A Guide to S.F.’s Offbeat Museums

Most visitors know about San Francisco’s major museums, the ones in Golden Gate Park, the Presidio and along San Francisco’s North Shore, from Fisherman’s Wharf to Ft. Mason. They all show insights into the city’s history.

Events at these museums are noted in the newspapers and at the San Francisco Visitors Information Center in Hallidie Plaza at Powell and Market streets.

But there are more than a dozen excellent smaller, offbeat museums throughout the city that focus on a variety of subjects. The following guide is organized by area.

Financial District: Various businesses support these overlooked gems, most of which are open during normal business hours, and with no admission charge.

Pacific Heritage Museum--The modern building of sponsor Bank of Canton engulfs the brick-and-iron facade of San Francisco’s first U.S. Branch Mint. The Subtreasury was here from 1854 to 1874 when operations were moved to the “Old Mint” on 5th Street.

The museum displays artifacts from the Gold Rush era and changing exhibits for its Life in Gold Mountain theme showing the history of Chinese immigrants to California. A cutaway in the floor shows the vault area where gold bullion was stored. The museum is on Commercial Street just west of Montgomery Street, open Monday through Thursday, 1 to 4 p.m.; closed holidays.

Public Viewing Area

A short block north stands the Transamerica Pyramid. It’s public viewing area on the 27th floor has a smashing view of the north waterfront, the bay and counties beyond.

Bank of America--The museum is in the plaza level of the bank office at California and Montgomery streets. It displays photos and equipment of early banking associated with the bank’s founder, A. P. Giannini.

A visual history traces the bank from its origin as a storefront service for Italian settlers through its leadership in rebuilding San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake and in developing California industries.

Next door, accessible from the plaza, is the 52-story tower built by Bank of America. The Carnelian Room at the top opens to the public at 3 p.m. weekdays for cocktails and dinner. The views west, east and north are sensational, particularly when the fog comes rolling over the hills or through the Golden Gate.

Trading Hall--The great hall is now part of the main branch of First Interstate Bank in the Merchants Exchange Building, 465 California St.

The Trading Hall was the center for grain and maritime trading at the turn of the century. It was restored to grandeur by Julia Morgan, who was Hearst’s architect for the construction of his castle in San Simeon.

Walls Hold Murals

The lofty ceiling is done in gilt-covered carvings and the walls hold 18-foot-high murals of old-time sailing ships by marine artist William Coulter. The lobby entrance to the hall displays eight elegantly detailed models of sailing ships.

The Museum of Money of the West, lower level of the Bank of California at California and Montgomery streets. The bank traces its lineage to July 5, 1864 at this site, and its handsome building dates from 1907.

The museum holds a $1-million collection of gold quartz, silver and gold ingots and old currency. The lives--and sometimes the violent deaths--of pioneer bankers are recalled along with their contributions to the city’s growth.

Nearby is the popular History Room of Wells Fargo Bank, 420 Montgomery St., with its collection of weapons, a Concord stagecoach and paraphernalia from the time when Wells Fargo moved the gold of the West. You can try your skill on a vintage telegraph key.

The Joseph Dee Museum of Photography, a private collection, has grown to more than 500 cameras displayed on a rotating basis.

Camera Collection

The cameras range from the 1891 Kodak box, the early folding Brownie and the classic Graflex press camera to the Oberland Magic Lantern and more modern cameras, covering the history of photography from its start in 1839.

The wall space of the museum is used as a gallery of modern and historical photographs, including reproductions of Mathew Brady’s 1860s work.

Questions are welcomed and a reading library is available, covering technical and historical aspects of photography. At 47 Kearny St. in the Brooks Cameras store, the museum is open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; closed holidays.

The Jewish Community Museum--Established three years ago to present an artistic interpretation of Jewish culture and tradition, this one combines a gallery to showcase Jewish painters of the Bay Area and an exhibit area for Jewish cultural themes that are changed to match the season.

The museum is at 121 Steuart St. near the foot of Market Street, open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., except Saturdays and Jewish holidays. Donation.

Explaining the Economy

West on Market Street is the World of Economics in the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, 101 Market St. The lobby level is given over to an exhibit space explaining the economy, with hands-on games where the visitor can act out the decision-making roles of a business operator, chairman of the Federal Reserve Board or President of the United States.

The World of Oil--In the Chevron office at 555 Market St., the exhibit explains the handling of oil from discovery to the gas pump with working models, moving displays and oil field equipment.

The Museum of Modern Mythology--This quaint museum is devoted to advertising characters who have a personality of their own in roles in modern mythology.

The collection is an offshoot of the emerging field of semiontics, the study of symbolism. But big words don’t detract from this fun-filled celebration of the characters who have developed a life apart from their advertising creators.

Tony the Tiger shares space with the Jolly Green Giant, and the Man With the Hammer stands next to the Michelin Man. Almost 3,000 pieces--dolls, toys, lunch boxes and advertising-related products--are arrayed as icons of modern culture.

The museum is at 693 Mission St., open Thursday through Saturday, noon to 5 p.m., except holidays. Admission is $2 for adults, 50 cents for kids 5 through 17 and free for youngsters under 5.

Revival Architecture

Nearby, on 5th Street between Market and Mission streets, is the Old Mint, justly called one of the finest examples of Federal classical revival architecture in the West. A walk through the restored rooms, by the collection of gold bars and deep into the vault area is a good way to slip into the feeling of the past.

Tattoo Art Museum--This extraordinary little museum represents a 35-year collection, grouping both American and foreign tattoos. The tattoo has religious significance in some tribal societies. And the exhibit area holds old advertising “come ons,” the body cast used in the movie “Tattoo” and instruments from the time when no sailor would be without an anchor and a flag.

As a bonus, you may be able to watch a tattoo in progress--or have one for your own--in the tattoo parlor on site. The museum is a flight up at 30 7th St., open noon to 6 p.m. daily. Donation requested.

Civic Center: Edward J. Sharkey Museum. This military museum is maintained by the American Legion Memorial Commission to display war trophies. The collection centers on World War I weapons. A cannon and caisson, hand weapons and parts of uniforms recall bitter fights in faraway places.

In the Veterans Building at 401 Van Ness Ave., the museum is open on Wednesdays and, on request (to the staff in neighboring Room 101), Tuesday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., except holidays. Free.

Nearby is Pioneer Hall of the Society of California pioneers at 456 McAllister St., with its library and museum of California history before 1859.

The city library is another half block east at Larkin and McAllister streets, third floor. Rotating exhibits in the San Francisco History Room and Archives bring San Francisco’s past in view again.

Boxing Museum--Recalling the heyday of boxing in the city, this museum was born out of the enthusiasm of boxing writer Eddie Miller and dedicated boxing fan volunteers.

The mementos of battles--such as the 1910 fight to the finish where the last boxer able to stand won--between Michigan Wildcat Wolgast and Battling Nelson are collected here. Posters, equipment, robes and action photos bring to life a time when boxing champions strolled the streets of San Francisco. It’s in the Civic Auditorium at Larkin and Grove streets, open weekends noon to 5 p.m., except holidays. Free.

North Beach, Chinatown: The trick in walking to the four museums in the North Beach-Chinatown area is to go downhill. A cable car ride on the Mason or Hyde line takes you to the uphill site of the collection of cable cars in the Cable Car Museum at Washington and Mason streets.

It’s downhill from there to the North Beach Museum of Italian Pioneer History in the Eureka Savings & Loan office on Stockton Street a few doors south of Columbus Street.

Southeast and downhill on Columbus Street, just past the City Lights bookstore, takes you to Alder Street, really just an alley between Columbus and Grant streets. There the Chinese Historical Society’s museum is devoted to Chinese settlement in adjacent Chinatown and the contribution made by Chinese to California’s early history. Open Tuesday through Saturday, 1 to 5 p.m.

A more modern view of the Chinese input into San Francisco’s culture is offered at the Chinese Cultural Center on the third floor of the Holiday Inn on Kearny Street, opposite and connected by a pedestrian bridge to historic Portsmouth Square, the birthplace of the city in the days when the bay extended to Montgomery Street. Center hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

Mission District: Go for Broke Museum--This museum shows the contributions of Japanese Americans in U.S. history.

“Go for Broke” was the battle cry of the Japanese American 442nd Regimental Combat Team. The phrase was heard in the bloody battles in Italy and Germany during World War II where the unit became the most decorated of any of its size and length of service.

Go for Broke Inc. has assembled museum exhibits, battlefield models and a library/archive record for that war effort, and the Japanese experience in America is preserved by the Japanese American Historical Society that shares the site. The museum is at 1855 Folsom St., open Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., except holidays. Donation requested.

The Esprit Quilt Collection--This hidden quilt museum is in the spacious public areas of the Esprit De Corp. office building.

Representative quilts from the 200-plus collection are arranged along the walls of wide, well-lighted hallways for a self-guided tour over the three levels of the building.

The quilts are Amish designs of the 1870-to-1950 period with a large concentration of 1910 and 1920 vintage quilts.

Patterns range from stunning squares, diamonds and bars to exotic designs with names such as Puss in the Corner, Birds in the Air and Hole in the Barn. The collection is at 900 Minnesota St., open Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., except holidays. Catalogue $3.50.

Outlying Areas: Telephone Museum--Operated by volunteers of the Telephone Pioneers of America, this museum traces the evolution of communication.

The collection has antique to near-modern telephones, switchboards and teletypewriters, old advertising signs, insulators and photographs of the interior and exterior of Pacific Telephone buildings.

The museum library has vintage trade publications, and early science training films are available for school and group use.

The Telephone Museum at 1145 Larkin St. is open Monday through Thursday 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., except holidays. Call ahead to assure that staff will be on hand at (415) 441-3918. Free.

Museum of Russian Culture--This museum preserves bits of Russian culture that survived the Russian Revolution, much of the collection focusing on reminders of Czarist Russia.

Artifacts include emigres’ albums with personal photographs of the then-Royal Family, souvenirs of the Czars’ coronations, and models and sculptures along with Tartar war gear of the 1300s.

Mementos of the American military presence in Russia during the Revolution are in a small section devoted to “Yanks in Siberia 1918-1920,” and items to mark the Russian past in Alaska and Ft. Ross, Calif. At 2450 Sutter St., it is open Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., except holidays. Donation requested.

San Francisco Crafts and Folk Art Museum--This newcomer of museums recently celebrated its fourth anniversary. Exhibitions of contemporary crafts and folk art from around the world, drawn from Northern California collections and artists, are changed every two months.

A library of books, pamphlets and periodicals are available for research. It is at 626 Balboa St. and is open Wednesday through Friday, noon to 5 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday 1 to 4 p.m., except from Christmas to New Year’s Day.

Also recommended are the museum in Mission Dolores, 16th and Dolores streets (open daily, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.), and the Fire Department museum at Presidio and Pine streets (open Thursday through Sunday, 1 to 4 p.m.).

The old-time fire-fighting equipment is a hit with kids, as are the petting corral and dinosaur exhibits in the Randall Junior Museum at 199 Museum Way, open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.