Livermorium - A day remembering the Hispanic founding of the Mission San Francisco de Asís

The Painted Ladies

Livermorium

Livermorium (atomic number 116) is our element for today. It is an element which was discovered at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Due to its discovery there Livermorium is named for the City of Livermore here in the bay. The City is named for the English born, Mexican citizen - Robert Livermore - whose ranch forms the basis of the City. Robert was linked to the Mission network in California, having been baptised as a Catholic in Mission Santa Clara before working in Mission San Gabriel, then buying the land, which now bears his name, and which is now also bournw by Livermorium, from the Mission San José. The mission network has been on my mind today as we spent most of our day in the Mission Dolores area of San Francisco and visited the place which gave this city its name the Mission San Francisco de Asís.

Breakfast

After the wonderful meal of last night, I lay-in until 6am and begin yesterday's blog post, Drew wakes at 6:10am and I go down (yes in last night's clothes - I'm not proud) for coffee for us both. 

I compete the blog post we ablute and leave the hotel at 9.00am. 

To make sure I keep trim, Drew's plans for today are a walking day. A good plan as Friday/Saturday will be taken up on a plane and I don't expect to go far without a car on Sunday <<Co-pilot's note: OK>> or Bank Holiday Monday <<Co-pilot's note: Not OK, you'll be walking to Church, not hanging around the house bothering me.>>. So today will be the last day for a chance of a good walk for a while. 

Our route for the day

I suggested we start by visiting Pacific Heights, sometimes called Millionaires row, this was the  only one of the 8 walks that Frommer recommend for visitors to the City that we had not yet done. We did the first seven before heading to Hawai'i and Alaska. 

We went up one street through Chinatown and then walked 9 blocks to Polk Gulch, where at 9.30am we stopped for breakfast at the Village Cafe at Pine and Polk.

New Village Cafe

New Village Cafe

The New Village Cafe is a two person operation, one out front, the other in the kitchen. But it works very smoothly and produces good food. 

Farmers Scramble

Drew decided to have Farmers Scramble which was a three egg scramble with bell peppers, mushrooms, avocado, spinach and jack cheese with home fries.

Breakfast Fajitas 

I decided to go a bit spicier with Breakfast Fajitas which were the same number of eggs with black beans, jack cheese, bell peppers, tomato and avocado served with tortillas and a pico sauce. The waiter recommended I try some Gringo Bandito hot sauce with it, and it was really zingy. A great way to wake up in the morning.

Pacific Heights

Lafayette Park

From Polk Gulch, we walked up three streets and then along two streets to Lafayette Park which is the centre of the Pacific Heights area. 

Fog in the bay

From here we could not only see some of the amazing houses, but also down into the bay. Guess what? The Fog is back, so we were lucky to get to see the Golden Gate Bridge yesterday.

An elaborate house in Pacific Heights

The houses are very impressive here, all with high gates and security systems. I'll point you to Flickr if you wish to see more.

Japantown

We wandered on heading for the Painted Ladies at Alamo Square.  We stumbled into Japantown, an area I'd visited back in the 90s, but not been to since. It is a lot more prosperous than it was then.

I stopped to read the memorials to the Japanese who were interned during the second world war. This is clearly a live issue for community politics here.

Catholic Cathedral

St Mary of the Assumption Cathedral

We leave Japantown and come, in a few blocks, to the modern brutalist Catholic Cathedral of St Mary of the Assumption. I realize that while I like brutalism as a clear cut architectural style, I prefer it in museums and offices not in Churches.  

St Mary of the Assumption Cathedral

The internal art is as bleak and brutalist as the exterior. For those who can cope with it, there is plenty of evidence on Flickr starting here.

The Painted Ladies

The Painted Ladies

We continued on to Alamo Square Park and sat and took in the street of Victorian era houses known as the Painted Ladies. These have become Icons of the City, and attract a large number of tourists. I have always had a soft spot in my heart for this place. My Mum and I went to see the Mike Myers film, So I Married an Axe Murderer, in the 90s. This comedy is set in San Francisco, and Myers charecter spends quite a bit of time doing his sitting and thinking on the bench I sat on as I took the photo above. So these ladies bring back lovely memories of my Mam. It is why it is so nice to be here.

Mission Dolores

Mission San Francisco de Asís - Mission Dolores

We left Alamo Square with the intention of heading straight to the Mission area of town, as Drew had seen that it has its own murals and wanted to photo them. But in doing so we came passed the Mission Dolores Basilica. The place for which this City is named.

Mission Dolores - old and new

The Mission San Francisco de Asís is the sixth, by order of founding, of the 21 California Missions. It was established on the 27th of June, 1776 - a week later, a long way away on the other side of this continent, something else was happening. 

Our Lady of Sorrows

The alternate name of Our Lady of Sorrows, comes from a missionary scouting party who arrived three months earlier and called the nearby river Arroyo de Nuestra Señora de los Dolores. With the wider city taking the name of this foundation MIssion, the Mission is now known mainly as Mission Dolores.  

Earthquake Damage - 1906

The original Mission Church, and the Basilica which also carries its name, are side by side. In the 1906 earthquake the Mission, made of dried mud, stayed stable, but the Gothic Church collapsed and was replaced by the more tasteful hispanic style building we see now.

Both the old and new Church are worth a visit and we have 98 photos on Flickr, if you'd like to see more - start here.

Murals in the Mission

Coffee at Maxfield's - House of Caffeine

From the Church we headed deeper into the Mission area, stopping for a Coffee along the way.

Mural in the Mission

We noted we had already taken 13,000 steps and walked 5.20 miles at this point in the day. 

Saints who worked with the poor and oppressed

We visited the amazing Murals in Mission Dolores. Along 24th Street from its junction with Mission, there are an enormous number with great variety.

Artists titles

The murals are very political and some very emotional. The themes of Hispanic people and immigration (e.g. we were here before the border), themes of black oppression (See Martin Luther King), themes of Native American Indian oppression (with European's attacking Quetzalcoatl and the Aztec God responding) are all mixed together, with socalist themes of oppression and Christian images like Our Lady of Guadalupe and St Oscar Romero. 

Artist at work

This provides a fascinating and complex mix depicted in art, we even saw one of the artists at work. There are 144 photos to look at on Flickr - starting here

Back to the Hotel

We continued to walk along 24th Street until we arrived at Portero. Here we stopped at Walgreens to buy our supplies of aspirin and hydrocortisone to take home. (This is a regular part of an American trip, as prices and quantity of both products are much better than can be had in the UK. 

We caught the 9R bus from Portero at 24th Street to Mission and Kearney, this was 11 stops. We paid $2:50 (each) on our Clipper card for one ride. (Clippers hold cash as well as day tickets) We got back to the hotel just after 4pm and loaded the photos to Flickr, which, given there number, took some time.

Tadich Grill 

The Tadich Grill

The Tadich Grill is a San Francisco tradition everyone who visits the City should try. The restaurant was first opened in 1849 (before California had joined the USA). Though not on its current site, which would have been under water at the time, before they backfilled the bay to make more land for the City developments. 

Tadich Bar

The Tadich takes no bookings, you walk in and wait for as long as is needed at the bar for a table to become available, or you can eat at the bar. We have experience of early eaters in this city so we left the hotel at 7:25 to get to Tadich at 7:35. There were only five groups of two waiting for tables before us and by 8:15am we are seated at a table.

Caesar Salad

Drew started with his old staple - Caesar Salad, the anchovies were whole rather than sprinkled through the salad, which makes it more salty. The lettuce was crisp, the cheese melting and the generous helping of dressing was delcious. 

Crab Cakes with Aioli

I opted for Crab Cakes with Aioli, which was wonderful. The tightly packed cake, with the light breadcrumbed batter was firm and juicy. The Aioli was rich in garlic and the sauce around the plate had a mustardy flavour which worked well with the crab.

Halibut poached in a soy and ginger sauce with potatoes, leek and carrots 

The sauce had large slices of ginger in it, but this did not overpower the halibut given its own strong firm texture. The potatoes had a bite to them and the strips of carrot and leek were a good accompaniment to the halibut. 

Pork Shoulder

I chose one of the items from the daily specials list - Pork Shoulder with mashed potatoes, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli and courgette.  This was a real triumph, the four think slice of Pork were rich in their own juices. The mash had not been messed with or added to, it was simply potato. The other vegetables were all cooked el dente, it was nice to have so much veg, it isn't always the case in the US. It was a hearty tasty meal, perfect for our last night here.

The meal looked so good that someone from a neighbouring table came over to ask what I had had, so he could order it when he came again.

We walked back to the hotel and were in bed by 11.00pm.