With its 43 hills, San Francisco is the hilliest city in the United States. As a result, there are over 600 public stairways to accommodate pedestrians. My favorite neighborhood in the City is Golden Gate Heights, and one of the reasons is because of its 14 blocks of pedestrian staircases.
Carl Larsen came to San Francisco from Denmark in 1869 and bought large swaths of land in the Sunset[1], comprised of sand dunes and a craggy ridge (a cluster of hills called Sunset Heights and located between Kirkham, 19th, Taraval and 9th). This ridge is comprised of Franciscan chert (sedimentary rock made from the shells of marine plankton). There are four peaks which are today’s Grandview Park (residents will tell you that it is the best venue to view the Blue Angels during Fleet Week[2]), Golden Gate Heights Park, Hawk Hill and Forest Hill (the tallest of the four peaks at 812 feet and topped with a water tower and a radio/cellular tower). In 1924 Larsen donated his land to the City and three years later Sunset Heights was renamed Golden Gate Heights, laid out for residential development and sold to development. Unlike the Sunset, where streets run in parallel and perpendicular lines north to south and east to west, Golden Gate Heights is comprised of steep and windy one way roads that do not coincide with the Sunset street grid. For example, 9th becomes 12th, and 14th and 15th intersect. Homes were built in the 1930s, 40s and 50s. Concrete staircases connect the streets.
In 2003 Golden Gate Heights residents, Jessie Audette and Alice Yee Xavier, inspired by the Selaron staircase in Rio de Janeiro, came up with the idea of beautifying the 163 step Moraga stairway that connects 16th to 15th and leads to another stairway that ascends to Grand View Park. Funded by 220 residents, Irish ceramist Aileen Barr and mosaic artist Colette Crutcher led three workshops where neighborhood residents learned how to create 2,000 handmade tiles representing a sea to sky motif. With the help of a local tile installer, the mosaic stairway was completed and opened in 2005. The Xaviers donated money for the gardens that border the stairway and have become a habitat for the green hairstreak butterfly.
The 16th Avenue Steps immediately became a popular tourist attraction. Because of this, and with funding from grants, donations and tile sponsorships, Barr and Crutcher would team up three more times to spearhead the tiling of:
1) The Hidden Garden Steps[3] – located on 15th connecting Kirkham to Lawton in Golden Gate Heights and completed in 2013, these 148 steps are decorated with an oversized garden theme.
2) Flights of Fancy – located at Aurelious Walker Drive at Innes in Bayview and completed in 2014, these 87 steps are decorated with a mosaic pattern inspired by Ghanaian Adinkra cloth.
3) The Lincoln Park Steps[4]: located at the end of California at 32nd next to the Lincoln Park Golf Course, these 52 steps are decorated in vibrant yellow and orange tiles with an Art Deco design.
The popularity of the mosaic stairways inspired other mosaic tile projects. The Quesada Gardens stairway between 3rd and Newhall in Bayview has a trees, fish and flowers motif. The Unity Plaza steps, located on Ocean Avenue into San Francisco City College[5] was created by Wowhaus Studios which transferred printed black and white images of neighborhood people and places onto porcelain enamel tiles. Kenny Alley between France and Italy in the Excelsior is a water motif designed by artist Kim Jensen. The Athens-Avalon Greenspace Steps in the Excelsior has a colorful striped design. The Tompkins Stairs, located between Nevada and Putnam in Bernal Heights, is a multicolored zigzag design inspired by the Steps of Peace in Deir Atieh, Syria. And the Dragon’s Tale staircase, also known as Miraloma Mosaic Stairs and located on Bella Vista at Dorcas, consists of a motif of plants and flowers with a dragon’s back snacking its way upwards.
While these mosaic stairways have become immensely popular, there are other City stairways that are beautiful in their own right and deserve mentioning:
1) The Filbert Steps near Napier Lane connects the Embarcadero to Coit Tower and is encased in lush greenery.
2) The Vulcan Street Stairs in Corona Heights is a way to get from the Castro to the Haight without taking city streets.
3) Harry Stairs in Glen Park are 230 steps between Laidley and Beacon with homes and beautiful gardens on both sides.
4) Lyon Street Steps at Broadway connect Pacific Heights to the Marina and includes the front yard of Diane Feinstein’s San Francisco residence.
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[1] The Sunset District: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=4584 [2] Fleet Week: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=4348 [3] Photo: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/A337FDF4-269D-4798-A63F-20B02E1D94F6.jpeg [4] Photo: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/CB9A9B0C-D7EF-4595-9C7B-32DB93433F4F.jpeg [5] San Francisco City College: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=4490
