You’d think it would be hard to get into the Christmas spirit here in San Francisco – there’s the sun, the palm trees, the infinitesimal chance of snow.
But then I realized: we live in a Victorian city. Victorian houses are everywhere, and we still have a running Victorian public transit system. A Christmas Story is Victorian. Wait, ALL of Christmas is Victorian. This whole city is a real version of the fake stuff we’ve been buying up at Target every year. Who needs a toy train set when you can have a real train set right here?
So, ho ho ho, I’ve created a Victorian San Francisco day trip to kick off the Holiday Season. What better place to start than the Cable Car Museum, followed by a holiday shopping adventure on Nob Hill’s Polk Street, then a cozy, romantic dinner at Seven Hills under twinkle lights as antique cable cars roll past.
(And a BONUS feature: your own shopping guide to the best Polk Street has to offer. YOU’RE WELCOME.)
Christmas in San Francisco: The Cable Car Museum and Polk Street Holiday Shopping Extravaganza
Recommended Itinerary:
1. Get to the Cable Car Museum
2. Tour the Cable Car Museum
3. Walk to Polk Street
4. Holiday shopping on Polk Street
5. Dinner at Seven Hills on Hyde Street
What you’ll need to bring:
1. Shoes comfortable for walking in
2. Scarf and jacket and maybe gloves, no matter how warm the day was
3. Willful suspension of belief that your 401K isn’t looking too spry these days
1. Get to the Cable Car Museum
I suppose we could have taken a cable car to the Cable Car Museum. But, that line at Powell Street is always so long, and I think the only people who wait in lines for public transit are people on vacation (see also: Disney World Shuttles.)
We opted for the good ol’ 12 Folsom (see here for How to Ride the Bus.) If you’re really taking this Victorian Christmas celebration to heart, you can hop on either the Powell-Hyde or Powell-Mason Cable Car lines.
The Cable Car Museum is the large, brick building on the corner of Mason and Washington. You can’t miss it.
2. Tour the Cable Car Museum
It turns out the (free!) Cable Car Museum is a functioning cable car barn and powerhouse! Who knew? I thought this was going to be the New York Transit Museum all over again – dusty artifacts, old whicker cars, wide-eyed train enthusiasts (aka foamers), and me (not a foamer. Really. I just like trains!)
Heading downstairs, you’ll see the slightly scary underbelly of the whole cable car network – the massive plate wheels (“sheaves”) spinning cable lines for the cable cars on Mason and Washington above.
Heading upstairs, you can stand at a wood and iron railing overlooking the powerhouse: an acre-size pit of 8 spinning spoke-and-hub winding wheels, cables, and even the engineers’ workshop. It’s mesmerizing.
The technology is pretty straightforward. Underground cable runs in a loop (powered by those there wheels) around the city, the driver (or gripman) grips onto the cable in order to move the cable car, the cable car is pulled by the moving cable, and the driver releases the grip in order to stop. Like hopping on or off a conveyor belt.
Around the periphery are the museum exhibits. Most of them focus on the devastation wrought by the 1906 earthquake and subsequent fire. The photos looked like Berlin after the war.
I gave Dave a half worried grin and slowly backed away, ignoring most of the other exhibits as I snapped photos of the antique cable cars and memorabilia. I’m a person who can barely handle the spring of a Jack-in-the-box, so I’m not sure why I agreed to move to a city that’s just experienced the “dum de dum de DUM DUM” and is on pause waiting for the eventual surprise.
(Have you ever gone to the USGS Earthquake Map for California? Go on, click on it. Yeah, there are earthquakes in California every day, multiple times a day. People here treat the random 3.5 like an awesome wave that just came through Ocean Beach.)
So, I’m too busy with cotton in my ears, and my head firmly planted in the bedrock that I hope our apartment building is built on, to get into a discussion of the 1906 Earthquake today. It was bad, water lines broke, cable car lines crumbled, USGS estimates that 3,000 people died. We’ll revisit it on another day.
The building is very cool and very Dickensian, so I highly recommend it.
3. Walk to Polk street
Walking out of the Cable Car Museum, turn right onto Washington and start walking uphill. It’s only a half mile to Polk Street, but it’ll feel farther.
As you climb up the next two blocks, you’ll get a better understanding of why cable cars took off here –horse-drawn carriages couldn’t cut it (and many horses met their fate at the bottom of runaway carriages). Most of Nob Hill’s Victorian mansions fell in the 1906 fires, but the neighborhood still retains a feel of Victorian San Francisco with the constant, clanking hum of the underground cables. Cable cars wind their way through its hills and narrow streets, almost always full of people hanging off the burnished railings, keepin’ it real.
Like most old neighborhoods, Nob Hill was built on a human scale. People live on top of each other, and you could probably overhear an argument in apartment 3C across the street. We weren’t entirely surprised to run into a friend on Washington and Hyde — the intimate neighborhood almost ensures that you’ll run into friends, taking a moment to discuss whether J.Edgar Hoover was really a cross-dresser or what the best used bookstore is in a 2 mile radius.
4. Holiday shopping on Polk Street
Polk Street is the main commercial strip in Nob Hill and Russian Hill. With its mix of yuppy home design stores, clothing boutiques, candy stores, and wine shops, it is an ideal spot to find that just-perfect gift for anyone and everyone.
At Picnic, there was an endless array of buttery smooth leather and vegan clutches. Shiraleah’s retro box clutch/wallet with silver clasp ($42) was a standout and is available in a variety of colors. The room next door was the real attraction, full of quirky home goods like a 70s inspired Sagaform canister set that wouldn’t have looked out of place in my mother’s kitchen(lg $34, sm $22). The kids decorations are also a treat, including a Mario Brother’s style mushroom nightlight set (which turn on and off with a bop on the head) and easy-to-open Sugar Booger backpacks, which I’ve already gifted to all the toddlers in my family ($24).
If this is all a bit too whimsical for you, Lombardi Sports is just across the street. This is a one stop shop for all your outdoorsy needs –skiing, snowboarding, camping, bicycling, or weight lifting. And if none of that works out, head straight for the Smartwool socks, and thank me later.
For the wine lover in your family, or for the myriad of hostess gifts you’ll need between now and January, head to Cheese Plus. The disarming little shop has an impressive wine selection. (It’s well curated, as the cool kids are saying these days.) They had our local Northern California favorites: an Arnot Roberts Trousseau ($30) and a Wind Gap Orro ($19.99). I got a little apprehensive as the in-house wine expert approached (you know how they can be, especially in this town), but John turned out to be a cute and passionate wine nerd, speaking fast, brow furrowed, about his favorites. Cheese Plus is offering a selection of his 6 favorite holiday dinner wines for $90. So, go shop there, say hello, and buy all the wine.
You’ve forgotten somebody. It’s a little embarrassing, frankly, but Fido’s used to it by now. Also, Fido’s a bit of a drama queen. Bow Wow Meow is a compact store for the spoiled dog in everyone’s life. If a down vest is your go-to winter staple, it might be for the canine set as well. Choose between a sleek, reversible orange/gray puffy coat ($39.99) or go full out with a fleece-lined puffy coat ($49.99). Once you’re at the counter, you won’t be able to pass on the holiday decorated dog cookies ($.99-$2.50), a perfectly impersonal gift for that dog-obsessed colleague.
It might be time to stop for hot chocolate, which is exactly what we did at the Royal Ground. Mismatched wood chairs and tables add to the cozy and casual vibe, and a table by the window is an excellent opportunity to watch the locals walk by on their own holiday shopping adventures.
The Russian Hill Bookstore, just next door, has a terrific selection of Children’s books, my default present for any kid. In the Children’s book room, a little boy dragged his mom by her shirt tail muttering “IwannaIwannaIwannaIwanna the Llama Llama Red Pajama.” You’ll also see the Olivia Series, Bread and Jam for Frances, all the Maurice Sendak books, and two books by Suzy Lee (which I’ll be buying for my nieces). For older children, there’s a bookcase full of classic children’s novels like Oliver Twist and Alice in Wonderland. Perhaps more for the child in all of us, there’s a wall of hardcover vintage children’s readers – you know, books about boy detectives solving mysteries amongst enigmatic outlaws and one-eyed sages in the Wild West, or early hardcover and illustrated editions of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ($8-30). They also had the FULL L.M. Mongtomery catalogue, from Anne of Green Gables to Anne of Ingleside ($3). In case you want to hoard them. For your nieces. When they’re older.
The bookstore’s other sections are a little hit or miss. The travel section seemingly only had books about people finding themselves in Tuscany (it’s always Tuscany), and I’m not even talking about Eat, Pray, Love. A man next to me actually spontaneously burst out laughing and by way of explanation pulled out Latin for All Occasions. What occasions did they have in mind?
For a little tasteful home décor, Cato Seto has a bright and colorful selection of Thomas Paul pillows ($78). Close by was my personal favorite, Hungrybunny, a store dedicated to all things food and cute. For any friends or family reading this, I need the How to Make Your Own Gummies Kit ($12) – it’s like an edible science kit. Dave pointed out a Counting with Wayne Thibeaud board book ($6.50). Because it’s never too early to teach your toddler friends about San Francisco artists, math, and cupcakes. (She also sells White Russian, Bourbon, and Absinthe lollipops ($2.25), a fun stocking stuffer for Grandma.)
Across the street, and likely only for the most daring gifts, is Jak Home. This is what Restoration Hardware wishes it could be, if it had a soul and wasn’t afraid of fun. The home store is masculine and elegant, with a striking oversize painting of an old timey man in overalls painting a blue race car ($2100) and heavy iron lamps that would make a statement on any sideboard or entry table($150). I also loved the glossy white ceramic, two-pistol jewelry holder – just because you’re tough doesn’t mean you don’t need somewhere to put your earrings or cufflinks at night.
Once gummy candy is on the brain, it’s hard to let it go. The Candy Store, on Vallejo, has ceiling-high shelves of all sorts of obscure gummy candies and chocolates. I picked up some Swedish Monkeys ($18/pd) and Licorice Scotties ($25/pd) but I can’t say I wasn’t intrigued by the gummy Chicken Feet ($15/pd). If we’re still pretending this is a holiday shopping excursion, pick up a box of the Salted Caramel Eggs ($20) or artisan chocolates ($18) – they make for great stocking stuffers or quick presents.
Before dinner, there’s just one more stop, and I’ve been saving it because it’s the most magical of all. Every holiday season, Terrasol converts itself into a glittery wonderland of glass ornaments, white lights, and hurricane lamps. If your house is still looking a little blah this year, anything from this shop is sure to dazzle.
5. Dinner at Seven Hills on Hyde Street
The sun was setting as we headed uphill to Seven Hills on Hyde Street. The neighborhood began to sparkle under what must be miles of twinkle lights. Dave and I started chanting our own rendition of Carol of the Bells under our breaths. Merrymerrymerrymerry CHRISMISS.
Seven Hills is a romantic neighborhood bistro, with some of the best, freshest Italian we’ve had in the city. We don’t go out for Italian much, maybe a trip to Delfina for comfort food or red sauce Italian if we’re in the mood for it. This place might change all that.
We were seated in the window, bathed under the glow of the tree wrapped in white lights outside as a cable car rumbled past every 5 minutes or so. The service was spectacular – prompt and friendly.
We split the burrata cheese appetizer. It tasted like fresh milk, the buttery curds oozed and melted into each other. It was served with just a drizzling of pungently green olive oil. The semolina pasta chips were dusted with sea salt and truffle oil. The simple flavors of truffle and olive oil were really all the burrata needed – anything more and you would lose the taste of the mild cheese. It was wonderful.
My taleggio cheese agnolotti in a broth of squash puree tasted like the pasta had just been rolled in the past hour. Taleggio can be a bit overpowering (or, just super funky) but the chef used it lightly, and it’s earthiness balanced beautifully with the sweet squash. This is Italian at its best, when everything tastes so light and fresh that you’re barely aware that you’ve just made a meal of cheese and pasta.
After a meal the night before at a restaurant much talked about in the SF dining scene, which somehow ended up being both extravagant and boring, we were nearly grateful for the simplicity and careful execution at Seven Hills.
We are already planning our next visit.
Getting back home should be easy, many bus routes and cable car routes cross through Nob Hill. Just check the MUNI route map and you’ll be on your way.
