Haight-Ashbury: the corner, the Victorians, and the climb
The 1960s corner, the painted Victorians, Amoeba Records, and Buena Vista Park's view over it all. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. The corner of Haight and Ashbury
Start at the most famous street sign in the city. There's nothing to it but the corner itself and a clock above a shop that's read 4:20 for years. Stand under it, then walk on; the neighbourhood is better than its postcard.

2. Amoeba Music
The vast record store in a former bowling alley at the park end of the street — bins of vinyl, CDs, and staff who actually know the stock. Go in even if you don't buy; it's the last of a species. The free in-store shows are worth catching.

3. The Grateful Dead house, 710 Ashbury
A few doors up Ashbury, the bay-windowed Victorian where the band lived through 1966 and '67. It's a private home now — look from the pavement, don't ring the bell. The plaque does the talking.

4. Buena Vista Park, lower gate
Enter the city's oldest park where Haight meets the green slope. The paths climb through old-growth cypress and eucalyptus; some of the gutter stones are broken Victorian gravestones, salvaged and laid edge-up. Look down as you climb.

5. Buena Vista Park summit
The top, three hundred feet up, with the view that earns the climb — downtown, the bay, the bridge, and the Marin hills beyond. Steep but short. Catch your breath on the bench and take the east side down.

6. Alamo Square approach, Haight & Steiner
Come down off the hill and walk the flat blocks east, the Victorians getting grander as you go. Haight Street's shops thin into quiet residential rows. The 7 bus from Fillmore takes you on, or carry up to Alamo Square if your legs hold.

Haight-Ashbury: the corner, the Victorians, and the climb