A few years ago I picked up a book entitled "Stairway Walks in San Francisco" by Adab Bakalinsky (published in 1984 by Lexikos, San Francisco). Ms. Bakalinksky reminds us that San Francisco is built on 42 hills and that there are more than 350 stairways of various types and descriptions to help pedestrians navigate from one street or level to another.

Veralyn and I have walked up and down most of the stairways described in the book, especially in the areas of North Beach, Nob Hill, Russian Hill, Pacific Heights, and the Presidio, but our favorites are the two long stairways leading from the foot of Telegraph Hill to the top and Coit Tower.

For this walk, we suggest that you take Caltrain and leave your car at home. Board at the station of your choice and exit the train at Fourth and King streets, the end of the line. Continue on King Street for a long block to Third Street and PacBell Park. If you haven't been to the park or taken time to walk around it, this should be your first order of business. Be sure to check out the waterfront walk behind the park--the "Splash Zone"--and walk out on the fishing pier extending into the bay. There are benches for a picnic and interesting views of the backside of the park.

Continue this walk along the bayside of the Embarcadero. Stop to ponder the 14-foot-high metal pylons, the plaques in the sidewalk, and pedestal displays that recount the golden years when San Francisco was the waterfront and shipping was king. You can read about and view historical pictures on the ferry boats, whaling, the construction of a seawall, the Alaska Packers, and the Bay Bridge, to name a few. If you are hungry, check out the three small bayside eateries--the Java House, Red's Java House, or the Boondock's Restaurant. The large open pier area on your right as you approach the Bay Bridge is often the docking place for a large U.S. Navy ship or the site of some special city entertainment.

As you walk past the Ferry Building and the newly completed plaza at the foot of Market Street, notice the new light rail line operating down the middle of the boulevard. This is the M Judah line, which disappears into a subway between Folsom and Market streets and continues up Market Street. North of the Ferry Building is a new surface-level streetcar service equipped with antique streetcars from around the world. Clean and freshly painted models representing England, Ireland, Italy, and other countries show how San Franciscans got around in the good old days. As a side note, walk through the passageway in the Ferry Building to the Bayside Plaza, where the Golden Gate Ferry docks. On the plaza is a wonderful, lifelike statue of Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869-1948), the great peacemaker from India. The statue is now somewhat hidden by construction materials, but well worth a brief side trip.

Walk on to the intersection of Embarcadero, Lombard, and Battery streets. Cross over to the west side and double back on Battery for a block to Levi's Plaza. This is a great place for coffee or a snack from the takeout counter of Il Fornaio restaurant. Choose a bench next to the fountain with a full view of the Filbert steps. Actually, you can't see the stairs from there, but that greenbelt up the side of Telegraph Hill is where you are headed.

As we climbed Filbert Stairs to the top of Telegraph Hill, we marveled again at the placement of cottages with access only on foot via the stairs. Perpendicular gardens lining both sides of the stairs are filled with trees, flowering shrubs, and individual plantings of adjacent occupants. There are 378 (plus or minus a few) steps from the base to the top. The first section of 95 steps was built in 1972 to replace a worn-out wooden staircase that traversed an old rock quarry. Rock from this area was used to construct the city's seawall as described in one of the 14-foot pylons we mentioned earlier. Wood steps and a plank sidewalk lead upward between several cottages to Napier Lane, a short boardwalk lined with cottages and lush plantings. These cottages, built in the 1870s and '80s, are typical of the working-class housing that once dominated the hill.

Farther along, another "paper street," Darrell Lane, extends to the right, and then the stairs cross over Montgomery, a bi-level street that dead-ends a short distance to the north at Greenwich. At the corner of Montgomery and Filbert is a four-story Art Deco building constructed in 1936 with large, square "sgraffito" panels describing some of the history and character of San Francisco. This was also the filming location of Bogart and Bacall's "Dark Passage." One occupant has mounted a life-size picture of Bogart in the window looking down on Montgomery.

On the west (upper) side of Montgomery is the Restaurant Dalla Torre (formerly the Shadows restaurant and in the late '20s a grocery store). Continue uphill another 84 steps to a driveway serving an adjacent apartment, and turn left and up to Telegraph Hill. True to form, the street will probably be lined with cars and buses waiting to capture one of the few parking spaces on top.

Take some time to walk around Coit Tower and Pioneer Park. Enjoy sweeping views of the Golden Gate Bridge, Treasure Island, Alcatraz, and Angel Island. You can take an elevator to the top of the 210-foot-tall reinforced concrete tower, completed in 1933. The cost to visit the observation deck is $3.75 for adults, $2.50 for seniors 64 years and over, and $1.50 for children 6 to 12. But you can visit the ground floor gift store and view the frescoes for nothing. The frescoes were painted by 25 artists who captured the working life of Californians. Each artist received $94 per month for the eight-and-one-half-month project. This is considered to be one of the most important public art projects in California.

The hike down continues along a nasturtium-lined retaining wall to the end. We counted 397 steps on the Greenwich stairs, as we enjoyed the sweeping views coming down. Walk to the Embarcadero and back to the Caltrain station. Remember to check your return schedule in order to plan your train departure time.