A Free Walking Tour of the North Beach Neighborhood in San Francisco

Wednesday We were in San Francisco for a week and staying at the same hotel the entire time. One of the things we enjoyed a lot was the nice spread at the full buffet breakfast offered at the hotel restaurant. It was a pleasure dining in the dining room as the serving staff was attentive and very polite.

A few days ago we reserved our spots for a free local tour. The North Beach Library offers a monthly free tour of the neighbourhood. We were lucky to have been in SF at the right time and took advantage of this free activity. After breakfast at our hotel, we took an Uber to the North Beach library where we gathered and met other fellow tourists. We met the manager of the public library who was our tour guide on that day. The library manager was born and raised in the North Beach community attending the local schools when he was young. The tour started at the library and we walked by colourful houses, parks, coffee shops and a beautiful church called St. Peter and Paul Church. It is a manificent building and has served as the home church and cultural center for San Francisco's Italian-American community since its consecration. It currently offers English, Italian, and Cantonese-language services.

As we were led through alleyways and small streets, our knowledagable guide introuduced us to historical buildings and landmarks offering interesting stories and insights on local history and development of the city of San Francisco. I particularly enjoyed our guide's stories about the St. Peter and Paul church and how it had seen some famous people and appeared in a number of Hollywood movies. After their civil ceremony in 1954, Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio returned to the church steps to have their marriage photos taken there as the Catholic church refused to marry them in the church due to DiMaggio's marital status. Another story was about the big mural of a lady painted on a neighbourhood building's wall. The lady's name was Carol Ann Doda who made international news in the 1960's as the first public topless dancer in the United States, based in San Francisco. She danced in the Condor Club right in the North Beach neighbrohood. We also learned how different merchants staking their claims on the land of San Francisco by purposedly sinking their ships along the waterfront of the city.

This free walking tour offered by the North Beach Public Library was enjoyable and educational as we learnt a great deal about this famous district. Two thumbs up and would highly recommend this free tour to visitors in San Francisco! Thank you to the Manager of the North Beach Library for a wonderful tour of your neighbourhood! RT - From Toronto, Canada On holidays in San Francisco USA 112024

P.S. We Went to Ikea after the local tour trying to find a bed for E. I took pictures of the beds which might be of interest to him. Because we spent a little longer time here, we were late getting to E'S condo. However, we were able to help him move some furniture, cleared some boxes and hanged a few pictures. We were glad that we could do something for him. He asked us if we wanted to take part in the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving day and regisgered for us. Then he came with us to the hotel and slept over night there at our suite so that we would wake up early and go to the Turkey Trot event on time the next day.