Hayes Valley: the freeway that came down
Boutiques and design shops, the rotating art on Patricia's Green, and the opera-and-symphony edge. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. The War Memorial Opera House
Start at the Beaux-Arts opera house on Van Ness, home to the San Francisco Opera and Ballet, where the UN Charter was signed in 1945. You're unlikely to get inside by day, but the granite front sets the register before the neighbourhood loosens its collar.

2. Davies Symphony Hall
Across the way, the curved glass drum of the symphony hall — all 1980s confidence and a wraparound lobby you can read from the street. The contrast with the opera house next door is the whole story of the block.

3. Hayes Street, the shops
Walk west into the low blocks of Hayes Street, where the boutiques, design shops and small cafés have filled in. This is the retail spine; browse it at whatever pace the windows demand. Nothing here is large, and that's deliberate.

4. Patricia's Green
The pocket park at Hayes and Octavia, built on the footprint of the demolished freeway ramp. The large sculpture in the middle rotates every year or so — come not knowing what it'll be. Sit a while; this is the neighbourhood's living room.

5. The Octavia boulevard line
Stand where Octavia Boulevard runs south and picture the double-deck freeway that loomed here until the 1989 quake brought it down. Tearing it out made Hayes Valley what it is — the clearest before-and-after in the city.

6. Lower Hayes & Laguna
Carry on west along Hayes past the cafés to Laguna, where the blocks turn residential and the Victorians start. Pick up the 21-Hayes here, or double back for one more coffee; the walk is short enough to do twice.

Hayes Valley: the freeway that came down