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October 17, 2010. Photo taken from the base of the switchbacks on the "world's crookedest street", Lombard St., in San Francisco's Russian Hill area (Google Map). It's pretty much impossible to take a photo of this street without getting a whole gaggle of tourists in your shot, but I guess that's almost part of the charm of it. I'm sure I ended up in a few hundred other peoples' photos too as I wandered around here. I should have made a better attempt at photobombing.

October 17, 2010, at the corner of Pacific Ave. and Stockton St., in Chinatown, San Francisco.

After visiting the Cable Car museum, I was treated to some west coast rain while wandering around Chinatown looking for lunch. (If you step away from the touristy Chinatown strip, you can find some delicious and cheap eats. I stuffed myself with a $4 plate of noodles, while seated at a big table with friendly locals.) Smartly, many of the locals carry umbrellas for exactly these rainy moments. I had a rain jacket and hat, so I managed to do OK too.

It's also worth noting, though probably not interesting at all for 99.9999% of people, that I had trouble finding this exact location on Google Streetview, as the name/signage on the Wing Sun Market has completely changed.

Note: Yeah, my "daily" photo posts have been on the rocks for the last couple of months. I still want to post more of my San Francisco pics from last October, and keep up with some more current things. But sometimes other commitments, of the small/crying/pooping variety, tend to change my focus.

October 17, 2010. Cable car tracks on Jackson St., looking west across Mason St., San Francisco. The sign instructs the cable car operators to let go of the cable before crossing the Mason St. cable (failing to do so, I imagine, would cause an ugly tangled mess of cable car bits). After letting go of the cable, the car would just coast across the intersection, and then "take rope" again to continue up the hill.

October 17, 2010. Cable car tracks on Powell St., looking north to Jackson St., San Francisco. The sign instructs the cable car operators to pick up the cable again after rolling down a hill.

If I were to take this photo again, I would try to jump out into the street right after a cable car went by, so that I could capture it rounding the corner. But that could have taken some time, as dodging other cars is pretty important too when taking (literal) street photos. I was in a rush to walk around and see as much of the city as possible during my short two-day visit.

October 17, 2010. Willy "Woo Woo" Wong Playground, in Chinatown, San Francisco.

From Wikipedia:

Willie "Woo Woo" Wong was a Chinese-American basketball player who was born and raised in San Francisco's Chinatown. Wong, who only stood 5'5" tall, starred at Poly and Lowell High School's in San Francisco before being recruited to the University of San Francisco (USF) by legendary coach Pete Newell. Wong was known as one of the finest Chinese-American basketball players in his time. After his time at USF, Wong continued to compete at various local and national tournaments as part of the San Francisco Saints team. Wong died at the age of 79. After Wong died, local residents successfully petitioned the City and County of San Francisco to rename "Chinese Playground" to "Willie "Woo Woo" Wong Playground".

October 17, 2010. The Tunnel Top bar on Bush St., above the entrance to the Stockton St. Tunnel, San Francisco.

October 17, 2010. At the corner of Bush and Mason, Nob Hill, San Francisco. Nuns in raincoats walking past the liquor store towards the adult theatre.

October 17, 2010. The Nitecap bar, at the corner of O'Farrell and Hyde in The Tenderloin, San Francisco. This was another one of my favourite signs, though I didn't manage to get a photo that I really liked.

Still, I think my all-time favourite bar sign is from right near my own neighbourhood in Toronto. Check out this 1960's photo from the City of Toronto Archives, where you can clearly see the old sign at Duffy's Tavern, at the corner of Bloor and Margueretta. I wish that sign was still there.

October 17, 2010. An abandoned store at the corner of O'Farrell and Jones, in The Tenderloin, San Francisco.

October 17, 2010. A store at the corner of Powell and O'Farrell, near Union Square, San Francisco. If you ever need liquor, cigars, a magazine, the New York Times, and a baseball cap when you're in San Francisco, Marquard's is the perfect place to go.