Updates as of February 2023

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(Presented in the same order as the chapters in the book)

Demographics

Population 

• San Francisco: About 875,000 (873,965) at the 2020 census, but the Census Bureau estimates the population declined to 815,201 in 2022 due to Covid 19 outflow.
• Bay Area (9 counties): 7.76 million
• California: 39,995,077

Ethnic make-up of San Francisco:

• White, non-Hispanic 45%
• Asian 34% (Of the Asian and Pacific Islander residents in San Francisco, Chinese are the largest group, making up more than 20% of the city, with Filipinos a distant second)
• African American 5%
• Hispanic (all races) 15%

Housing prices

• Median price of a single family home in the city (October 2022): $1,692,500

• Median price of a 1-bedroom apartment in the city (November 2022) is $2,995, or $3,020 per another source. Another source said the average is $3,504. (Multiple sites use “median” or “average,” and it’s unclear if they really are stating different statistics or are confusing the two terms.) San Francisco is likely now the third most expensive rental market in the country, after NYC and Boston.

Fisherman’s Wharf

• Tip: At Pier 39, the restrooms at the north end of the pier (near the carousel), upstairs on the 2nd level, both east and west sides, are cleaner and less crowded than the ones at the front of the pier.

• Additional research has determined there are two acceptable pronunciations of the name Boudin (both used by key people at the sourdough bakery)-- either boo-deen or bow-deen (as in bow and arrow)

• The Hyde Street Pier now charges admission even to walk on the pier (previously visitors could walk on the pier for free and only pay admission to board the ships)

• The curved pier at Aquatic Park (popular for biking, walking, fishing and views) is now closed indefinitely due to crumbling infrastructure.

Chinatown

• A noteworthy fact not included in the book: Bruce Lee was born here at the Chinese Hospital. His family was living in Hong Kong, but were visiting San Francisco when he was born.

• After many years of construction, San Francisco’s newest subway line opened for regular service in January 2023. The Central Subway connects Chinatown (with a station at Stockton and Washington streets) to Union Square (with a station at the southeast corner of Union Square park) and connecting via a pedestrian tunnel to the Muni and BART stations at Powell/Market. 

Union Square/Tenderloin

• Heart sculptures—the heart sculpture painted by Tony Bennett is no longer on display at Union Square.

• It was stated in the book that Alma de Bretteville Spreckels was the model for the figure on top of the Dewey Monument in Union Square. That has long been believed (and might be true), but other evidence points to a different model.

Golden Gate Park

• As expected, the “pandemic” road configuration in the park has been made permanent. Thus, the vehicle routings described in the book are correct. 

• The tour bus parking lot behind the bandshell has been eliminated. Park officials are okay with buses staying at the white zone in front of the de Young Museum while groups have a short stop. For longer visits, drivers can typically find curbside parking on nearby streets. A specific tour bus parking zone has been created on Martin Luther King Drive, just west of 3rd Avenue.

Golden Gate Bridge

• If traveling southward across the bridge, it used to be possible to maneuver around and enter the South Viewpoint parking area. Unfortunately, the left turn that would be needed to enter that parking lot is no longer allowed, so there is no good way to access the viewpoint when traveling southbound in a large vehicle. And since the North Vista is not accessible as traveling southbound, it is now only efficient to make a stop at the bridge as heading north. (So, for example, on a day trip to Wine Country, be sure to stop at the bridge as heading north in the morning rather than waiting until the return trip.) It seems that the only southbound possibility for a photo stop in a coach would be somewhere along Mason Street at Crissy Field, if curbside parking were available, but this would add extra time.

• On days when the South Viewpoint parking area is closed to private cars (e.g., summer weekends), tour buses are still allowed to use the parking lot. However, the Bridge District police may not have staff to move the barricades aside to admit a coach. The bridge police have assured us that we are welcome to move those barricades aside ourselves as long as we close them behind us.

• The Bridge District determined that the loud humming sound generated by the new bridge railings on windy days could be significantly reduced with installation of metal and rubber clips on the railings. This work was planned to be carried out in 2022, but no updates have appeared in the media, and the Bridge District did not respond to our inquiry.

Presidio

• A fantastic new addition to the Presidio is the Tunnel Tops park, which is on top of the highway leading to the Golden Gate Bridge. The Tunnel Tops isn’t very visible on a driving tour, but guests might ask about it since it’s featured in “what’s new in San Francisco” articles.

Montgomery Street/Financial District

• The Transamerica Pyramid building no longer has a souvenir shop.

Nob Hill

• As described in the book, coaches descending Nob Hill by traveling eastbound on California Street have a tight squeeze between parked cars and plastic bollards that separate cars from the cable car lanes. We have learned that at least one San Francisco coach company no longer allows their drivers to travel in that direction. However, driving westbound uphill on California Street is fine (unless a coach is low-slung, in which case a driver might want to avoid the steep hill).

• Grace Cathedral now charges $12 per person for visitors (unless they’re coming in to worship), and there is not even a way to “peek in” without paying.

Ferry Building/Embarcadero North

• New loading zones have been created in front of the Ferry Building, and provide good access. However, these are “floating” zones separated from the curb, with a bicycle lane between the loading zone and the sidewalk. Thus, driver and tour director/guide should help tour guests watch for bikes as they’re offboarding the coach. These zones are temporarily unavailable during farmers markets (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday).

• Across from the Ferry Building there is now a dedicated bus parking zone on the east side of the Embarcadero, just south of Washington Street. 

• Alcatraz loading zone—It is likely that sometime in 2023 the city will be creating a longer loading zone at Pier 33 Alcatraz Landing. However, this won’t be exclusive for coaches, so it's uncertain if it will help tour groups. Currently, coaches often need to drop farther ahead at the white zone at Pier 35 and the group then must walk back, unless a driver is willing to risk quickly double parking at Pier 33.

• Sidebar: San Francisco Jewish History--The book stated that Adolph Sutro was the first Jewish-American elected mayor of a major U.S. city. San Francisco does hold that distinction, but it was actually Washington Bartlett, who served two terms as mayor beginning in 1882, who was the first. Sutro served one term from 1895. (Bartlett subsequently served nine months as Governor of California, the first Jewish-American to be elected governor of any state, until he died in office. Bartlett should not be confused with another official of the same name, who served as San Francisco’s first American “alcade” when the U.S. seized California in 1846. It does not appear that these two men were related.)

Castro

• The book quotes survey data from 2015 stating that 6.7% of people in the greater San Francisco area identify as LGBTQ, but we noted that data is not available for the City of San Francisco itself. Researchers recognize that accurate data about sexual orientation demographics is difficult to obtain, and results vary by survey. For instance, a survey released in 2022 based on U.S. Census data states that 9.1% of all adults in California identify as LGBT, higher than any other state. A compilation by the Public Policy Institute of California of several surveys suggests a figure of 11.3% for the San Francisco-Oakland metro area (second highest in the U.S. after Seattle), but the researcher cautions that the figures are subject to “considerable uncertainty” due to limited sample size.

• The former location of Harvey Milk’s camera store no longer has a Human Rights Campaign information/gift shop, but there are historical markers in front of the building.

• The history discussion mentions the official Transgender District in the Tenderloin neighborhood which commemorates a protest in 1966 similar to the 1969 Stonewall Riot in New York. Originally established as the Compton’s Transgender Cultural District, the name of the district no longer includes the word “Compton’s.” The event occurred at Gene Compton’s Cafeteria, but since Mr. Compton was unfriendly to his transgender customers, it was decided that his name should be removed.

Focus on Latinx History

• In the book it was stated that the terms “Latino” and “Hispanic” are almost interchangeable. This is true, however, some people prefer Latino because they feel the term Hispanic is associated with Spanish colonialism. Also, since Hispanic specifically refers to those of Spanish-speaking heritage while Latino includes anyone from Latin America, Latino also includes those from Brazil.