Evening star., 1939-10-22
The Travellers Notebook
Bizarre Spectacle Staged for Tourists
In CoIifornio's Yosemite Park;
Seeing San Francisco by Car

fascinating fireworks Of another
world. the fall is capped by flame
and bursting sparks as it ends.
San Franciscans, anxious that
visitors store up representatives
views Of their city, have marked a
49-mile scenic drive to take the
sightseer past variety Of points
of interest. The route is dot
ted with blue and gold signs,
pointing the way for motorists who
otherwise might spend fruitless
hours finding their own way. Many
easterners are expected to enjoy
California's highly -touted sunshine
this winter, as the Southern West
Coast is one of the few all-year-
round resorts in America. Reluctant
to leave their cars at home, and
yet shying away from a transcon-
tinental motor trip in wintry
weather, many vacationists are ex-
pected to ship their cars west by
rail. However they 60, here is a
word-sketch of an ideal drive
"a OuAAA OoAA Z dllClSIO.
Starting point, the $4,000, 900
Civic Center, extending west from
Market and Hyde streets, across
Van Ness avenue, to Franklin, be-
tween Grove and McAllister streets.
The center is not hard to find, for
the gilded 300-foot tower of City
Hall dominates the skyline of the
area. City Hall, the State OF Cali
fornia Building, the Exposition
Auditorium and the Public Library
face central plaza bright the year.
round with flowers. Splashing foun-
tains also invite the tourist to linger.
The center also includes the i'm
posing War Memorial, the Num-
cipal Opera House and the Federal
Building.
Go north on Van Ness avenue past
Automobile Row. At Post street,
turn right (east, travelling past gift
shops, stores with modernistic fronts,
and on past Union Square to Grant
avenue. Turn left (north) into
Grant. Here is a chic shopping
district, and flower stands with their
multi ~colored cargoes give an ap-
pealing lift. Turn right into Sutter
street and 60 east two full blocks to
Montgomery street, the Wall Street
of the West" Here turn left and
drive through the caverns Of tower
ing buildings to Pine street, turning
left into Pine and back to Grant
avenue. Here is San Francisco's
famed Chinatown. On Grant ave-
nue., going north, is truly Oriental
atmosphere-shops, sounds and even
architecture.
Just reading the names on the
store fronts is amusing. And in the
shops and at the sidewalk stalls are
strange and lovely things to eat,
to wear, to brighten the rooms at
home-silks and carved ivory, fiat
tened and vanished fish and ducks,
vegetables that one doesn't find in
usual Occidental markets, teak and
porcelain, tanks of snails, shark fins,
gold and silver work, live fish, direct
from China, swimming in glass
cases. Chinese restaurants, the real
thing, dot the route, and here and
there are temples among the more
renown, Qua Dai and the Queen of
Heaven. Artists from Canton and
Shanghai appear in indefatigable
plays at the native theaters, and
they are worth look in.
Grant avenue mixes geography a
bit. for ahead lies Little Italy" In
teresting shops hem in the street,
and visitors who passed up the
Chinese dining places may have their
choice OF fine Italian dishes, includ-
ing cheeses, sausages, breads and
pastes, at Bohemian restaurants for
which the Latin Quarter is famous.
Continue north on Grant to Lom-
bard street, here turning right.
Follow curving Lombard street,
climbing toward Telegraph Hill, a
superb vantage point for a pano-
ramic view of San Francisco Bay,
the Golden Gate, the Pacific fleet
at anchor, and Treasure Island,
where this years exposition was held.
Colt Memorial Tower is sightseer
must"
Drive down Lombard again and
pick up Taylor street, heading north
toward Fishermans Wharf. (The
visit atop Telegraph Hill has given
the driver a better sense of direc-
tion) At the wharf, the appetite
again may be tempted by Holsters
and crabs boiling in sidewalk caul-
drons. They are eaten on the spot,
within sight of the brilliantly
painted little fishing boats and amid
the cries of sidewalk hawkers.
Turn back on Taylor street, going
south to Bay street, there turning
right. Continue on west past Fort
Mason and the Transport Docks,
where supplies and provisions are
loaded for American forces in the
Far East possessions. Pick up and.
follow Marina boulevard. At the
Palace of Fine Arts, a relic of San
Francisco's 1915 Exposition, which
look like old gold amid the dark
eucalyptus trees, turn in toward the
Preside, the military area that