San Francisco's iconic stairways are not just a means of travel — they are a celebration of art and community. Stairway Walks in San Francisco is a vibrant walking book now in its 10th edition, continuing its 40-year embrace of the cool grey city, with all its views and verticalities, and offering walkers a key to stairway serendipity.
Beloved by both the local community and travelers from around the globe, the updated guidebook invites you to discover San Francisco with new eyes — to discover delights scattered about like dew drops, waiting for the sunshine of your attention, and making your day shimmer like 49er gold! With four newly curated walks covering two new parks and four different neighborhoods, enthusiasts enjoy new adventures among the stairs, and are beckoned back to older walks with renewed excitement.
Three Editions by Mary Burk
8th Edition — 2014
9th Edition — 2018
10th Edition — 2024
This Book Features
- A comprehensive list of the city's 700-plus stairways
- 39 walks traversing San Francisco's magnificent stairway network
- Lively route descriptions, color maps, at-a-glance Quick-Step summaries, and free activities near each route
- Parking and public-transportation information, and available restrooms for each walk
- Four new stairway walks and many new photographs in the 10th edition
- ADA-compliant color maps with good color contrast, viewable by people with different types of color vision
- Color photographs for every walk
About the Authors
Mary Burk
Mary moved to San Francisco without a car in the 1980s. Then one day in 1996, a librarian recommended Adah's book as a fun thing to do. It was super fun! And it was a welcome delight to eventually become Adah's friend. Mary has been the author of the 8th, 9th, and 10th editions of Stairway Walks in San Francisco. Since taking the reins in 2013, she has split one walk into two and added nine new walks to the book, exploring seven additional neighborhoods and three new parks. When not out walking, Mary works as an accessibility technologist and enjoys swimming and cooking.
Adah Bakalinsky
Adah Bakalinsky began writing about stairways in San Francisco because they seemed more interesting than giving tours pointing out mansions. And stairways are always ready to take you somewhere — plus you never know what amazements await you one landing up. You just have to take it one step at a time. Adah is the original author and lead explorer, wrangling the first seven editions herself, which all began in 1984. The city of San Francisco honored Adah in 2015 by renaming the Waller & Broderick Street Park stairway in her name.
Together
Mary and Adah first met at a book event for the fourth edition at the San Francisco Main Public Library, becoming fast friends and bonding through their deep interest in exploring the city on foot. Adah shared how every walk has its own rhythm, so the two of them began improvising new walks together. Three editions later, Adah passed the torch to Mary. But Mary and Adah still walk together and scout out new stairways and interesting routes.
