Explore the real-world places that appear in Succulent Wild Love by Sark. Each location on the map shows what happens there in the novel, the real history of the place, and what's there today. Featured locations include SARK's Magic Cottage, City Lights Booksellers & Publishers, Dolores Park, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco Ferry Building and 8 more.
The Castro District — SARK's legendary creative home base
SARK's Magic Cottage is the legendary creative sanctuary she has written about across many books, including Succulent Wild Love. It is here that she wrestled for years with the fear of intimate partnership, filling her home and heart with self-love but guarding against committed love with another. The cottage represents her long solo journey — the colorful, handwritten journals and vivid artwork she created alone — and becomes the backdrop for the transformation she shares with Dr. John Waddell as she learns to invite another person into her most intimate space.
The Castro District became famous as a center of LGBTQ+ life and bohemian culture in San Francisco beginning in the 1970s. The neighborhood has long attracted artists, writers, and creative free spirits drawn by its community spirit and Victorian architecture.
The Castro remains one of San Francisco's most vibrant and culturally significant neighborhoods, known for its rainbow crosswalks, independent shops, historic Castro Theatre, and ongoing community activism.
261 Columbus Ave, North Beach — Hub of literary culture and creative courage
City Lights represents the spirit of creative courage and vulnerable self-expression that SARK embodies throughout Succulent Wild Love. SARK's work — including her hand-lettered, vibrantly illustrated books — exists in the same San Francisco tradition of fearless personal writing that City Lights has championed. The book's emphasis on authentic storytelling and sharing intimate truths aligns deeply with the bookstore's legacy of publishing what others are afraid to say aloud.
Founded in 1953 by poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Peter D. Martin, City Lights became the spiritual home of the Beat Generation and published Allen Ginsberg's 'Howl' in 1956. It was the first all-paperback bookstore in the United States.
City Lights remains one of America's most beloved independent bookstores and a designated San Francisco landmark. It continues to publish and sell adventurous literature and hosts frequent author readings and events.
Visit: City Lights Booksellers & Publishers (landmark)
Dolores St & 18th St, Mission District — Space for joy, play, and community
Dolores Park embodies the spirit of playful, expansive love that SARK and Dr. Waddell celebrate in Succulent Wild Love. The book encourages couples and individuals to 'play and practice' new habits of love in everyday settings — picnicking in the sun, watching people, laughing without agenda. SARK describes how sharing ordinary outdoor joy with a partner becomes a profound act of intimacy, and a park like Dolores is exactly the kind of setting she invites readers to reimagine as sacred love territory.
Dolores Park was established as a public park in 1905 on land that had been a Jewish cemetery. It served as a refugee camp after the 1906 earthquake, and over decades became a beloved gathering place for San Francisco's Mission District community.
Dolores Park is one of San Francisco's most popular parks, packed on sunny days with people of all ages. It features tennis courts, a playground, a mini soccer field, and stunning views of downtown San Francisco and the Bay.
Visit: Dolores Park (park)
Bounded by Fulton St & Lincoln Way — Nature as a mirror for inner transformation
Golden Gate Park appears in SARK's broader San Francisco world as the kind of expansive natural sanctuary where self-love is replenished and shared. In Succulent Wild Love, SARK and Dr. Waddell describe how being in nature together — slowing down, noticing beauty, breathing — is one of the foundational habits that keeps love flowing between partners. Walking among the park's gardens and meadows exemplifies the 'magical and practical' blend the book promises: nature as both metaphor and medicine for relationship health.
Golden Gate Park was created from windswept sand dunes beginning in 1870 and spans over 1,000 acres. It was designed by William Hammond Hall and later developed by John McLaren into one of the world's great urban parks, hosting the California Midwinter International Exposition in 1894.
Golden Gate Park is home to the de Young Museum, the California Academy of Sciences, the Japanese Tea Garden, and miles of walking and cycling paths. It remains one of the most visited urban parks in the United States.
Visit: Golden Gate Park (park)
1 Ferry Building, Embarcadero — Marketplace of abundance and sensory delight
The Ferry Building's farmers market reflects the abundant, sensory, nourishing vision of love that SARK celebrates throughout Succulent Wild Love. Her earlier book 'Eat Mangoes Naked' established her philosophy that savoring food with full presence is an act of self-love — and in this new book, she extends that practice into partnership. Shopping together at a vibrant market, choosing ripe fruit, feeding each other: these are exactly the 'simple but profound habits' that SARK and Dr. Waddell identify as ways to keep love flowing in daily life.
The Ferry Building was completed in 1898 and served as the main entry point to San Francisco before the Bay Bridge opened in 1936. It was damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and underwent a celebrated renovation completed in 2003.
The Ferry Building Marketplace houses over 30 specialty food vendors and hosts one of California's premier farmers markets on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. It remains a beloved civic landmark on the Embarcadero waterfront.
Visit: Ferry Building Marketplace (landmark)
55000 CA-1, Big Sur — Crucible of transformation and psychological growth
Esalen represents the world of psychological and spiritual growth in which both SARK and Dr. John Waddell operate. Dr. Waddell's identity as a clinical psychologist and spiritual teacher connects directly to Esalen's tradition of integrating psychological insight with embodied, soulful practice. In Succulent Wild Love, the couple's approach to relationship — blending logical psychological principles with magical, creative presence — echoes the Esalen methodology. The Institute stands as a spiritual home for the book's deepest teachings.
Esalen Institute was founded in 1962 by Michael Murphy and Dick Price on a stunning stretch of Big Sur coastline. It became the birthplace of the Human Potential Movement and hosted luminaries including Abraham Maslow, Alan Watts, Fritz Perls, and Joseph Campbell.
Esalen continues to offer workshops in psychology, spirituality, somatics, and the arts on its dramatic cliffside campus. Its famous natural hot springs baths overlooking the Pacific Ocean are open to overnight guests and, during limited hours, to the public.
Visit: Esalen Institute (historic site)
151 3rd St, SoMa — Art as language of the soul
SFMOMA represents the world of visual art and creative expression that is inseparable from SARK's identity and her practice of love. Throughout Succulent Wild Love, SARK's trademark hand-lettered poetry and vibrant illustrations serve not just as decoration but as a core medium for expressing emotional truth. She encourages readers to make art together as an act of intimacy — to draw their feelings, to write love notes, to color their relationships into being — in the same spirit that great art museums celebrate the courage to make the invisible visible.
SFMOMA was founded in 1935 as the first museum on the West Coast devoted to modern and contemporary art. It moved to its landmark Mario Botta-designed building in SoMa in 1995 and completed a major expansion designed by Snøhetta in 2016.
SFMOMA houses a collection of over 33,000 works of art and is one of the largest modern art museums in the United States. The expanded building includes seven floors of gallery space, a rooftop sculpture garden, and a vibrant public ground floor.
Visit: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) (museum)
1100 California St, Nob Hill — The labyrinth walk as a love practice
Grace Cathedral's famous outdoor labyrinth speaks directly to the contemplative, spiritual dimension of love that SARK and Dr. Waddell describe in Succulent Wild Love. The book teaches that love requires slowing down, turning inward, and walking a path with intention — exactly what a labyrinth demands. SARK writes about the importance of individual inner work as the foundation for shared love, and the labyrinth walk — whether done alone or with a partner — embodies the book's teaching that being the right partner begins with knowing your own center.
Grace Cathedral, an Episcopal cathedral on Nob Hill, was completed in its current form in 1964, though construction began in 1928 on the site of the Crocker family mansion destroyed in the 1906 earthquake. Its outdoor labyrinth, modeled on the famous Chartres Cathedral labyrinth, was installed in 1991.
Grace Cathedral remains an active place of worship and a major San Francisco landmark, welcoming visitors of all faiths. The outdoor labyrinth is freely accessible to the public and used daily for walking meditation and reflection.
Visit: Grace Cathedral (landmark)
Haight St & Ashbury St — Spiritual birthplace of SARK's counterculture values
Haight-Ashbury's legacy of radical love, communal spirit, and rejection of conventional norms infuses SARK's entire philosophy in Succulent Wild Love. The book challenges mainstream relationship norms — rejecting the idea that a partner must 'complete' you — in the same spirit that the Haight once challenged every social convention. SARK's insistence on self-love as the foundation for partnership, her colorful nonconformity, and her vision of love as abundance rather than scarcity all echo the utopian idealism that was born at this famous intersection.
Haight-Ashbury became the epicenter of the 1967 Summer of Love, when an estimated 100,000 young people descended on the neighborhood to explore communal living, psychedelic experience, and new visions of love and society. The neighborhood has been a countercultural touchstone ever since.
Haight-Ashbury remains a vibrant neighborhood known for its independent boutiques, vintage clothing stores, and bohemian restaurants. The intersection of Haight and Ashbury streets is a popular tourist destination and a living symbol of 1960s idealism.
Visit: Haight-Ashbury Historic District (historic site)
Roosevelt Way & Museum Way, Corona Heights — Hilltop clarity and perspective
Corona Heights Park, rising steeply just above the Castro and near SARK's legendary neighborhood, represents the moments of elevated perspective that Succulent Wild Love repeatedly calls readers toward. SARK and Dr. Waddell write about the necessity of stepping back from the daily friction of intimate partnership to see the larger shape of your love story. Standing on a rocky hilltop with a 360-degree view of the city below is the geographic equivalent of the emotional spaciousness the book teaches — gaining perspective without losing connection.
Corona Heights was formed from the remnants of a former brick factory that quarried the red chert rock in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The park was established and has remained largely in its natural, rocky state, offering one of San Francisco's most dramatic and accessible hilltop views.
Corona Heights Park is home to the Randall Museum, a free community museum focused on natural history and arts for children. The rocky summit is freely accessible and offers sweeping views of Twin Peaks, the Castro, and downtown San Francisco.
Visit: Corona Heights Park (park)
506 Clement St, Inner Richmond — A reader's sanctuary in the city
Green Apple Books represents the community of readers and seekers who have made SARK's work — including Succulent Wild Love — a beloved part of their personal transformation. SARK's books are the kind of colorful, hand-lettered, poetry-and-prose blends that fill shelves like Green Apple's: books that people press into the hands of friends going through heartbreak or longing for love. The store embodies the book's vision of a community built on sharing stories of vulnerability and growth rather than curated perfection.
Green Apple Books was founded in 1967 on Clement Street in San Francisco's Inner Richmond District, one of the same years that the city's counterculture was transforming American culture. It has grown from a small used bookshop to one of the West Coast's most celebrated independent bookstores.
Green Apple Books operates from its original Clement Street location and a second store on Divisadero Street. It is consistently recognized as one of the best independent bookstores in the country and hosts regular author events and community programming.
Visit: Green Apple Books (landmark)
Stinson Beach, Marin County — The edge of land and self
Stinson Beach, just across the Golden Gate, represents the kind of liminal, horizon-gazing space where SARK's most important inner work happens in her storytelling. In Succulent Wild Love, she is candid about the fear she carried for much of her life around committed partnership — and it is at the ocean's edge that such fears can be faced most honestly. The beach embodies the book's core teaching: that love, like the ocean, is vast and sometimes frightening, but wading in — rather than watching from the shore — is where transformation begins.
Stinson Beach has been a beloved retreat for San Franciscans since the early 20th century, accessible by ferry and later by car via the winding Panoramic Highway through Mount Tamalpais. It became part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area in 1972.
Stinson Beach is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and one of the Bay Area's most popular ocean beaches. The small village of Stinson Beach has a handful of restaurants and shops, and the beach is managed by the National Park Service.
Visit: Stinson Beach (Golden Gate National Recreation Area) (park)
3543 18th St, Mission District — A home for radical self-love and community
The Women's Building in the Mission District embodies the feminist, communal, self-affirming spirit that has always animated SARK's work. In Succulent Wild Love, SARK openly discusses the years she spent building a profound relationship with herself before she could open fully to partnership — a journey that mirrors the Women's Building's decades of fostering women's autonomy, creativity, and mutual support. The building's stunning exterior mural of women of all backgrounds speaks to SARK's vision of love as inherently inclusive and expansive.
The Women's Building was established in 1971 as one of the first women-owned and -operated community centers in the United States. Its exterior is covered by the 'MaestraPeace' mural, painted in 1994 by seven women muralists as a tribute to women's global contributions.
The Women's Building continues to operate as a community center offering services, classes, and event space. The 'MaestraPeace' mural underwent a major restoration in 2012 and is considered one of San Francisco's great public artworks.
Visit: The Women's Building (landmark)
More by Sark: All Sark books
More novels set in San Francisco: Browse all San Francisco books on Map A Story