artisans working at benches set in the windows in full view of
passersby. The meat and fish stalls, the apothecaries, the cobblers who
work on the sidewalks, the lily and the bird vendors, the telephone
exchange where Chinese girls operate the switchboard, the headquarters
of the Six Companies, the Joss House and the Chinese theatre, spilled
over into the Latin Quarter, are among the sights much written about by
globe-trotting notetakers in the quarter. Organized sightseeing tours
may be made through Chinatown with licensed guides, but visitors can
wander securely about at will. It is no longer the subterranean
Chinatown of opium-scented years, but it is still the most interesting
foreign quarter in America. Charles Dana Gibson called it a bit of
Hongkong and Canton caught in a Western frame.

By continuing out Grant avenue to Columbus avenue the stroller visiting
Chinatown reaches the street that places him in the heart of the Latin
Quarter, its Italian and French restaurants, and its manners and customs
that make it an epitome of Naples and Rome.

In the Greek settlement in the vicinity of Third and Folsom streets you
will see narghile water pipes displayed in the windows alongside Russian
brasses and Byzantine ware. If you crave the cooking of Attica and the
honey-sweets of the Grecian archipelago you can get them here.



Hills and Vistas

What city built on hills has not been exalted in song and legend? San
Francisco, like Athens, Jerusalem, Rome and Naples, has the spell that
comes from setting one's house on a high place. Those who can look out