San Francisco's headliners — the bridge, the cable cars, Alcatraz — deserve their fame. But the city natives actually inhabit runs through narrower channels: alleys turned into open-air galleries, hidden stairways climbing through gardens, and markets where the region's farms meet its kitchens. Here is that quieter map.
Key facts
- Cost: almost everything here is free; the markets are pay-as-you-graze
- Timing: murals and stairways any time; farmers' markets are morning affairs
- Terrain: expect stairs — that is rather the point
The Mission's painted alleys
Balmy Alley and Clarion Alley hold the densest concentrations of the Mission District's famous mural tradition — political, personal, constantly repainted since the 1970s and 80s. They are open-air museums with no admission and no ropes; walk slowly, and remember people live behind the fences you are photographing.
Stairways with secrets
The city's hills are laced with public stairways, and the finest have become destinations: the 16th Avenue Tiled Steps in the Sunset, a mosaic river of sea and sky flowing uphill, and the garden-wrapped Filbert Steps descending Telegraph Hill past cottages and, famously, a flock of wild parrots. Both deliver views that rival any paid observation deck.
