Saturday, September 19, 2026
Breakfast at home: leftover casserole from yesterday, hot water. Midmorning I walked and rode Muni to The Museum of San Francisco at 608 Commercial Street aka 608 Emperor Norton Place to begin Epicenter San Francisco: A Tour of Downtown: The Tides of Fortune That Changed the World, a self-guided historical and architectural walking tour by the San Francisco Historical Society. The tour included docents at each location, usually dressed in 1800s attire or simply snazzy, and who were mostly good to excellent. Many of the stops included areas that are not normally open to the public. We very much enjoyed the 14 stops. A few of the stops included speakers employed by the building who I think were not docents but volunteered to provide their knowledge. We were disappointed that we could not enter the Transamerica Building. We had mixed feelings about the restaurant and bar decor inside The Bank at Amador. Along the way Paul needed to eat breakfast, so we stopped at the restaurant in the Omni Hotel (500 California Street). Paul had a full breakfast; I had only breakfast potatoes. At only one location—Patrick and Co. at 33 Sutter Street—were we unable to find a docent and left not long after arriving. We ended the walking tour with drinks seated at the Pied Piper bar. Paul had an avant garde ($22), and I had a Boothby ($24), which I liked. We chatted with another architect Tawny about The Time Machine at Pier 70, Invisalign, residential vs commercial architecture, contracting, and more. On our way out Paul and I stumbled upon a Fra' Mani fine meats tasting outside of The Garden Court and shared a tasting. Paul and I walked and rode Muni to our respective homes. Later, dinner at home with Patrick: meatballs from frozen with egg noodles and marinara, hot water. Afterwards Patrick had a glass of port. We watched YouTube. Patrick went to bed. I joined after a few hours.