Now: There is so much colorful history bound up in North Beach, and so much going on, it's hard for even the most cynical resident not to appreciate the crackling mix of restaurants, bars, coffee shops, bakeries, nightclubs, and book shops. The real gems in North Beach are the places that you hardly notice when you're passing by.

Then: Before the augmentation of the coastline, North Beach was actually just that - the beach at the northernmost edge of San Francisco, known then as the Barbary Coast. Italian immigrants came in large numbers during the later 1800s, and began setting up the scene that is reflected in today's version of the neighborhood.