Tell me about San Francisco
 

I'm on the brink of booking a holiday for January. I was thinking of going back to New York but, having already been there, thought it might be better to go somewhere new. San Francisco looks like a good option but I don't know much about it besides the usual touristy Fisherman's Wharf stuff. Where's a decent area to stay that has lots of good bars, shops etc, but isn't overly catering to tourists? I'm not a great one for the 'sights', prefering to just wander around, have a beer, read the paper, get something to eat, you know the kind of thing. Any SF residents/visitors that might be able to help me out here?

San Francisco is illlll.

If I were you, i'd rent a car and road trip down the coast. Stop by all the cities and catch a flight back home from San Diego.

That's a fuckin' GREAT idea. Only problem is that I can't drive.:( That's part of the appeal of SF actually, the fact that it seems to be quite a walkable city (unlike say Los Angeles).

Looking through one of the guidebooks, the Tenderloin area seems quite an interesting (and relatively cheap) spot to base myself. It does say it's quite dicey though, especially at night. Anyone know what it's really like?

don't eat the brown acid, man

Shit, I just watched some stuff on youtube about Tenderloin. Fuck that for a game of soldiers. Crack central by the looks of things!

gay capital of the u.s.a.

what else do you need to know?

I lived in SF for a few years, and SF has some really great neighborhoods that are enough off the beaten path to be interesting. I always avoided Chinatown (too crowded/mediocre) and went to Clement Street instead —it's more like a Little Asia, with Thai, Malaysian, Burmese, and Vietnamese places all on a small six-block strip adjacent to Geary. There's great food, wholesale restaurant supply places (great for small gifts), and one of SF's best bookstores, Green Apple. (It's huge, and has an amazing stock of remainders, used books, and crazy bargains!) Also recommended: the Sutro Baths, near the Cliff House. They're these crazy ruins of an old turn-of-the-century amusement park. There's a pool cut out through the cliff! It's really beautiful and cool. What else? Artists' Television Access in the Mission —great gallery space that programs lots of obscure video programs. Valencia St. between 16th and 24th is fun. Don't miss 826 Valencia (the Pirate Store), Aquarius Records, Borderlands (SF bookstore), and Paxton Gate. There's also the DeYoung, Yerba Buena Arts, and SF MoMA.

Wow thanks. Are these all in the same area?

Market Street, Chinatown, SFMoMA, the de Young Museum, Golden Gate Park

check out Brian Goggin's Defenestration on Howard & 6th Street


or his escaping tables

I just looked up the Mission area which seems like an ideal spot.

Lower Mission is cool. Upper Mission and Market are a lot of mall type stores and what not with bums everywhere. In fact, my brother went to a bar on Mission last night.

Here's an events calender: http://www.onlyinsanfrancisco.com/calendar/

I know I'll be seeing the Shakespeare In The Park at the Presideo soon.

Cool, the bars mentioned in this guide I have that seem fairly nice are Argus Lounge and Phone Booth.

bastards, you're making me hungry.

The Tenderloin can actually be quite cool. There are alot of small ethnic neighborhoods within the Tenderloin which means there are a lot of excellent hole in the wall resturaunts. There are some pretty cool clubs there, as well (Hemlock Tavern). Just be careful. I've nearly been robbed there more than once.
Aquarius Records in the Mission and Amoeba Records in the Haight Ashbury area are not to be missed for record hunting. There are some other decent record stores and book stores in the Mission and Haight-Ashbury worth looking at.
I second the Clement Street area recommendation as well. There are sooooo many great resturaunts there.

I would also avoid Fisherman's Wharf at all costs. Tourist trapiest tourist trap there ever was.

bitches, bitches, i wanna travel, and i'm currently broke... :mad:

Sooner murder an infant in its cradle than nurse unacted desires.

ok, i have to stop looking at this thread.

but i hope you enjoy the trip demonrail. i believe SF has the highest per-capita rate of restaurants in the U.S.

while youre at it, you should go to the napa valley & sample the wines.

for an illustration i refer you to look sideways.

God, now i'm getting really excited. What's the weather usually likethere in January?

I was walking down Geary Street with my brother looking for a place to eat lunch but wasn't asian since I've been eating leftover chinese for a week and we had to walk so utterly far until we got to Gordo's burrito joint.

Beautiful. My favorite thing about SF is the weather. Nice and cool year round. Never hot in the summer. Never too cold in the winter.

Ha ha, who knows. San Francisco's micro climate is pretty hard to read. Sunny one day, fogged in the next. Can't really tell yah.

But yeah, it isn't going to be absolutely freezing or anything.