Location: San Francisco (the Richmond)
Distance: 5.5m
Entry fee: $0
Hike #10 was cause for celebration on a number of levels. Not only am I beyond thrilled to be steroid and gauze free, but we have now officially hit the double digits. Way to go us.
Molly always talks about how she has never spent any significant time in the outskirts of San Francisco, so we decided to take care of that. We headed out to the Great Highway to knock one of these neighborhoods off the list: the Richmond.
This hike we dubbed the Dumpling Trail (or, if you’d prefer, the Fatty McTubster hike). We only actually hit up one dumpling spot for food, but we did walk by at least a four dozen others.
The Richmond, which used to be a vast expanse of sand dunes, was built up following the 1906 earthquake to rehouse the population. It is one of the last Irish enclaves in SF (who came to the city by way of the Transcontinental Railroad) and also has huge Russian, Eastern European, and Chinese populations. (The Russians/Eastern Europeans came in the 1920s following the Russian Revolution, and again during the Cold War. The Chinese showed up in the late 1960s after the Chinese Exclusion Act was lifted.) We decided to try to hit up some Irish/Chinese/Russian food/drink/music on this hike to celebrate the cultural diversity of the neighborhood.
First point of action was getting dinner, and dumplings seemed like the right sort of celebratory Chinese cuisine for the occasion. Decision time. Options were:
- King of Chinese Dumpling
- Shanghai Dumpling King
- Kingdom of Dumpling
After much research and scrutiny, Shanghai Dumpling King won out.
Good call. This is the place to go for all things dumpling. The spicy dumplings were particularly fantastic.
Following dinner we made our way up to Bazaar Cafe on California with plans to hang out in the back garden, listen to some live music, and maybe grab a beer. We walked in to find…people praying in the back garden and a poetry jam/scripture reading in the front. Unclear what happened there. Time to move on to Tia Margarita…because what better way to get over barging in on a prayer group than watching Shani Davis win gold while drinking a margarita the size of your head.
Sidenote: at Tia I asked the bartender for a water with my marg (hydrate before you recreate), he told me they don’t serve water. I laughed. He never gave me water.
So at 3 miles, in a light tequila haze, we made our way back down to Geary and over to John Campbell’s Irish Bakery (which, btw, is open until 10pm.) This place COMPLETELY ROCKS. We got some apple fluffers, snowballs, and scones. Because we needed some extra calories.
Final pub stop of the night, The Plough and Stars, where we finally found our live Irish music! These dudes were definitely Irish, and they jammed.
The final stop on the Dumpling Trail was Michelle’s new digs in Presidio Heights…which just happens to be .5 blocks away from the corner of Washington and Cherry, the location of one of the Zodiac murders. WAY exciting.
Hike #10: SUCCESS!! Though we didn’t hit up any perogies or brats…but don’t worry, there are more hikes to come.
Lessons Learned: The Richmond is named after the Richmond District in Melbourne, Australia; a little more research on “live music” at certain venues might be worth your time
Flora and Fauna: 
As you slide down the banister of life, may all the splinters be going in the right direction. ~Irish blessing
Rambulatory Ambulatory 
I can’t believe you call this a ‘hike.’
Wow, entertaining and educational! Sounds like a lot of fun and way to get to know the neighborhood!