Scenic San Francisco—Pictures, Panoramas

Pictures &

Twin Peaks Panorama 180°

Alamo Square 360°

Ocean Beach 360°

Lands End 360°

China & Baker Bch's 360°

Baker Beach 360°

Lincoln Park 360°

Palace of Legion of Honor

San Francisco
Picture Galleries

Twin Peaks—shown in this photo taken while on a SF Seaplane Tour—provides sweeping views of the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, Angel Island, Yerba Buena Island, Berkeley, Oakland, Downtown San Francisco and much of the San Francisco Bay and beyond as you can see in the panorama to the left.

Alamo Square is the most photographed spot in The City. At least four other photographers were in Alamo Park the afternoon I shot the Alamo Square 360° panorama in the column to the left. You can see that the grass is gone in the area where everyone stands to take the famous picture of the row of Victorians with San Francisco in the background. You've probably seen a very similar San Francisco victorian row picture featured on TV, in magazines and many advertisments.

Mayor James Van Ness set aside the 12.7 acres of Alamo Hill as a public space in 1856-57, and named it Alamo Square.

Ocean Beach and Lands End are two great places to enjoy the beauty of the California coastline. I used to go to Baker Beach several nights a week to take pictures and watch the sun set.

The Cliff House was originally built in 1863, burned down twice and was last rebuilt in 1909. Gary Stark's Cliff House Project has many pictures, postcards, a timeline and much more on the history of the Cliff House. You can visit the Giant Camera (camera obscura) behind The Cliff House. See how it works.

Information about Sutro Baths, which was located just the other side of The Cliff House, can be found at this GGNRA site and at this Library of Congress site including a (mislabeled as Sutro Baths) panoramic movie, shot in September, 1903 of Ocean Beach and an older and much larger Cliff House. If you have a fast connection—or time to wait for a long download—I recommend the MPEG version.

Continue along the coast past Lands End and you come upon a great view of The Golden Gate Bridge, Baker Beach and China Beach. A good place to take a photo, or paint a picture. Check out my China & Baker Beaches panorama to see what I mean.

Lands End is also where you will find the Lincoln Park Golf Course and The Palace of The Legion of Honor Museum which was was founded by Alma de Bretteville Spreckels and her husband, sugar baron Adolph B. Spreckels, in the early 1920s and has recently undergone a major renovation and expansion. Free 2nd Wednesday of the month.

Alma was later involved in the Maryhill Museum in Washington State. Visit the California Palace of The Legion of Honor Museum with San Francisco CityPass. The SF City Pass is good for seven days of unlimited travel on cable cars, streetcars, and all other MUNI vehicles as well as entrance to five popular attractions including the California Palace of The Legion of Honor Museum.

The Scenic 49 mile drive is a great way to see San Francisco sights. Take along this 49 Mile Scenic Map produced in 1938 and follow the signs you see posted along the way.