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San Francisco?

C

Cooool

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I'm going to San Francisco soon and I was wondering what your opinion on the city is? Any hidden gems within the city to see? Are the homesless really as belligerent as people say? Are there really as many liberals, hippies and gays some would like others to believe (not that that would even be an issue)?

And is there anything outside the city to do?
 
I spent three days primarily downtown around Union Square a few years ago attending a conference...I recommend that you go to the Haight-Ashbury district; it's very hip and ultra cool (unique shops, etc much better than Queen West). I walked there from Union Square (about an hour) but I got to experince the many neighbourhoods along the way. Try to stay away from the 'tenderloin' cause here you'll find junkies, hookers, lots of drugs, and many no life to live individuals, you can end up living a criminal minds episode before you know it. Never walk around with a map in your hands and mind your own business in this neighbourhood, if you accidentaly wander into it. You may want someone at your hotel or if you know a friend from San Fran to tell you exactly where the extents of this area are, cause they may have changed since I was there.
 
That's why I was asking because the Tenderloin district (from what I can tell) is very close to Union Square. Our hotel is along Market Street, just east of Union Square. I hope this is a good location. Are other option was a hotel right near the TransAmerica pyramid. It seemed like there was less to do as this was the financial district.

Here's another important question I forgot to ask. How important is renting a car? We might do that just because we want to visit locations on the other side of the city, such as Golden Gate Park. And maybe anything outside the city.

PS - I've also heard the Mission District is rough, but there's probably no reason to go there. I hope we don't stumble into that area.
 
Yea the tenderloin district is very close to Union Square. One minute/step you are infront of Gucci store and the next you are getting roughed-up. Never travel alone. In the downtown area the neighbourhoods change from one to the other very quickly, and it amazes me that they can all coexist so close to eachother. Your 1st choice hotel should be fine, and anything in/near the financial district is way out of the way from where you want to be. We had rented a carfor the 3 days, and yes it's well worth it. There's plenty to see, and you can easily get around the bay area without having to hoof around in a cab. I remember we took a cab ride in the downtown from the airport and it cost just over $100 (and this was 4 years ago).
 
Mission District is nice, stay off of Mission Street itself though unless you love Mexican food authentic style. Beautiful parks and old churches to see, with hip little cafes, even in back alleys.

Market Street quickly goes from posh to scary, so as soon as you sense it's spooky, either take transit or a cab outta there!

H-Ashbury is kind of boring, reminded me of a mix of c.1997 Queen St West (U-Bathurst) and the Annex--aging hippies and students meet grungy clubbers. Blah.

I liked the upscale Cow Hollow area--sort of Laurier (Montreal) meets the Eglinton way, only denser and more interesting. Chinatown is ...well astonishingly old and Chinese.... Fisherman's Wharf is a lame tourist trap, but is worth going there for an In-N-Out "animal style" burger and to see the old wharves. (Which make you depressed realizing Toronto knocked all their old wharves down.)

I'm slightly biased--I liked the Hayes district as well. Sunset is very posh--and beautiful.

There's more to see...let me think about it (look at all the photos I took when I was on tour there last summer.)

If you rent a car, I recommend taking a tour out to the Lost Coast area--west of Petaluma (which in itself has nice relaxed historic downtown.) Places like Valley Ford, Bodega, Sebastopol, Russian River--spectacular imho.

One final tip: You must drink some "Eye of the Hawk" ale--some of the best I've had anywhere! http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/2516/641/?sort=latest&start=0
 
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One thing I noticed on my tour--the closer you get to the Canadian border, the more attractive the women become. Portland and Seattle seemed full of model wannabe's. I think the weather in SF ages the skin faster than the wetter north coast.

The only area I felt sort of scared in was when I was walking down Mission St in the poor Latino district by myself around 9pm. It's very vibrant, but very poor. Although South Berkeley is truly the "scary spicy" part of the bay area.

Overall, SF reminded me more of Mtl than anywhere else in NA. (Huge influence by the RC religion, one fairly dominant (Spanish vs. French) culture, architectural massing, care-free lifestyle.) One thing I learned: Never go to SF without a nanny if you have young children with you, as pushing your friend's baby stroller up those hills there is the worst way to enjoy the city.)
 
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San Francisco is a beautiful city with lots of great neighbourhoods for walking around. (I've been there quite a few times, and lived there once for 6 weeks).

If your hotel is east of Union Square, the area should be fine, as the Tenderloin starts about 4 blocks west of Union Square around Jones St. I never felt particularly unsafe in any of the areas that one would have reason to visit as a tourist, so you should be fine as long as you use common sense as in any big city, and avoid looking conspicuous or wandering aimlessly.

In addition to the neighbourhoods others have mentioned, the area around North Beach (the old Italian neighbourhood), Washington Square and Telegraph Hill is worth seeing.

You're probably staying quite close to the Ferry Buildilng, which has in recent years been refurbished with interesting shops and a market.

If you like art, there are some great museums, including SFMOMA, the Palace of the Legion of Honor (the park area from there through Lands End to Sutro Heights has great views of the Bay), and the DeYoung Museum in Golden Gate Park.

Within the city proper, it's definitely doable to take transit pretty much anywhere, including all the places above, although it can be a bit slow as it consists mostly of buses and streetcars. If you rent a car, then you can also see the beautiful scenery in the surrounding area. Probably the most accessible is Marin County which is just north of the city across the Golden Gate Bridge and includes Sausalito, Muir Woods, and Point Reyes.
 
So I went to San Francisco and I loved it. I was intrigued by the fact the city is characterized by bohemian culture and liberal hippies. But what I noticed more than anything was the massive homeless population (they were everywhere, digging through garbage) and the large asian influence. I barely saw any latte sipping liberals, nor did I see any overt gays.

I never really explore Union Square as it looked like a terrible, boring tourist trap. Fisherman's Wharf was sooo busy and a homeless man pretending to be a tree jumped out and scared us. I felt the city was maybe a little too touristy for my tastes, but I still loved it and thought it was very beautiful. Another thing that's interesting, is that the crime rate is San Francisco is pretty bad, but yet the whole city felt safe. Even the Tenderloin didn't look that bad in the day. I walked just about the whole North end of the city without any sense of danger. The concierge warned us that Haight Ashbury has aggressive drug dealers.

Overall, my only complaints were the fact that there were too many homeless people and I didn't feel like it was a very happening city. Very little young people. I was hoping for a vibrant youth crowd.
 
Love San Francisco. If you can rent a car drive up to Muir Woods park to see the giant Redwoods. It's 30 miles north of San Fr.
 
Yeah, take the 101 from Southern Oregon to Willits, then loop back to Fort Bragg via Highway 20 then explore the lost coast and the spooky drive that is old highway #1. Having dinner under the redwoods miles from civilization was one of the best experiences I'd had in ages. (Near Honeydew, California.) I'll have to find my photos and post them here.:)

I hadn't been to SF since the mid-90s, so yeah, like you Coool, I was slightly disappointed and jaded. That's why I spent more time exploring the small towns and cities along the lost coast--very glad I did so.
 
I wasn't really dissapointed in San Francisco, it's just I thought it was going to be a more "happening" city with hipsters and a vibrant youth crowd. But it just seemed to be middle aged people driving a Prius. In addition, it seemed too touristy for me. You don't even know if the person beside you is a resident or a tourist. But yeah, I drove down the coast of California to Big Sur and it was really nice. Pebble Beach and 17 Mile Drive were very nice.

After the dissapointment of New York, San Francisco wasn't much of a let-down. I guess it just made me angry the way the media and television portrayed Manhattan as if it's some exciting playground for the wealthy young professionals. On the surface, it was just like any other big city. Just bigger.
 
It may be a case that you stuck a bit too much to the eastern portion of the penninsula (which tends to be more business, shopping and tourists). The gays, lattes and liberal-voting yoga moms can be found in abundance in the neighbourhoods to the west.
 
Well, I went to neighbourhoods like Richmond, Sea Cliff, North Beach, Pacific Heights, Russian Hill, and Alamo Square.

Pacific Heights had a lot of young, wealthy people. I loved that neighbourhood.
 
Hi, I'm new to the board but have been enjoyed reading your opinions/news/views on this board for a while.

I was just wondering if anyone had any tips or suggestions, aside from the aforementioned above, regarding places to stay (hotels/areas), where to possible buy cheap SF Giants tickets, any good restaurants that are a must?

I’m heading there in September for about 8 full days, and have read about the weather drastically changing, so no beach. I’m also thinking of maybe heading to Oakland for a day, to watch an A’s game (trying to see all 30 stadiums in the mlb) are there any good places to see in Oakland as well?

Thanks in advance.
 
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