Haight Ashbury Today--Click on Picture
A great part of our city was built between 1850-1900 when Victorian architecture was in flower. Some 14,000 residential examples remain, about half of which have been restored by a keep-sake-conscious populace.
This survival statistic is astonishing considering 514 blocks went up in flames in the wake of the 1906 earthquake.
Fine examples of these elegant Victorians may be seen in the Pacific Heights area, in the vicinity of Mission Dolroes, and in a neighborhood known as Cow Hollow, once the city's dairyland, now a boutique-lined Union Street.
Locally, there are three basic designs - ITALIANATE, patterned after Roman Classical ornamentation, was in great vogue between 1850 and 1875. It is characterized by inward slanting bay windows, slim ribbed columns flanking the front door and flat roofs. View the examples of these row houses nesar Bush and Fillmore Streets.
Queen Anne Victorians, patterned after a style popular in England in the 1860's, feature rounded corners, turrets, steep gabled roofs, hooded domes, and shingled siding. The HAAS-LILIENTHAL House, located at 2007 Franklin Street is a landmark Queen Anne Victorian built in the 1880's. For tours, call 415-441-3004.
Stick or Eastlake, were popular in the 1880's and are known for their ornate woodwork around doors and windos, beveled corners on pillars, horse shoes arches and three-sided bays.
THE HAIGHT
Famous for the intersection of Haight and Ashbury Streets, the "Summer of Love" and hippies, 20 years later this neighborhood is still very reminiscent of that psychedelic end.
Janis Joplin, and the Grateful Dead and the Jefferson Airplane were one-time residents of the Haight Ashbury.(710 Ashbury)
The haight is not far from TWIN PEAKS, (named by the spanish in 1776 because they look like a woman laying down)two mountain crests adjacent to land-mark SUTRO TOWER with sweeping views of the Bay Area, when not enshrouded in fog. Reached via Twin Peaks Blvd, this spot is a favorite with photographers. The observation deck close to the top of these hills offers breathtaking views, in daytime, you can view the entire Bay Area; at night, enjoy the beautiful city lights.
I remember as a young cab driver sitting parked at the corner of Haight and Ashbury and watching the first street parade of the "Flower children" as they joyfully walked all fifty or so of them towards Golden Gate Park, and while throwing yellow daisies and wearing flowing white robes and garlands of flowers in their hair, the young group within a few short years transformed from "Free Love," to some of them being victims of the Drug Scene that soon hit the Haight with a vengeance.
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