An experiment based on an article by Nellie Bowles from the New York Times.

Bob and I, alone again, trek on, into the vast and underutilized John McLaren Park. This is the largest grassland in the city, but it got a reputation for grisly murders in the 1980s. This summer morning in 2019, it is quiet and warm.

The Crosstown Trail founder Bob Seigel along Philosopher’s Way in John McLaren Park, the largest grassland in the city. Jason Henry for The New York Times

We walk through a eucalyptus grove and on a new path called the Philosopher’s Way, along which Bob’s friend installed inspirational quotes. We pass a woman in a sun hat on the side of a steep hill singing opera to herself.

My legs are getting sore as we cut through a neighborhood called Excelsior, where front yards are full of roses and California poppies.

Two overpasses — mile 5.3 — and we’re in Glen Park, a residential neighborhood that feels like a village.

Eric Whittington, 63, of Bird & Beckett, in Glen Park along the Crosstown Trail. Jason Henry for The New York Times

There, our first stop is at a bookstore-jazz lounge called Bird & Beckett.

Eric Whittington, 63, with a long ponytail, runs it and lives in the building. Most evenings he pushes the rolling bookshelves to the back and hosts popular jazz concerts and poetry readings. Bring your own wine.

But we’re hungry. A few blocks away is Higher Grounds Coffee House.

Bob spent his career teaching English as a Second Language to students at the City College campus in San Francisco’s Chinatown district, and this restaurant is run by his student from 40 years ago Manhal Jweinat.

“I still don’t know English,” Manhal says when he greets us.

Higher Grounds Coffee House is run by a former student of the Crosstown Trail’s founder, Bob Siegel. Jason Henry for The New York Times

It’s a cozy restaurant with wooden tables and thick Middle East-inspired crepes. I order a salty one with mushrooms and olives.

Next: Glen Park

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Crosstown Trail Introduction