Known originally as Yerba Buena, San Francisco was once a tiny, rural village with 500 permanent inhabitants. It was barely a town before the discovery of gold in 1849 and the mass migration that soon followed – by the end of that year, the lure of gold had drawn 25,000 new residents. From that initial spark, San Francisco burst onto the world stage as a city of overnight invention, and has since become the birthplace of many original and innovative creations.

I set out to explore seven original wonders of San Francisco, and blaze a trail between them that would be easy for visitors to follow. Start your journey at Powell and Market streets where you can hop on a cable car; the rest of the route can be done on foot. Follow my footsteps here.

Cable Cars

Few inventions evoke a sense of place the way the cable car does. Who knows where Thomas Edison was when he invented the electric light bulb? (Answer: New Jersey) But Andrew Hallidie was walking up a steep San Francisco hill when he witnessed the tragedy that prompted him to create the cable car. Sharp crests and slippery cobblestones led to many accidents with horse-drawn carriages, a problem that was rectified in 1873 when Hallidie introduced the cable-pulled trolley that would one day become an iconic symbol of San Francisco.

Still in operation today, cable cars continue to climb the city’s fearsome hills and, as a part of the Municipal Transportation Agency, they remain a popular method of public transportation for tourists and locals. From the Powel Street turnaround, jump on the Powell-Hyde line and enjoy fantastic views of Nob Hill, Lombard Street, and Chinatown. Just be sure to hold on tight when leaning over to snap a photo.

Irish Coffee at the Buena Vista Café

The last stop on the Powell-Hyde line brings you right to the doorstep of another San Francisco classic. Invented in Ireland but invigorated in San Francisco, the Irish Coffee became a signature cocktail of the City by the Bay in the 1950s when Jack Koeppler, owner of the Buena Vista Café, brought the drink to America. Koeppler partnered with travel writer Stanton Delaplane and the two worked on perfecting the recipe for many months, trying to strike the right balance between hot coffee, sugar, Irish whiskey, and fresh cream. In 1952, their efforts came to fruition when the Irish Coffee made its American debut at the Buena Vista. It quickly became the most popular item on the menu, and today the Buena Vista serves 2,000 - 2,500 Irish Coffees each day and holds a Guinness World Record for the largest Irish Coffee drink ever brewed.

The Buena Vista Cafe is located on the corner of Hyde and Beach, near the last stop for all cable cars going to Fisherman’s Wharf. Grab a seat at the bar and watch as the skilled bartenders craft an assembly line of the popular elixir.

Boudin Bakery

Strolling along Fisherman’s Wharf, the overpowering smell of fresh baked bread draws you in to the Boudin Factory and Café. As with many San Francisco stories, the first chapter of Boudin Bakery begins during the Gold Rush. French immigrant Isidore Boudin opened the first bakery in 1849 using a combination of old-world baking techniques and the readily available sourdough wheat made popular by miners. At that time, there were approximately 60 bakeries in San Francisco but Boudin’s sourdough bread was an original from the start. He rejected the commonly held practice of using cake yeast and instead used a wild yeast starter, or “mother dough” for all of his bread. Today, the same “mother dough” is used in making the famous sourdough bread. 

The Boudin Bakery’s Fisherman’s Wharf location houses an interactive museum charting the history of Boudin and its relationship with the city of San Francisco. While you’re there, be sure to watch the bakers kneading dough in the floor-to-ceiling glass walls of the demonstration bakery. Also, try a yummy sourdough snack like my personal favorite -- clam chowder bread bowl! 

Levi’s Jeans

Walk past Fisherman’s Wharf along the Embarcadero and hang a right on Sansome Street to find the birthplace of blue jeans. Known around the world as classic American garb, blue jeans are an invention of San Francisco textile importer Levi Strauss. Strauss and his partner designed and patented the first pair of fabric pants to use copper rivets to reinforce points of strain. The mass production of denim overalls began in 1873, and by the 1890s the company had created the iconic Levi’s 501 Jeans, a style that would become the world’s best-selling clothing item.

Levi’s were first sold at a small store on Sacramento Street; today, a Financial District plaza has been named for the company in honor of their influential role in San Francisco industry. Levi’s Plaza, in addition to housing the Levis Strauss international headquarters, has a flagship boutique and an archival room with vintage clothing and advertising that details the company’s history and visually chronicles the evolution of the world’s first blue jean.

Beats and Books

Head west of the Financial District and you’ll find North Beach. Originally the home of San Francisco’s Italian immigrants, North Beach has bred many generations over the years, including the beatniks of the 1950s. Born out of angst and anger and then immortalized by independent printing presses, the Jack Kerouac generation of “Beats” is a true San Francisco original.

Frustrated with the hierarchical monotony of the white-collar working world, a class of creative rebels emerged during the post-World War II era and, though they go by different names today, have been going strong even since. San Francisco’s artistic and creative roots may go back further than the Beats, but this period definitively shaped the contemporary arts scene here, and has made City Lights a popular stop on the well-beaten tourist path A bookstore and publishing house, City Lights was founded in 1953 by Kerouac contemporary Lawrence Ferlinghetti. The bookstore boats a vast collection of uncommon and foreign work, and the publishing house continues to produce avant-garde and independent fiction and poetry.         

Stop by City Lights to browse their impressive collection of Beat literature and then swing by Vesuvio, the café next door, to do as the beats did: read, dream, think, and drink.   

Fortune Cookies

From City Lights, it’s just a few steps to Chinatown and a taste of another San Francisco tradition. The origin of the fortune cookie has been in dispute for decades -- both San Francisco and her southern rival city, Los Angeles, claim to have brought the treat to the U.S. Originally a Japanese confection, the fortune cookie was reborn in San Francisco’s Japanese Tea Garden in the late 1890s, when chef Makoto Hagiwara made “fortune tea cakes” for a tea ceremony held in Golden Gate Park.

It is believed that Chinese Americans adopted the “fortune tea cake” during the Japanese interment of World War II, and now most people associate its modern cousin, the fortune cookie, with Chinese restaurants. 

The rivalry between Los Angeles and San Francisco is deeply rooted and the world may never know which American city can lay claim to the fortune cookie; however, there is a tiny factory in a Chinatown back alley where one can sample a fresh (and free) San Francisco fortune cookie and even buy a bag to take back to the hostel. On the day I visited my fortune read, “You will travel to many exotic places.”    

John’s Grill: Old School San Francisco  

Just off Union Square you’ll spot John’s Grill and their flashing yellow sign. A San Francisco institution since the turn of the last century, John’s Grill is both a classic, old-school restaurant with an impressive resume of famous patrons, and a literary heritage site for its prominent role in the San Francisco-based detective novel, The Maltese Falcon.

The dimly lit, three-story restaurant features menu items commonly associated with San Francisco such as Crab Louise (an invention of  Solari’s restaurant circa 1904) and sourdough bread, as well as lesser-know dishes that originated here. The cioppino, a seafood stew invented in North Beach by Italian fisherman, and the Pisco Punch, a 19th century cocktail which was popular in San Francisco’s fashionable salons of the late 1800s, are both still on the menu. The restaurant has a great bar, an intimate dinning room, and live jazz seven nights a week.

John’s Grill is just two blocks north of the Powell Street turnaround where this journey began (and just two blocks from the San Francisco Downtown Hostel). Check out more pictures from my travels here.    

This story was written by Allison Doyle, the marketing and communications coordinator for Hostelling International’s eight Northern California hostels. Allison is proud to be a Bay Area native and when not at work, she can be found doing yoga, trying new restaurants, or writing one of her blogs.