Artist & Craftsman Supply

North Beach & Chinatown


Ditch your day job and take up painting at this employee-owned art-supply store, housed in the former Hippodrome burlesque theater. This Barbary Coast hot spot later became the Gay Nineties club – check out the figures cavorting in the entry reliefs and peek into the original speakeasy tunnel downstairs. Two floors of supplies anticipate every SF inspiration and rainy-day kids' project.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby North Beach & Chinatown attractions

1. Columbus Tower

0.04 MILES

If these copper-clad walls could talk, they'd name-drop shamelessly. The tower's original occupant was political boss Abe Ruef, ousted in 1907 and sent to…

2. Beat Museum

0.1 MILES

The closest you can get to the complete Beat experience without breaking a law. The 1000-plus artifacts in this museum's literary-ephemera collection…

3. Jack Kerouac Alley

0.11 MILES

'The air was soft, the stars so fine, the promise of every cobbled alley so great…' This ode by the On the Road and Dharma Bums author is embedded in his…

4. City Lights Books

0.12 MILES

No one could have predicted the cultural force City Lights would become when it first opened in 1953. Sure, it had a proletarian ethos suggested by its…

5. Wentworth Place

0.13 MILES

Dragons bring this shadowy brick byway roaring to life. The narrow entryway is illuminated with 'Dragon Boats Chasing Moonlight,' a new mosaic mural…

6. AP Hotaling Warehouse

0.13 MILES

'If, as they say, God spanked the town/For being over-frisky/Why did He burn His churches down/And spare Hotaling's whiskey?' This saloon-goers' retort…

7. Chinese Culture Center

0.13 MILES

You can see all the way to China from the Hilton's 3rd floor inside this cultural center, which hosts exhibits ranging from showcases of contemporary…

8. Mule Gallery

0.15 MILES

Upstart San Francisco artists buck art-world trends and kick out brave new work at the backstreet Mule Gallery. Recent shows have featured artworks by Bay…