Jane Jacobs writing in Dark Age Ahead, identified five pillars of our culture that we depend on but which are in serious decline:

Community and Family
Higher Education
The Effective Practice of Science
Taxation and Government
Self-policing by Learned Professions

The decay of these pillars, Jacobs contended, was behind such ills as environmental crisis, racism and the growing gulf between rich and poor; their continued degradation could lead us into a new Dark Age, a period of cultural collapse in which all that keeps a society alive and vibrant is forgotten.
This walk will tie in ideas discussed in Jane’s last book she published before she died, Dark Age Ahead as seen through the lens of downtown San Francisco Neighborhoods.
Please join this walk.
And maybe, just maybe you might meet The Wizard of O’Farrell Street !

Time: 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Date: Sunday, May 5, 2013

Event Start/End: 

Walk Begins : In front of The Twitter Building’s Main Entrance, 1355 Market Street

Walk Ends : Pier 15, The Embarcadero, outside The Exploratorium’s new location

Host:  HiMY SYeD, SFwiki.org

Theme: Walking

Registration: No need to sign up, just show up.

Accessibility: This event is accessible and open to Wheelchairs, Bicycles, Seniors, Children

About the Walk Leader :

HiMY SYeD is currently visiting the San Francisco Bay Area.
For the past four years, he has lead a similar Jane’s Walk in his hometown of Toronto titled, “Dark Age Ahead – The Wizard of Ossington Jane’s Walk”.

This is HiMY’s fifth year leading a walk discussing Dark Age Ahead but the first time in San Francisco incorporating local neighbourhood examples.

We will walk through several streets that are the sites of Oakland’s history from its founding up to the present.

Knowledge gleaned from the pages of Oakland Wiki will be presented at stops throughout this two hour walk :

Legacy of Horace W. Carpentier – Oakland’s first mayor on the city today
What ever happened to Harrison Railroad Park ?
History of Chinatown and Old Historic District
Oakland Police Department – The Good. The Bad. And some stuff in-between.
Oakland’s Oldest News Stand
The Great Wall of Oakland
How Art Murmur became First Fridays
And much, much more!

Time: 1 p.m.

Date: Sunday, May 5, 2013

Event Start/End: 

Starting point for this Jane Jacobs Walk will be the Lake Merritt BART Station street level main entrance facing the park.

End point will be outside the front of The Terrace Room which part of The Lake Merritt Hotel.

Host: HiMY SYeD, OaklandWiki.org

Theme: Walking

Registration: No registration needed. All are welcome.

Accessibility: This event is open and accessible to Wheelchairs, Bicycles, Seniors, Children

SOCA President William Burg leads a walk from the Mexican-American Veterans memorial at 10th & Capitol through Capitol Mall via K Street to Southside Park. The tour will visit sites associated with Sacramento’s Mexican-American community, including murals and monuments, and compare today’s city to historic photos of the neighborhood. Stops will include Chicano murals, the last surviving building of Sacramento’s Japantown, and the ending point of Cesar Chavez’s 1965 march from Delano to Sacramento. Tour ends at Southside Park, 7th & T Street.

Time: Noon-2 PM

Date: Sunday, May 5, 2013

Event Start/End: 

Begins at Mexican American Veterans Memorial, northwest corner of 10th & Capitol

Host:  William Burg, Sacramento Old City Association

Theme: Walking

Registration: No need to sign up, just show up.

Accessibility: This event is accessible and open to Wheelchairs, Bicycles, Seniors, Children.

Downtown Sacramento Partnership guide Shawn Peter leads a pub crawl from Downtown to Midtown, covering historic architecture, music and social history, with stops at three of Sacramento’s newest restaurant/pubs, all in old buildings adapted to new uses. Tour ends at Lowbrau, 20th & K Street.

Time: 3 PM-5 PM

Date: Saturday, May 4, 2013

Event Start/End: 

From K Bar, 10th & K Street, to Lowbrau, K and 20th Street

Host:  William Burg, Sacramento Old City Association

Theme: Walking

Registration: No need to sign up, just show up.

Accessibility: This event is accessible and open to those 21 and older. 

SOCA President William Burg leads a group bike ride along several of Sacramento’s vanished streetcar routes, starting from the Old City Cemetery main entrance and riding through Southside Park, Poverty Ridge, Newton Booth and Midtown, ending Downtown at 10th & K Street for lunch. We will explore how Sacramento’s streetcar lines promoted urban and suburban growth, commercial development, and a distinct urban form that is still effective for walking and cycling even 66 years after the streetcars stopped running.

Time: Noon-2 PM

Date: Saturday, May 4, 2013

Event Start/End: 

Meet at Old City Cemetery main entrance at noon, corner of 10th & Broadway. Tour travels to Temple Coffee/Revolution Wines, departing from there no later than 1 PM, and arriving at Pizza Rock, 10th & K Street, by 2 PM.

Host:  William Burg, Sacramento Old City Association

Theme: Biking

Registration: No need to sign up, just show up.

Accessibility: This event is accessible and open to Bicycles

As an activist, Jane Jacobs helped stop two planned-for urban expressways, one in Manhattan, the other in Toronto. San Francisco also had its own decades-long parallel struggle eventually dubbed the “Freeway Revolt”.This Jane’s Walk will retrace the route of the former Embarcadero Freeway, along what today is Herb Caen Way. During this walk a history of planned freeways criss-crossing San Francisco will be presented, along with the struggles to stop them from being built, or to tear down existing expressways. As we walk the route, we will highlight the positive results and unintended consequences of bringing down the Embarcadero Freeway. With the walk leader being from Toronto, comparisons between both cities will be made on the intersection of Expressways, Public Transit, Neighbourhoods, and Waterfronts plus the politics driving them all. This Jane’s Walk winds up in Chinatown ending in front of the Central T Subway Station currently under construction. This subway station is an important piece of a giant transit jigsaw puzzle that helps us to understand San Francisco’s municipal politics.

Time: 12 p.m.

Date: Saturday, May 4, 2013

Event Start/End: 

Start Location : Cupid’s Span in Rincon Park. We’ll meet at the footpath right in front of the Giant Arrow where it enters the ground.

End Location : in front of Central T Subway Station currently under construction in Chinatown.

Host:  HiMY SYeD, SFwiki.org

Theme: Walking

Registration: No need to sign up, just show up.

Accessibility: This event is accessible and open to Wheelchairs, Bicycles, Seniors, Children

This tour takes place at Sacramento’s Old City Cemetery. Cemeteries have their own principles of urban design, and this tour will introduce you to the history of this 160 year old cemetery along with many of its inhabitants who were cyclists, advocates of Sacramento’s “Good Roads” movement, along with baseball players and other athletes.

Time: 10 AM-noon

Date: Saturday, May 4, 2013

Event Start/End: 

Sacramento Historic City Cemetery Main Entrance, 10th & Broadway

Old City Cemetery docent Eric Bradner guides visitors through Sacramento’s historic City Cemetery, introducing members of 19th century cycling club The Sacramento Wheelmen, pugilists, and baseball players residing in the cemetery. Bicycle parking provided by SABA. Meet at cemetery main entrance.

Host:  William Burg, Sacramento Old City Association

Theme: Walking

Registration: No need to sign up, just show up.

Accessibility: This event is accessible and open to Seniors, Children

We will gather at the corner of Doherty Dr. and Magnolia Ave. in Larkspur California. I have mapped out a route taking us through downtown Larkspur and looping up King Mountain and back to Doherty Dr. This route is a celebration of Jane Jacobs, local history and culture, and Marin’s beautiful open space.

Time: 10:00 am

Date: Saturday, May 4, 2013

Event Start/End: 

Starting and Ending at the corner of Doherty Dr. and Magnolia Ave. in Larkspur, California

Host: Nicholas Bischoff, Wanderlust Society

Theme: Walking

Registration: No need to sign up, just show up.

Accessibility: This event is accessible and open to Seniors and Children.