San Francisco has innumerable secret beautiful places...
...and one of the loveliest is the Vulcan Stairs situated on a hill parallel to 17th Street going from the Castro District towards the Upper Haight Ashbury.
Both the top and the bottom of the stairs start off of obscure side streets...
...and the houses nestled along the stairway look like magic cottages.
I used to live on various parts of this hill for 15 years in the 1970s and 1980s, and I was shocked at how many ghosts there were for me as I walked down the stairs for the first time in years.
Lee Brenneman, a best buddy for two decades before his death from an aneurysm, called one morning with personal gossip. "I've been trying not to be such a tramp lately because I can't seem to look at anyone these days without getting a venereal disease. Anyway, I met this guy last night who wasn't very interesting but he said he lived on the Vulcan Stairs and that's all I needed to hear."
"The sex? It was so-so. Waking up on the Vulcan Stairs? It was bee-yoo-tee-ful."
It still is.
This truly is a beautiful area. I used to study tarot and astrology with a woman who lived on Saturn St. -- appropriately enough, we are both Capricorns.
ReplyDeletehello... hapi blogging... have a nice day! just visiting here....
ReplyDeleteI always learn something new from your blog, today I've learned there's a cool stairway street named Vulcan.
ReplyDeleteAwesome!
excellent pics too btw!
I have recently bought a property landscaped by one of the men who did the Vulcan stairs in 1970's-80's! And met his former neighbor, as well! Nice to see the connection!
ReplyDelete