San Francisco Landmarks
San Francisco is a city of post card views. Some of her images are instantly recognizable and absolutely unforgettable. Anyone who has seen a movie shot on the streets of San Francisco knows so immediately. The perilously steep streets and that beautiful skyline crowned by the Transamerica Pyramid are as identifiable as a thumbprint. Of course, the cities most endearing image is that of the Golden Gate Bridge. It is a little known fact that the San Francisco Bay Bridge, which leads to the city of Oakland, is longer, older and handles more traffic.

In fact, it is one of the longest structures in the world, but has remained in the shadows of its more glamorous counterpart. Some of San Francisco's landmarks are copies of famous spots from around the world. The dome over City Hall is a a replica of the one crowning St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. The Palace of Fine Arts is designed to look like a Roman ruin and the California Palace of the Legion of Honor is a replica of the Legion of Honor Palace in France.

Other sites, however, are purely San Franciscan. Fisherman's Wharf, Mission Dolores - the oldest surviving building in the city, Pacific Bell Park - home to Giants baseball club and Coit Tower are Bay City originals. Traditions run deep in Nob Hill. Cliff House is a San Francisco icon which stands on the cliffs overlooking Seal Rocks, offering sweeping views of the crashing surf below.

The "Painted Ladies" are a row of colorful Queen Anne Victorians on the 700 block of Steiner Street. Not known for its architectural or visual importance, the bookstore known as City Lights Booksellers is a famous San Francisco landmark on the world's literary landscape. Jack Kerouac and the other writers of the beat generation called this place home. It has changed little over the past 50 years.