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World Hotels - Historic Walks in San Francisco: 18 Trails Through the City's Past
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List Price: $19.95
Our Price: $14.96
Your Save: $ 4.99 ( 25% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Great West Books
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 917.94610454
EAN: 9781879367036
ISBN: 1879367033
Label: Great West Books
Manufacturer: Great West Books
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 430
Publication Date: 2001-10
Publisher: Great West Books
Studio: Great West Books
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: 18 Historic Walks in San Francisco
Comment: I got this book a while back and I'm still reading it ! Good points: It creates a really good insight into the history of the place, the way the streets were created by the changing environment, and municipal demands as SF., grew. The writer is careful to note historical significances, both human and material, interweaving them into the dialogue.
Bad points: The book would be improved most considerably by the inclusion of relevant pictures related to the text. Time after time, the author references some point that would be best served by a illustration. In colour would provide even more interest, but this would be optional.
Overall, I still rate that book, but it's not perfect.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Amazing gaps
Comment: while completed in a methodical way, this book on San Francisco slights North Beach. does not mention coit tower, the many italian restaurants and coffee houses of the quarter. if mr richards rewrites for another edition, it is hoped he would correct this egregious omission.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Well researched and nicely done, but can be a little dry
Comment: If Adah Bakalinsky's Stairway Walks in San Francisco (see my review) is like touring the city with your eccentric, but lovable aunt, Rand's book is like a walk with her history professor husband.
Rand's book is very well organized and presented. He provides maps and directions, like Adah, but adds in trip length and degree of difficulty, which are welcome information omitted from Adah's Stairway Walks.
There is little of Adah's whimsy here: it is replaced with exhaustive research on the area for each walk and its architecture. This results in a very different walking experience.
The first major difference is that many of these Historic Walks are on flatter ground, meaning they both cover different ground from Stairway Walks and are more accessible to people who have trouble with all of the climbing inherent in Adah's routes.
The second major difference is that, given his focus on history and architecture, not sweeping views, Rand's walks are not as diminished by bad weather as Adah's are.
The last difference is the sheer amount of history. The walks in this book always take me much longer than I think they will because I spend so much time standing around reading. Sometimes this is good, e.g. the Castro walk's extensive information about how Harvey Milk helped shape the area, but sometimes, like when there is an extensive discussion of old maps and how hard it is to trace exactly when a particular nondescript house was converted from a nondescript barn, you just want him to get on with it.
I like this book as a contrast and follow on to Adah's Stairway Walks book but, unless you are a history buff, I'd do Adah's first.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Fun Stories and Neat Walks
Comment: This book provides 18 mapped walks through different neighborhoods in San Francisco, focusing on the history of the city, each walk taking about one to two hours, each one accompanied by detailed stories keyed to specific buildings or sites. For instance, the walk through Chinatown takes you to some of the tiny alleyways that used to be entrances to the innumerable bordellos in the region before the 1906 earthquake, along with the still functioning "Tin How" temple up three flights of stairs. This book is not to be confused with a guide to places to eat and so on. Obviously it's only going to be useful to those who are willing and able to spend many hours discovering the city. But if you're interested in seeing and learning about the historical background to this great city, it's hard to imagine how this book could be beat.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Just hop on a plane now!
Comment: I spent many years in Canada but San Francisco was always in my heart .... these walks are one of many ways to get intimate with California's most breathtaking city.
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