East Filbert Steps

2/21/2015

A recent hike up ’n down the two long Filbert and Greenwich stairways needs to be two separate posts as the whole area is super-photogenic and garden-y.

The Filbert steps are concrete starting up from Sansome at the foot of the hill. First three pix.

Then where the pre-1906 homes start, the stairs are wood up to Montgomery: 4, 5.

From Montgomery they’re concrete again the rest of the way up to Coit Tower.

Napier Lane, 130 or so steps up, is a short wood boardwalk, the first offshoot from the Filbert steps. I’ve always wanted to live here. Napier: 6 thru 10.

At the corner of Darrell Place: 230 Filbert, pic 11.

Darrell (pic 12), a paved walk, is the second offshoot from the Filbert stairs. Continue on Filbert up to Montgomery (pic 13).

You can’t get through to Greenwich, the next stairway over, from Napier or Darrell; they’re dead-ends.

Montgomery is a divided street (14, 15, 16: divider stairs). Up these steps to continue on Filbert to Telegraph Hill Blvd.

Filbert between Montgomery and Pioneer Park on the east side of the hill: 17 thru 21.

There are 384 eastside Filbert steps in all, Sansome to Telegraph Hill Blvd.

At the top of the steps, a separate stairway to the right climbs into Pioneer Park from the street: pic 22.

Directly across from these steps, there’s a fenced vacant space where a few old houses were demolished in 1999: 23, 24, 25, 26. The Filbert steps continue down the west side of the hill from the street.

29 steps to the first paved walk with bench; 64 total for the south steps up to the base of Coit Tower.

The south side of Pioneer Park: 27 thru 34.

Inside Coit Tower, you’ll now see white cards with detailed explanations at the foot of each of the mural sections in the lobby. The first floor artworks are of California businesses and city scenes. This one, pic 35, is titled “California.”

Last pic: Above the door to the lobby gift shop.

The 27 murals were painted around 1934. It doesn’t cost anything to walk around on this first floor to view them and you can take photos.

You can buy a ticket to ascend an elevator for viewing the themes on the upper levels; they’re leisure/recreational scenes. Several years ago I enjoyed these additional works while on a City Guides tour. I highly recommend City Guides. They’re free; an envelope is passed around at the end of the walk, but you give what you can, no pressure. They don’t charge an arm-and-leg for a walk like some of these orgs do.

Doing the Greenwich stairway descent separately, next post upcoming.