Fantastically Free Tours in SF - October 29, 2008

Since moving into the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco, I've become absolutely intrigued about the history of the area. I find myself wandering through the streets admiring the architecture and landscape, and imagining what it must have been like here over one hundred years ago. Was it safe, was it loud, how did it smell, were the colors bright or dull, what did people talk about, and who lived here are the sorts of questions that pop into my mind.

Out of the many cities I've visited in the United States, San Francisco is certainly one of the most unique. From the actual physical land to the culture, there are very few places like here. As a result of my general fascination with the city, I find that I want to dig deeper to uncover the history behind it all. As part of my investigation, I came across this resource, San Francisco City Guides, a series of free walking tours in the city.

San Francisco City Guides founded in 1978, is a non-profit organization with more than 200 trained volunteers who lead FREE history and architectural walking tours in San Francisco. We are sponsored by the San Francisco Public Library and are a project of the Tides Center. Tours are offered 52 weeks a year, rain or shine. Approximately 30 different walks are offered each month. Last year they gave over 2,000 tours, and over 21,000 people attended those tours. I wanted to go on this tour, but alas, I missed the date. I'm going to have to wait until May!