For a day in the big city, we elected to eat well and see the hidden VC hub of San Francisco. Along the way, we also wandered through Yuena Buena park, which featured this three-handed gentleman. Samuel is shaking at least one of his hands here.
Samuel then suggested we walk to South Park, which now contains a cluster of VC firms, many in 19th century townhomes. When I looked up the history of this neighborhood, YouTube videos of the South Park episode of smug San Francisco were the first to pop up.
But moving past that, I discovered that South Park was developed in the 1850s by lumber dealer and British immigrant George Gordon. He was hoping to create an exclusive residential neighborhood south of the business district on Market Street. He built a long skinny park in the center, to be ringed with refined townhomes, and to resemble an elegant London square. But by the 1870s, the well-to do had moved to Nob Hill, which had much better views. As the years went on, the area became a working class neighborhood, until the 1980s when it started become artsy and chic. Now it's still chic but filled with VC firms tucked in behind single doors facing the street, with blink-and-miss-it name plates.
We then strolled down to the Embarcadero and bay shoreline, and the world famous Red's Java House. It's pretty run down and there is an unpleasant smell emanating from the harbor, but it's a picturesque spot. But dinner awaited us, and no time to test the coffe at Red's.
We headed back to New Montgomery street, which houses the Michelin-starred Morrocan restaurant called Mourad. It's a splurge, but memory worthy. The restaurant and bar is deceptively large, but you enter through a single door under a burgundy awning. It's housed in the historic PacBell building, an art deco masterpiece built in the 1920s.
The Mourad, opened in 2015, does indeed deserve it's Michelin star.
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