During drought years you'll have to imagine how they look with water flowing, but even without they're a sight to behold. Celebrated sculptor and former WWII internee Ruth Asawa designed these fountains to be lived in, not observed from a polite distance. Bronze origami dandelions sprout from polished-pebble pools with built-in benches for bento-box picnics along pedestrian Osaka Way.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby attractions

1. Japan Center

0.04 MILES

Time-travel to 1968 as you cross Japan Center's indoor wooden bridges, with noren (curtains) and maneki-neko (cat figurines) waving welcomes from…

2. Peace Pagoda

0.07 MILES

The spiritual center of Japantown's commercial district is minimalist master Yoshiro Taniguchi's Peace Pagoda. It was donated by San Francisco's sister…

3. Konko Church

0.12 MILES

Inside this low-roofed, high-modernist church a blond-wood sanctuary welcomes all faiths. Kindly Reverend Joanne Tolosa will answer questions about…

4. Cottage Row

0.14 MILES

Detour to days of yore, when this neighborhood was a sleepy seaside village – before lumber barons arrived with bombastic Victorian fanfare. Serene…

5. Fillmore Center Waterfall & Plaza

0.34 MILES

This patch of green flanked by apartment towers is open to the public and a welcome break from Fillmore sidewalks. Walk past the fountain at O'Farrell…

6. Haas-Lilienthal House

0.57 MILES

If these red-velvet parlor walls could talk this 1886 Queen Anne–style Victorian could tell you about earthquakes, booms, busts and untimely deaths. This…

7. SF Arts Commission Gallery

0.66 MILES

Get in on the ground floor of the next SF art movement at this public showcase for local talent, with past exhibits ranging from Susan O'Malley's silk…

8. Alamo Square Park

0.73 MILES

Hippie communes and Victorian bordellos, jazz greats and opera stars, earthquakes and Church of Satan services: these genteel 'Painted Lady' Victorian…