In which I find the mythic Sky Terrace.
There is a rooftop on top of the mall in downtown San Francisco. It’s apparently a public open space, but it’s very well hidden. There is no way I would ever have been able to get there without the very helpful Yelp! review of Manabu M.
If you’ve ever been to the mall in question, you have probably seen this sign.
This sign in a lie and WILL NOT take you anywhere near the Sky Terrace. To get there, you must walk out of the mall and down the street to 835 Market. (It’s between the Walgreens and the Old Navy.) Walk all the way into the building. You will see a security guard on your right and 4 elevators. Only the elevator to the back left will take you all the way up to the 9th floor, but you can take any of the other elevators up to the 8th and then transfer. If you have trouble ask the security guard. I had to because none of the elevators would go to the 8th floor and he had to swipe his magic card thing.
I get to the 8th floor.
And enter the back left elevator to go to the 9th.
The 9th floor doesn’t have anything other than the terrace. You enter into a small room, turn left and exit through a pair of glass doors to find this.
!!
It was completely deserted. This is probably because it takes an epic journey and inside knowledge just to get there.
The view is amazing. You can see almost the entire city.
This is the view from the other side of the dome.
Don’t you love the fog hanging low over the sunset? That’s my city!
What do you think they use these stairs for?
Of course I had to take a few pictures of myself. But what expression to make??
It was highly awesome. Sort of windy (my soup almost flew all over my face…) but otherwise amazing. I highly recommend stopping by the next time you’re in the area.
<3 Stef
