot as you pass.
Vesuvio Cafe
A bar opened in 1948 that became a Beat gathering place for Kerouac, Ginsberg, Ferlinghetti, Dylan Thomas, and Neal Cassady. The two floors are covered in collage and old photographs, and little about the room has changed. It opens early and runs late.
Specs’ Twelve Adler Museum Cafe
Down the dead-end alley across Columbus. Opened in 1968 by former merchant seaman Richard “Specs” Simmons and filled with maritime artifacts, union banners, and five decades of objects brought in by regulars. Opens late afternoon; the room is easiest to see before it fills in the evening.
Tosca Cafe
Open since 1919, next door to Specs’ alley. Opera on the jukebox, red booths, and the House Cappuccino: steamed milk, chocolate ganache, and brandy, invented during Prohibition and containing no coffee. Evenings only.
Caffe Trieste
Open since 1956 and often called the first espresso house on the West Coast. The Beat writers used it as an office, and Francis Ford Coppola wrote much of the screenplay for The Godfather at a table here. The Saturday afternoon live music tradition continues; check their schedule.
Washington Square
One of the city’s original public squares, laid out in 1847. The statue in the middle is Benjamin Franklin, not Washington, donated by a temperance crusader in 1879. Morning tai chi on the lawn, church towers across the green, and Coit Tower visible up the hill you’re about to climb.
Saints Peter & Paul Church
The twin-spired church finished in 1924, long known as the Italian Cathedral of the West. Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe posed for photographs on these steps after their 1954 City Hall wedding; the church wouldn’t marry them because DiMaggio was divorced. Mass is offered in English, Italian, and Chinese.
Liguria Bakery
Focaccia and nothing else since 1911, baked by the Soracco family in the original brick oven and wrapped in butcher paper with string. Cash only, open roughly 7am to noon Tuesday through Saturday, closed Sunday and Monday, and done for the day whenever they sell out. Buy here before the climb; there’s no food at the top.
Coit Tower
Climb Filbert Street east to Telegraph Hill Boulevard, or take the 39 Coit bus from Washington Square. The 210-foot tower, finished in 1933 with Lillie Hitchcock Coit’s bequest, holds 1934 New Deal murals at its base (free) and a 360-degree observation deck (paid elevator). Descend the wooden Filbert Steps on the east side through the Grace Marchant Garden, where the wild parrots are usually loud in the trees.
Before you go.
Best time
Late morning, Tuesday through Saturday. City Lights and Caffe Trieste are open, the square is sunny, and Liguria still has focaccia. Liguria is closed Sunday and Monday and often sells out by noon.
Getting there
The 8 Bayshore and 30 Stockton buses run through North Beach, and the 45 serves Union and Stockton. The 39 climbs to Coit Tower from Washington Square. Nearest BART is Montgomery, about a 15-minute walk.
The hill
Everything is flat until stop 10. The Filbert climb to Coit Tower gains about 275 feet in three blocks; take the 39 bus if stairs and grades are a problem. The garden steps on the far side descend toward the Embarcadero.
Parking
Difficult, and harder on weekends. Take Muni or a cable car to the edge of the neighborhood and walk in.
Frequently asked.
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Keep exploring.
Chinatown Tour
Connects through Jack Kerouac Alley at stop 2.
Coit Tower
The finale: murals, the deck, and the garden steps down.
North Beach cafes
Vesuvio, Trieste, Tosca, and the Columbus Ave spots on route.
North Beach guide
The full eat, drink, and see rundown.
Walk North Beach with the guide in your pocket.
The full route, the map, and the audio for every stop, free on iOS and Android. Written by a local guide. No ads, no affiliate nonsense.