What is there to do in San Francisco ?

[JI7]

i'm thinking of going for a short period. about 3-4 days. i have never been there before. i like to know about the history and culture of places so things having to do with that. any unusual shops ? good food places?

i know there are a lot of places to see there but i'm only going to be there a short time . Haight-Ashbury is the only place i have in mind right now and maybe Alcatraz .

[XemaSab]

1. Go to the Olive Garden

:popcorn:

[Zomby Woof]

2. Was just there yesterday

Beautiful city, but the people are pretentious assholes. Avoid them, but enjoy the sights!

[Bennyboy]

3. Some stuff

Go to Chowhound for food reccos.

be sure to stop at Amoeba records in the Haight. best record store ever.

The lower Haight is nice too, Tornado has a great beer selection, Rosamunde has great (I mean great!) sausage sandwiches and Memphis Minnies is grub too.

The De Young Museum is the best. There is a great exhibit right now (Picasso?) but I can't remember. The De Young is in Golden gate park and that is worth spending time (close to the haight too).One of the great parks in the world. the japanese tea garden, the Exploratorium and the disc golf course (if you play) is nice.

I love the Marina district myself. there are tons of great restaurants on union St and Chestnut street. (judy's hs the best breakfast in the city IMO).

The Ferry Building is great. A organic food mart with fresh seafood and all kinds of great stores.

Union Square is cool if you like the big shopping centers. Neiman Marcus and all the rest are right there.

Lefty O'Douls is a great hof Brau with a great piano bar.

The Fillmore. be sure to check out the upstairs if you are into music history. Incredible.

Ocean Beach is nice at sunset and the beach Chalet brewery a nice place to watch the sunset. the beer is okay, but still...

Hang gliders at Fort Funsten are cool too. out on the great highway.

The Zoo is great if you don't have a major city zoo close by. Not San Diego or Chicago but a nice zoo nonetheless.

Try to take transit at all costs. the parking is hard to find and very expensive. the cable cars are great, be sure to ride on the outside. North beach and Chinatown are on the route and there is a lot of great stuff there. Vesuvio for coffee, Steps of Rome for great food. Do not eat at the Stinking Rose. The Beat museum is here in North beach. City Lights bookstore.

Chinatown is great too. mayflower is regarded as the best food there, really it is hard to go wrong there.

[trof]

4. Not much. It's kind of a podunk town.

:rofl:
Don't miss The Stinking Rose, unless you don't like garlic.
http://www.thestinkingrose.com/

See the Cable Car Museum.
Oh, and ride a cable car, of course.
See and dine at Fisherman's Wharf.

[madinmaryland]

5. I here tell, Barry Bonds is giving tours of the Bay Area Laboratory, CO facility!,

:hide:

[trof]

6. Oh yeah, take a ferry.

Take the Tiburon Ferry and spend an afternoon and evening browsing the shops and eating in Tiburon.

Take the Sausalito Ferry and don't miss having an Anchor Steam beer at The No Name Bar.
It's kind of a tradition.

[Bennyboy]

7. And go up to Mt Tam!

The view is unequaled.

[Brother Buzz]

12. The No Name Bar just isn't the same after Spike Africa and Sterling Hayden passed on...

I berthed my sailboat a hundred feet from the Wanderbird and met all of the gang including Harold Sommers. I even went to school with two of Spike's kids. I understand the Wonderbird was sold and left the bay area years ago, times have been better.

[mitchum]

14. What a trip...just yesterday I was telling someone how much I had enjoyed...

Hayden's book "Wanderer"
He may have been a pretty stiff actor, but he was a wonderful writer

[Brother Buzz]

15. He knew sailing, that's for sure, and spinning yarns was just part of the job

He wrote Wanderer while he was living in the east pilot house of the retired ferryboat, Berkeley, just a stone's throw from the No Name bar. Wanderbird was spitting distance in the other direction, and she was nothing but derelict dismasted hulk serving as a breakwater at the harbor entrance. It was an impossible dream to bring her back, and that's exactly what they did. She was a magical boat rebuilt during a magical time by magical people in a magical place; Sausalito in the late sixties and early seventies.

I really enjoyed reading Wanderer, but his second book, Voyage, kinda dragged on. The smoldering fire in the coal hold was about all I remember from the book.

[AlCzervik]

8. The palace of fine arts, the museum of modern art, Chinatown, St. Francis mission

The mission district, Alcatraz and lots of other stuff.

[Arugula Latte]

9. The Slanted Door restaurant in the Ferry Building is deeelish.

Modern Vietnamese/pan Asian. :9

And it has a great view of the Bay.
http://www.squaremeal.co.uk/include/images/content/3F/[e-mail]

[AlCzervik]

10. That looks nice, I'm going to call for a reservation for next Sunday.

[Arugula Latte]

11. Cool.

I'm heading down to the Bay Area this upcoming week ... Wonder if I can squeeze in a meal there at some point ... Now I'm hungry.

[mitchum]

13. See if you can find my fucking heart

please