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Monday February 23

  • 9:30 am

    Japanese Tea Garden

    After the successful 1894 Midwinter Exposition San Francisco decided to keep the Japanese Village exhibit. Makoto Hagiwara was hired to be the new manager of the Garden and immediately set about expanding the Garden three-fold to its size today. An impressive variety of flora greets you as you enter a Japanese inspired wonderland of small scenes created throughout the Garden. The peace and quiet of the Garden encourages one to slow down and be mindful of the surroundings - A perfect walk for those seeking a peaceful afternoon...

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    StairsStairsFee InvolvedFee Involved
  • 11:00 am

    Fisherman's Wharf: A Hidden History

    It may not look like it now, but underneath the sleek, commercial facade of today’s redeveloped Fisherman’s Wharf, hundreds of Italian immigrants built an entire industry on the backs of Dungeness crab. Not everything on this tour happens on the water. We'll look at Ghirardelli Square, once the factory of San Francisco's most beloved chocolatier. Passing the Hyde Street Cable Car Turnaround we  discuss San Francisco's cable cars and we'll explain the stories of many of the historic ships anchored at the Hyde Street Pier.  Discover a new side of the Wharf, featuring stories of the Bay that locals themselves don't know.

  • 1:00 pm

    Architecture Downtown

    After the 1906 earthquake  San Francisco was back to square one. If it wanted to remain the major American city of the West, it wouldn’t just need to rebuild — it needed to transcend what had been done before.  Over the next century, luminous designers from Chicago and New York would bring their experiences working with new materials set at record heights to innovate the local blueprint. Architects like George Kelham, Willis Polk, William Pereira, and SOM would paint the skyline out of thin air.

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    Rain CancelsRain Cancels
  • 1:00 pm

    Cityscapes And Public Places

    The 1985 Downtown Plan was one of the most important piece of red tape in San Francisco history. With accelerating downtown development, city officials laid down some ground rules: If you’re going to build here, you’re going to have to pay a little extra to cover the necessary infrastructure improvements. Oh — and you have to devote a portion of your project to a publicly accessible open space. Thus, Privately-Owned Public Open Spaces (POPOS) were born.

  • 1:00 pm

    Japanese Tea Garden (No Tour Today)

    After the successful 1894 Midwinter Exposition San Francisco decided to keep the Japanese Village exhibit. Makoto Hagiwara was hired to be the new manager of the Garden and immediately set about expanding the Garden three-fold to its size today. An impressive variety of flora greets you as you enter a Japanese inspired wonderland of small scenes created throughout the Garden. The peace and quiet of the Garden encourages one to slow down and be mindful of the surroundings - A perfect walk for those seeking a peaceful afternoon...

    View Tour Details >
    StairsStairsFee InvolvedFee Involved
  • 5:30 pm

    Online - Spreckels' Sugar Empire

    Beginning in the late 1850s, Claus Spreckels arrived in San Francisco and set his sight on building his sugar empire that would later bring a tremendous amount of wealth to the Spreckels family.  The reach of the Spreckels' sugar empire would reach from Hawaii to the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond.  We will be focusing on Claus Spreckels and Alma de Bretteville Spreckels contributions.