Washington Square is the village green of North Beach, a relaxed rectangle of lawn that has been the neighbourhood's gathering place for generations. In the early morning it fills with people — many of them from nearby Chinatown — practising tai chi; later it belongs to picnickers, sunbathers, dog-walkers, and old Italians passing the time on the benches. A statue of Benjamin Franklin stands at its centre.
Presiding over the north side is Saints Peter and Paul Church, the white twin-spired "Italian Cathedral" of the West, where Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe posed for photographs after their 1954 City Hall wedding. The square is ringed by classic North Beach cafés and restaurants, with Coit Tower rising on Telegraph Hill beyond. Bring a coffee and a pastry from Columbus Avenue and watch the neighbourhood go by.