Thread: San Francisco
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Old 12-03-2003, 12:50 AM   #5 (permalink)
Rodney
Observant Ruminant
 
Location: Rich Wannabe Hippie Town
I lived there in the 80s for ten years but haven't been back much lately. For touristy stuff that hasn't been mentioned (most of it has), get out on the Bay -- either a tour of Alcatraz, or a bay cruise. Nothing more beautiful than being out there and cruising under the bridges, around Angel Island and out the Gate, especially around sundown. Ah, memories. There are various cruises and cruise lines -- you can catch some from Fisherman's Wharf, some from Pier 39, or you can just take the regular Golden Gate Ferry commute boat over from the Ferry Building to Sausalito.

If you're just roaming around and want to see a neighborhood. I always recommend the Mission Districts; back when I was there, it was a cool Latino/mixed ethnic neighborhood with lots of artists and performers, cheap food, bars, counterculture coffee houses, bookstores, and all that. Since then the dotcom boom has laid a veneer of high tech on the place, but from all reports it's still the most interesting place in the city. Like North Beach, but still real. It can be gritty, but still worth it. Try Mission itself between 16th-24th, Valencia St. in the same stretch, 16th street from Mission West, and 24th street from Mission east to Potrero. You can also head up 24th to the west and end up in the Noe Valley, a cool neighborhood of a different stripe.

Tourists always come to the city and see the sights, but the locals know it's the neighborhoods that really make the city great.
Other good ones; The Richmond District (there's a second Chinatown along Clement Street from Arguello out to 19th); the Haight (a little too much street weirdness for my taste), and there's the SoMa scene, though I'll bet it's a little quieter down there these days since all the big money pulled out. Lot of clubs in the SoMa.
Rodney is offline  
 

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