Make sure to check the City Guides website for the complete schedule (including Guides assigned).

Disclaimer: City Guides volunteers often "trade" tours due to changing schedules, work related trips, grandmothers funerals, etc,. I'll try to keep this page up to date, but check back a couple of days ahead of the walk for highest confidence in the data.

Promise: we walk rain or shine!

Greg's Schedule  (See descriptions of The Walks - including meeting places - below the schedule)

EXCELSIOR DISTRICT STROLL
Walk an outer mission neighborhood that was part of the Mexican-era Bernal Land Grant. We'll talk about the Bernals as well as the Italian vegetable farmers who settled along Cuyuga Creek. And like many San Francisco neighborhoods, there's a story of real estate developers with big dreams - in this case, dreams that were slow to be realized. My son, John, lives in the Excelsior neighborhood and co-leads this one. He studied at SF State with Tim Drescher (San Francisco Murals, Pogo Press, Inc.) and leads us to some little-known (outside of the neighborhood, that is) examples of public mural art. Once, we even met one of the artists! The Excelsior - with one of the highest rates of owner-occupancy in The City - might be the Rodney Dangerfield of San Francisco neighborhoods. Or is it the Rocky Balboa? Come along and decide for yourself. Meets in front of the Excelsior Library, 4400 Mission Street at Cotter. Offered only in May and October.

GOLD RUSH CITY
Relive the early history of an instant city. We'll walk the oldest part of downtown -  the haunts of the original 49ers - including the streets atop the now-vanished Yerba Buena Cove. It was a tiny village in 1848; in 1849 as many as 50,000 tramped across its sandy ground. Think about what that does to societal order. Meets where The City began, Clay & Montgomery at the Transamerica Pyramid. And speaking of haunts, we'll finish with a ghost story in the old Barbary Coast.

HAIGHT-ASHBURY  
Come explore streets, sidewalks, parks and vistas that tell the story of a Victorian era resort area that was subsequently settled by comfortable merchants (their gingerbread homes still grace its streets). I lived in the Haight briefly in June/July 1967 (ground zero for the Summer of Love) and will talk about that a little - more, if you're interested. Otherwise, it's mostly about Victorian house architecture and the earlier history of the neighborhood. A few steep hills - somewhat strenuous - but we take it at an easy pace. Meets at the Park Branch Library, 1833 Page Street.

NORTH BEACH
Savor a taste the International District, home to the latin quarter of the 1850s, little Italy since the 1880s, and the stage for turn of the century bohemians and mid-20th century beatniks. We'll visit a working Italian bread bakery, alleys named for William Soroyan and Jack Kerouac - and talk about a native-born poet almost never associated with San Francisco. Plus, if it's not raining buckets, I'll show you the City's best "unknown" view of North Beach. Meets at 666 Filbert Street on the steps of Sts. Peter and Paul Church, across from Washington Square (where we will might watch a Tai Chi class exercise while we wait to start the walk).

NORTH BEACH BY NIGHT
Nightlife is on stage as North Beach watches the sun go down. We'll visit the sites where the Beats created an artistic and literary culture that swept America toward the Hippie movement, We'll discuss North Beach as the Latin Quarter following the Gold Rush and old Italian North Beach. This is a living, breathing neighborhood with lots of history and a certain amount of controversy. We'll try to discover both.
The fogs may come rolling in at any night. The layered look is always fashionable on this walk. 
We'll finish with a ghost story as the sun goes down.

SUTRO FOREST HIKE

Join me for a walk up the hill from Kezar to explore the leafy legacy of Adolph Sutro's Arbor Day celebrations. We'll walk along the pathway called - by generations of neighborhood kids - "Ishi's Trail." Yes, Ishi - the last of his tribe - lived nearby. Come out of the woods for a for a straight-up view of the Sutro TV tower, and more. A steep, long walk, but taken at an easy pace, and - fog allowing - rewarded with spectacular views! Meets at the sunny northwest corner of Stanyan and Frederick (or at the shadier southeast corner if the sun is blazing; that's San Francisco weather for you). Offered only in May and October.

I hope to see you there!