I spent a morning last week in San Francisco doing unrelated things on the far end of North Beach and ended up walking back through the neighborhood to get to BART. I made a few stops along the way and one of those was at the Vesuvio Bar on the corner of Jack Kerouac Alley and Columbus Alley. I don’t know if it’s an official city landmark, but I think of it as one. I always tell my readers that it is the first stop they should make when they arrive in town.