Sourdough Bread and other San Francisco, CA Local Custom Tips

Californians are crazy about sourdough. The SF Forty-Niner Football team mascot is Sourdough Sam. But, sourdough is an acquired taste, where the novice is likely to be confused by the craze. When, I lived in Saudi Arabia, where good date bread comes direct from the baker's oven, I got a hankering for sourdough. I found a "sourdough" baguette at a grocery, which was crusty all right but not really sour. I've never found quality sourdough in Europe either. It seems that this slow expanding yeast has been replaced worldwide with faster rising milder yeasts that blow fewer dough bubbles.

A baguette from Paris or New York resembles one from San Francisco, but the tangy--zero sweet--flavor of a sourdough loaf is unique. Some claim the city's foggy climate fosters the yeast culture, but I personally believe that the more restrained use of bread within a diet low on sugars or fats, and high on red wine, fosters this culinary staple. A great appetizer is simply a basket of sourdough, a little virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar for sopping, and a glass of Sauvignon Blanc.

Sourdough is hand-formed into long, round or oblong loaves, rolls, and even pancakes. Skip the stack of fluffy flapjacks topped with corn syrup at I-Hop, try a plate of misshapen bubble-pocked silver dollar sized sourdough slices topped with Grade A Maple Syrup. Unlike other breads, sourdough is often preferred dried and crusty. Leave the bread on the counter. I do prefer mine fresh and doughy, with a softer crust. For lunch prosciutto or jamon serrano, fresh sliced tomato, basil leaves, garlic, and balsamic vinegar atop a thick slice of Extra Sourdough, sometimes toasted, is my personal favorite. Sourdough meets all fine pate', cheezes, and mustards.

Available throughout California (see link), the bread's sour flavor is the quality control taste test. Homemakers should buy several packages of Gold Rush dry soughdough yeast, also widely available. Keeping a yeast culture is cheap and easy.

Leave a Comment

Website: http://www.sourdoughbread.com/index.shtml

The great Chronicle gossip columnist, Herb Caen wrote a book in 1953 with this title, yet even Caen lamented that the nickname had a long tradition among gritty longshoreman and sailors. One problem with the Frisco nickname is that it was used by Frank Sinatra in his song, "Hello, Frisco, Hello". San Franciscans percieved Sinatra's Palm Springs and Las Vegas roots as mob inspired, while contemporary Tony Bennett's signature song "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" was viewed as more appropriate for the city.

A more serious problem is the false linguistic amalgamation from the longer name San Francisco. In general, San Francisco artist are inclined toward lengthier names, not shorter ones. Leave the bubble gum for impulsive LA, the thinking goes. The labyrinith of streets, painted ladies, and the mystical fog suggest a preoccupation with reflection, such as is found in longer names "The Grateful Dead", "The Jefferson Airplane", "Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks" --a sharp contrast with bland blond headed beach twank of the "The Beach Boys", for example. The name Frisco implies the cool foggy climate of the city, but for those that live in Northern California, most also know that the city is actually warmer in winter than surrounding Bay Area and Central Valley cities, often as much as twenty degrees warmer on a still January winter night.

For those who prefer to remain in tune with the sophisticated side of San Francisco, simply refer to it as "the city" and everyone will know where you are talking about. The city is one of complex romance, a good aged bottle of wine, and a long meal with a view of the waterfront. "Frisco" is cheap street language more familiar among tatoo parlors and B-rated Hollywood movies, where a margarita is more likely to be consumed on impulse than a bottle of wine.

Leave a Comment

Website: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/10/14/DD67721.DTL&type=travelbayarea

The Marina District is landfill of brick ruble from the 1906 Earthquake, but the area of the Embarcadero waterfront is mostly landfill from old ships abandoned during the Gold Rush era. Prior to 1906, several restaurants were housed in the remains of ships which had fill around them. During the 48 second shake in 1906, subsequent fire and fire break dynamite effort destroyed much of this area. The most significant survivor though--one of only two--is the Ferry Building. Serving to transport thousands daily across the bay to Oakland, prior to construction of the Golden Gate and Bay bridges during the 1930's, the Ferry Building was a huge transportation hub. My father recalls waiting in line for hours to load the family car onto a ferry at a time when the Ferry Building was the second busiest transportation terminal in the world. All Muni lines converged at the Ferry Building, and some 170 ferries per day floated commuters to and from work. Originally built in 1898, at the spot where ferry service had already been conducted since 1850, the Ferry Building serviced at this time the 10th most populated city in the United States, a city larger than Los Angeles prior to the 1920's. After the Bay Bridge was built, and the boom of the post-WWII automobile era, the building became almost forgotten, eventually hidden behind a ramp of the unfinished Embarcadero Freeway. At one point, the Ferry Building became slated for demolition. Fortunately, wiser heads prevailed, and rather the Embarcadero freeway became demolished when the Loma Prieta Earthquake exposed poor engineering. The Ferry Building has since been completely restored to prominence along the scenic Embarcadero.

Leave a Comment

Website: http://geology.about.com/od/historicearthquakes/ig/SFquake2006/ferrybldg.htm

The Pacific Heights neighborhood generally faired very well during the earthquake and fire, because of the solid bedrock location, the quality of upscale housing built there, and the ability of the neighborhood to defend itself against loss during the great fire. I have several tips on VT related to the homes and buildings here, among them nearby Calvary Presbyterian Church. The Webster Historic District deserves special attention not only because of these older homes are earthquake and fire survivors, but also because the initial quality design and construction by notable SF architects, such as realestate subdivider William Hollis. Perhaps the most famous of the historic landmarks within the Webster Historic Distric is the Dallam-Merritt House at 2355 Washington Street, which is between Buchanan and Webster. In addition to the extraordinary finish detail, note how the home is set back on the lot, and has extra landscape space and more windows on the south side of the building. In addition to this building, is another less dramatic, but still wonderfully restored home on the same block.

Leave a Comment

Douglas Tilden, a California native university trained in art, was commissioned to build 3 Market street monuments, including The Pioneers, The Mechanics, and The Admissions Day monument. Tilden is often regarded a the "Michelangelo of the West" for the muscular realism in his bronze statues. Tilden is also known for being deaf. Born in 1860, Tilden lost his hearing from scarlet fever at age 5, but with the help of wealthy parents, was educated at the California school for the deaf, and taught art there after he graduated. Later he learned more about sculpture from another deaf sculptor during a trip through France. The Admission Day monument, located at the intersection of Market, Post, and Montgomery Streets, is actually a collaboration with famed Bay Area architect, James Phelan. This monument commemorates the entry of California into the union of the United States in 1850.

Leave a Comment

Website: http://deafness.about.com/cs/deafhistoricpeople/p/douglastilden.htm
Other Contact: http://www.verlang.com/sfbay0004

The oldest existing monument in San Francisco is Lotta's Fountain, located at the intersection of Market, Kearney, and Geary, diagonally across from the Palace Hotel. This rather humble gold painted, cast iron public fountain (now dry), with lion heads was purchased and shipped from Philadelphia by famed singer, Lotta Crabtree, and dedicated as a token of her appreciation for the city that made her rich. Lotta Crabtree and her mother arrived in San Francisco in 1852, and built a fortune from gold nuggets tossed on stage for young Lotta's performances. While her mother wore black and had business talents, red headed and vivacious, Lotta woed the miners with her Mae West style suggestive singing and hip movements. Between the late 1860's through 1890's Lotta was a national sensation for her stage and theater performances. Despite her popularity, she never married. Lotta became very wealthy and provided the public fountain at the time the new Palace Hotel was constructed in 1875. Few Hollywood stars today will be so well remembered as Lotta Crabtree. See links below for more information about her life and times. The monument is a survivor of the 1906 earthquake and fire, and was a popular meeting place for those looking for loved ones. Also, note that famed Italian opera singer Luisa Tetrazzinni, who sang in front of Lotta's Fountain on Christmas Eve in 1910, is memorialized on a bronze band around the upper part of the fountain. The KQED link below has a quicktime recording of the diva's arias sung that night, as well as the interesting story of her free concert on the street of San Francisco.

Leave a Comment

Website: http://www.kqed.org/w/sinfiregold/lotta.html
Other Contact: http://www.ncgold.com/History/Lo

Visitors are very likely to pass by the huge bronze statue of 5 muscle bound and naked men struggling with a stamp press. Formally the Peter Donahue Memorial, Mechanics Monument is located at the intersection of Market, Bush, and Battery. This most brilliant of three works along Market Street by the "Michelangelo of the West", Douglas Tilden, a native-born Californian, and a university trained artist whose wealthy family is perhaps most famous around the city of Chico, where descendents mostly live today.

Then Major Phelan, gave Tildren free reign, while the son of Peter Donahue, founder of the Union Iron Works, donated the idea and money for a tribute to his father. Donahue had arrived in 1849 with only an anvil, hammer, and apron and began business under a shade tree. He proceeded to create the first foundry west of the Mississippi, to manufacture the first printing press west of the Mississippi, and to build the first city railway. He also founded Pacific Gas, which after merging with Edison Electric, became PG&E, today the largest supplier of natural gas and electricity on the Pacific coast.

Tilden details well the human body. Here, muscles flair, and men of impressive proportions perform a heroic task, actually the everyday work of laboring men. Unfamiliar with the labor of an iron worker, Tilden was impressed by seeing men using the stamp press. My grandfather, who with Union Iron Works at the time, could easily have served as a model for Tilden classic work.

Tilden's two other bronze works along Market street were built earlier: The Admission Day Monument (Market and Montgomery Streets), and the California Volunteers (Market and Dolores Streets).

The earthquake caused the reflecting pool of the Mechanics Monument to crack and drain, but the monument survived while buildings around it collapsed. Tilden's monuments provided inspiration for the rebuilding of San Francisco after the 1906 Earthquake. In these photos, someone had cleverly provided a worker a bicycle helmet.

Leave a Comment

Website: http://www.sandowmuseum.com/monument.html

My grandparents, great-grandmother and 32 other family members were survivors of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake. My Great-Grandmother died in the early 1960's, but she was a widow with spunk. After her devout Protestant husband had died at a young age, she raised my grandmother and three younger brothers, one of whom died before the earthquake. My great grandmother had two houses. One was a boarding house, which she acquired after the death of her father, was located at the corner of Myrtle and Polk (near Van Ness) but was dynamited by the US Army to form a firebreak that was never needed. English family heirlooms were lost as she was an immigrant among some 32 other family members. The other home, located at 731 Wisconsin Street, burned to the ground along with three other buildings BEFORE the quake, and then was rebuilt to survive the Great Fire. Only a few of these houses on Protrero Hill survive today, since most have been replaced by newer structures. In any case, her parents had lived there, and she managed to find another home in the neighborhood for them to rent. During the moving, she sent my grandmother and the two brothers by lumber schooner to Fort Bragg. At that time, Fort Bragg had no port, and so people were conveyed by Bos'n chair--a cable and chair transport that stretched between shore and ship. My grandmother recalled the thrill of that ride. My Great-Grandmother became a boarding house owner, and subsequently remarried in the October that followed the quake. My great-cousin Elsie Allen's house on Wisconsin also survived, but she had to move out because the chimney had fallen over.

Leave a Comment

The Calvary Presbyterian Church, located at Jackson and Fillmore, has a remarkable history. First organized in 1854, the first building was on Bush street, between Sansome and Montgomery, in what is today the financial district. The first pastor, Dr. William Anderson Scott, a friend and minister to President Andrew Jackson, had come to San Francisco from New Orleans. A powerful and controversial preacher, Dr. Scott filled the 1,500 seat sanctuary every Sunday. During the Civil War he prayed for the presidents of both sides of the conflict, but his sympathies for the Confederate south, and outspoken in opposition to the Vigilantes in SF, forced him to flee the city. Years later, he returned to the city and founded St. John's Presbyterian Church, a historic monument in the Richmond District. Scott was also instrumental in the founding of San Francisco Theological Seminary. In any case, the church grew and in 1869 a new building was built at Geary and Powell Streets. "One of the largest and most elegant structures for worship of God on the Pacific Coast", my grandmother was baptized there as an infant in 1893. In 1903, the St. Francis Hotel purchased the lot on which it stood, and paid to move the building, stone by stone. Ironically, the brand-new St. Francis Hotel perished in the fire, while the venerable Calvary Presbyterian survived at the bed rock of the wealthy Pacific Heights neighborhood to where it was moved. After the great fire, the basement of the church served as the county courthouse. Anyone today will become spirtually lifted by the music from the church's huge organ, which was installed in 1928. The four-manual, six division Swain and Kates/Aeolian organ with 108 ranks and over 6000 pipes replaced a earlier pipe organ that was sold and remains in use today at St. Mary's College in Moraga, CA. Calvary Presbyterian is one of San Francisco's many buildings listed on the National Registry of Historical Landmarks. Closed on Saturdays.

Leave a Comment

Website: http://www.calvarypresbyterian.org/history/
Other Contact: Located at Jackson and Fillmore

San Francisco as a whole is not a very religious city; however, it does have a wealth of churches, many of them Catholic. During the 1970's through early 1990's many parish churches were closed for lack of attendance and funding to keep them open. In 1996 though, new Archbishop Levada reopened four churches for places of worship and one as a homeless shelter. 107 year old St. Brigid Catholic Church, located on the corner of Van Ness and Broadway, has stayed open longer than some others due to its function as a school as well as church. Nevertheless, the building is in need of serious renovation and seismic retrofit, a project for which there has been insufficient funding. The church got a boost when San Francisco declared it a historical landmark (#252) in 2005. The building was originally designed by Shea and Shea and reflects a Lombardi-Romanesque style. The granite used in building the church had been previously acquired and piled on the lot over a number of years by a forward thinking church father, during the change over from stone to asphalt style street pavement within the city. Thus, the constuction is remarkable for it's use of used materials. Though damaged during the 1906 earthquake and fire, the church was been improved and expanded until 1947 when a company in Dublin, Ireland manufactured and installed the present stained glass windows. See the link for interior shots. During my quick drive by, I noticed a terrific need to clean the stone exterior, but otherwise this church has some extraordinary stone carved details and thus is yet another marvelous example of church architecture in San Francisco.

Leave a Comment

Website: http://www.st-brigid.org/
Other Contact: http://www.mistersf.com/props/in