JimH

[WHarris1]

San Fran kicks ass

[Guest JimH]

Part Two:

 

Just north, toward Fishermans Wharf from the Union Square area is Chinatown. Very narrow, very crowded, all kinds of inexpensive Asian restaurants, you basically need to stick your nose inside and see if you like it. We went to a downtrodden looking place called Yuet Seafood, damn it was good. Apparantly they are open until 3 am and after everyone is done clubbing and partying it's a place to chow down. It's at the north end of Chinatown at Broadway and Stockton. Grant Ave. and Stockton Ave. are the two main drags in Chinatown, just walk up and down them and you'll see all kinds of great stuff. A fun thing to do in Chinatown is to stop in at the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Co., it's off of Jackson St. and everyone will know where it is if you need specifics. The Grant Plaza Hotel, right at Chinatown's main entrance, is one of the best hotel values in SF. Very clean, you can walk to everything, it's less than $100 a night, a rarity in this city.

 

At lunch time, get a true taste of SF seafood by heading over to the Swan Oyster Depot, it's on Polk St. not far from Chinatown. You will see a few panhandlers and down on their luck types, but the Swan is a SF legend and rightfully so. You will get better seafood here, faster and way cheaper, than in Fisherman's Wharf which has location but is a TOTAL tourist trap. It is lunch only at the Swan, they close by 5 pm or so but this is one of the best local places.

 

The swankiest hotel in SF is probably the Fairmount, right off the California St. cable car line, at the corner of California and Mason St. This place is amazing, you need to be a little dressed up to go to the top, where there's a lounge called the Fairmount Crown. It's worth it, you will get a gorgeous view of the city. If you are with a wife, girlfriend etc. she will be suitably impressed and tell her mom and all her friends what a great guy you are

 

The cable cars or the Muni will take you right to Fishermans Wharf which is basically where you catch all the boat rides ... to Alcatraz (highly recommended), across the bay to Tiburon or Sausalito (two GREAT harborfront towns) or just a cruise on the Bay for sightseeing. Adjacent to Fishermans Wharf is probably the area we liked best for dining and nightlife, it's called North Beach.

 

Prominently Italian eateries abound in North Beach. Columbus Avenue is the main drag, it's an angle street kind of like Lincoln Avenue in Chicago. You will see a big marble tower, that's the Coit Tower, and if you want a great workout, hike the steps up to the main entrance. Then, you take an elevator ride to the top which is really cheap and a great view.

 

Part 3 a bit later.

[Guest JimH]

Part 3

 

We left off in North Beach, on Columbus Avenue, and by the way, this is walking distance from Fishermans Wharf and it's an area that should be walked to experience it best. Stop at Mario's Bohemian Cigar Store in the 500 block of Columbus. It's not a cigar store at all, but rather a place for great Italian style coffees and terrific Italian sandwiches at lunch. A good low key place for dinner is Capp's Corner, it's been there forever. A personal favorite for a local lunch is Molinari's, which opened in 1896 and serves outstanding Italian sandwiches cheap. You can sit outside along Columbus Ave. if the weather is nice.

 

Columbus Avenue and the surrounding streets in this area is the club scene, which starts out about 10 pm and carries on until 3 am, or so I'm told.

 

Lombard Street is the worlds most crooked street, you can see it from the Powell cable car line, or walk it. It's quite the hill and gives you great exercise!

 

Further west from Fisherman's Wharf is the area called Pacific Heights. This is where the people live and they have every kind of local restaurant imaginable here. San Francisco is one of the best restaurant towns in the world and if you meander the area around Union Street and also on Fillmore Street you will see what I mean.

 

If you are with a special lady friend, let her wander around all the shops on Union Avenue, this is paradise for women, they have all kinds of independent shops but keep a sharp eye on your credit card, they can run up a big bill in this neighborhood, of which I speak from personal experience.

 

Music History: The famous Fillmore Auditorium, formerly the Fillmore West, is in this neighborhood at the intersection of Fillmore and Geary. This is where the San Francisco sound blossomed, and current bands play there even today. Some of the notable bands who played at the Fillmore include: Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Carlos Santana, Cream, Otis Redding, Muddy Waters, James Brown, Grateful Dead of course, Buffalo Springfield, CSNY, and on and on.

 

Going just a bit further west is the famous Haight-Ashbury district. It's a little worn around the edges but nothing to be afraid of. Right at the corner of Haight and Ashbury is a great place I highly recommend called The Magnolia brewpub, they make some of the most unique and fantastic ales in the city, and they have good food too. Not expensive either. The site also has an intersting history, it used to be a drug store, it was literally called The Drug Store, and in the late 50's and thru the 60's and early 70's they had a doctor on staff who used to give out free clinic type shots to combat all the free love that was going on. They used to grow marijuana plants in the side windows too. This whole area is interesting to walk up and down, there are a few good places to grab a quick bite or a drink.

 

Immediately west of Haigh-Ashbury is Golden Gate Park. You can easily get to these areas by Muni. Just immediately into Golden Gate Park, at the east end of the park, is Kezar Stadium, actually the rebuilt Kezar Stadium, which is way way smaller now than it was. It's now used mostly for college track meets and such, but until 1971 this was the home of the San Fransico 49'ers so there was some great football played here in the 50's, 60's and 70's. The last time I was there they still had the original entrance to Kezar, basically the tunnel where the 49 ers used to come out onto the field. This place was gigantic in its day and now is a majorly downsized version of its former self. The 49ers for years used to hold a scrimmage game at Kezar for old times sake but the 1989 earthquake damaged Kezar pretty badly and they demolished it.

 

Golden Gate Park is all about nature and right at the ocean there is a public facility called the Beach Chalet, which has a restaurant (and brewery) inside, it has a nice view of the ocean and women really like it.

 

And lastly, if you go north from Golden Gate Park you come into an area known as The Presidio. This area is largely green space and it's the site of a former military installation, for a few hundred years in fact. It's part of a big recreation area now and north of this area is the Golden Gate bridge, which leads across the straights into Marin County.

 

A great book to get is Access San Francisco, this is by far the best guide book we found and we carried that and a good map around with us, that's all we needed.

 

Enjoy!

Edited September 13, 2005 by JimH

[Kalapse]

OMG

[Kid Gleason]

The swankiest hotel in SF is probably the Fairmount, right off the California St. cable car line, at the corner of California and Mason St.  This place is amazing, you need to be a little dressed up to go to the top, where there's a lounge called the Fairmount Crown.  It's worth it, you will get a gorgeous view of the city.  If you are with a wife, girlfriend etc. she will be suitably impressed and tell her mom and all her friends what a great guy you are

 

 

Is that the one with the glass elevator on the outside of the building. I've heard sex in that thing is great.

 

 

 

 

 

Good Lord...I just realized that was in "invitation"...

[The Ginger Kid]

I fully expect to be residing in cali within the next 3 years, with a transfer, I shoul dbe set.  Never one for the cold weather though, im guessing I will be in San Diego.

 

I went to San Diego State -- that town is awesome. Just so much to do. Plus there's nothing like waking up on a Saturday morning in January, throwing on my shorts and a sweat shirt over my golf shirt and hitting the links. The sweatshirt will be off by the turn and the high a pleasant 72. That's when you start to think about those cold unfortunate souls!

[Sox1422]

Jim,

 

Thanks again! I feel like I've already been there.