'Alcatraz' is Spanish for pelican, but to its inmates it was simply known as 'the Rock'. The West Coast's first lighthouse was built here in 1854, but it was soon decided that...

This is where chef/owner Alice Waters created California cuisine more than 35 years ago. Her modest, wood-framed restaurant still reigns supreme, serving impeccable prix fixe...

Built in 1915 to designs by Arthur Brown and John Bakewell, City Hall is the epitome of the Beaux Arts style visible across the whole Civic Center. The building has lots of...

The legacy of Beat anti-authoritarianism lives on in this publishing company and bookshop, co-founded by poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti in 1953. Be sure to head upstairs to the...

This 210ft (64m) concrete turret, built by City Hall architect Arthur Brown in 1933, was a gift to the city from the eccentric Lillie Hitchcock Coit, famed for her love of...

Since the restored Ferry Building reopened in 2002, the Ferry Plaza farmers' market has become a sightseeing attraction in its own right. White tents spill out into the open...

The 1,200-capacity Fillmore was built in 1912, but is better known as the venue in which Bill Graham launched his rock-promotion empire. The performers who play the gorgeous...

The spectacular brick-built Fort Point was built between 1853 and 1861 to protect the city from a sea attack. The assault never came; the 126 cannons remained idle, and the...

At the home of the Ghirardelli chocolate company, gorge yourself on ice-cream drizzled with chocolate made on the premises, then wander the square, which is home to outposts...

Begun in 1928, this Episcopalian cathedral was once a private mansion. It was later taken over by the church and is, by the standards of most cathedrals in the US, an...

Established in 1861, Gump's is the place where moneyed San Franciscans buy wedding presents, china and a variety of baubles, from black pearls to custom green peridot...

There's plenty for history buffs big and small to explore aboard the Jeremiah O'Brien, a veteran of D-Day and the only original ship to sail under its own steam to the 50th...

Founded by a tiny band of Spanish missionaries and soldiers in 1776, and completed 15 years later, Mission Dolores is the oldest structure in the city and San Francisco's...

Local architect Bernard Maybeck's pièce de résistance, the Palace is a neo-classical domed rotunda supported by a curved colonnade topped with friezes and statues of weeping...