Hidden Garden Steps

What you need to know

What’s There

A 148 step public stairway on 16th Avenue between Kirkham and Lawton, with a continuous ceramic mosaic running up the risers and terraced native plant gardens either side. The theme is land based: flowers, ferns, butterflies, insects, and a salamander that climbs 26 stairs.

The climb comes in nine short sections over a 55 foot rise, which makes it far easier going than its better known neighbor.

The Story

This is not the 16th Avenue Tiled Steps. That is a separate staircase at Moraga, about a ten minute walk south, with 163 steps and a sea to sky theme. The two get confused constantly because the same artists made both: Aileen Barr and Colette Crutcher.

The underlying stairway dates to around 1927, when the Golden Gate Heights streets were graded. The mosaic came much later, from a neighborhood campaign that raised more than $216,000 in donations, with San Francisco Public Works carrying out roughly $250,000 of structural repair on top of that. Tiling finished in November 2013 and the steps opened on 7 December 2013. Volunteers still hold cleanups on the second Saturday of every month.

Visiting

Neighborhood: Inner Sunset, at the foot of Golden Gate Heights

Cost: Free

Hours: Always open. It is a public street.

Best time to go: Midday. The Inner Sunset fogs in hard and the tiles need direct sun.

What to know: Walk up from Kirkham so the mosaic reads the right way round. The risers are the artwork, so watch where you put your tripod. Not wheelchair accessible.

Getting There

Transit: Muni N-Judah to 9th Avenue and Judah, then walk west. The 44-O’Shaughnessy also runs nearby.

Parking: Free residential parking on 16th Avenue, usually available on weekdays.

Combining: The 16th Avenue Tiled Steps and Grandview Park are ten minutes south along the same street.