Ok, I’m straight but travelling to San Francisco in a week or so. What do you guys suggest to do sightseeing, where the good bars are, etc. Also, any crazy pubs with silly stuff like foam parties, jello wrestling, etc?
The really good bars are around Mission and 16th, Guerrero and 18th, etc. Just stand on one of those corners and follow the hotties. Recommend Elbo Room (647 Valencia St) as a good starting point.
Sights? Well there’s the Golden Gate Bridge and Ghirardelli Square for super-tourists. Cool stuff would include SF MOMA (Museum of Modern art) and The Exploratorium - major fun, especially if you have kids to take with you. If you’re one of those nature people you’d like Golden Gate Park, you can walk all the way to the ocean. If you like drugs and patchouli, go to Haight Street, toward Golden Gate Park. Peace, brother.
I personally also love City Lights bookstore and Vesuvio’s bar, right next to each other and conveniently near both chinatown and the red-light district. Lots of good stuff around there.
Enjoy your trip and let’s hope the weather holds, it’s been absolutely record-breakingly beautiful here.
The guy who lives on 63398 Valencia street will give $10,000 in cash to the first person who walks up to the door and says “Can I have $10,000 in cash?”. But you didn’t hear it from me!
Be sure to wear a flower in your hair.
You know I keep walking out to my car, and then coming back. It is so tempting to make the 2 hour drive down the hill just to see if your kidding.
Tourist: Although it sounds like you are more interested in"Action" consider a walk across the Golden Gate then turn left and go up the hill to the old Battery. It is the best view of the City. Then keep going north untill you hit the Marine Mammal Rescue Center. Take the tour see the animals, if you run into a guy named Kit, tell him his nephew says HI. Then keep heading north till you get to stinson Beach, there are some great restaurants. After dinner head over to Bolinas for drinks at Smilies Bar, then walk about a hundred paces West to the beach to watch the sunset. After that you can risk your life in the mission district if you like. But I don’t recomend it. Try Eli’s Mile High Club in Oakland, still pretty dangerous but Mick Jagger and others have been known to stop in a play a set for fun.
Hope you have fun in The City.
I don’t know if you give a hoot about history or technology, but if you do, track down the plaque that marks the former workshop of **Philo Farnsworth ** and pay tribute to this little-remembered genius-inventor who pioneered electronic television. It’s in some obscure, industrial corner of town, but it’s reasonably impressive as historical markers go. I’m too lazy to dig out the exact coordinates from my files, but I bet a few minutes on Google will turn them up. Read Tube: The Invention of Television by David Fisher & Marshall Jon Fisher to get you psyched for the excursion.
Alcatraz.
The fog roll over the top of the bridge.
Really; I’ve never seen anything like either anywhere else.
Ask a motorcycle cop where you can find the nuclear wessels.
Nu-cle-ar
Wess-els
Yeah, Actually I’m a neard for life so I usually spend my days of travel sightseeing around town and after dinner kicking back and either taking in the night LIGHTS or LIFES. (Damn near homonym words).
And I’m quite curious as to WHom or What lives at 63398 Valencia St. (Is it near the 101 'spressway?)
Though are the market area or the oakland area you mentioned dangerous after dark? I’m a wanderer and wouldn’t want to end up in the 'hood parts of town if that’s what you mean. Though if you just mean there are fast cars and faster women then count me in LOL 
Err, can’t most nerds spell nerd?
As long as you’re in North Beach, go across the street from these 2 and go to Tosca. I’ve heard it described as “if Coppolla would’ve shot a scene for The Godfather in San Francisco, he would’ve come here.” Opera on a really old jukebox, red booths, paintings on the ceiling obscured from years of smoky deposits, and white jacketed bartenders, to name a few of the attributes. My boyfriend and I loved it there–we went twice in the time we were there (both slow nights, and both nights the same bartender was working). Their specialty, the “house cappucino” (left over from Prohibition days) is hot cocoa with whiskey. They make up a bunch at a time and then heat them up with the milk steamer on an espresso machine.
This thread is better suited for In My Humble Opinion. I’ll move it for you.
Cajun Man
for the SDMB
Coit tower!
Really not that exciting, but it’s where my grandparents met, back in the forties. He was a sailor with a few days leave in San Francisco, and after he saw her walking up the stairs of the tower, he had to get her name. The celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary last august.
Sorry, complete rambling, but I had to share.
Oh, I disagree. On a clear day the view is pretty stunning and I always sort of enjoyed strolling down Telegraph Hill. But it does depend on what you like :).
- Tamerlane
I don’t live in SF, but the everytime I goto a restaurant in mission district ( around mission and 16th mostly) I am surprised by how good the food is.
Who cares if you’re straight? You should go to the Castro and hang out with all the gays. It’s great fun. Everyone should at least once.
Kinda like saying “I’m Catholic but I’m going to Israel, what should I do?”
Hang out with Jews. They don’t bite.
It’s a joke. I looked at a map of SF, found that there is a street there called “Valencia Street” and made up the number 63398. I don’t know if it’s even a real address.
Although it’s not within city limits, I would reccomend taking the ferry to Angel Island (I don’t know if there’s one in San Francisco, but there definately is one in Tiburon, on the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge) and hiking to the top. Very nice view of the bay, and there’s some interesting historical buildings.
The Casto is great! It doesn’t matter if you’re gay or not. Lots of nice shops and restaurants plus it always seems to be sunny there— even when it’s foggy out by the ocean.
I recommend the Sutro Baths out on the ocean. Just ruins now, but I think it’s cool. You could check out the giant Camera Obscura out that way, too.
The Mission is a funny area-- it has a reputation for crime, yet I don’t really see it (I live near there). If you stay where you see others going (the aforementioned hip bars around 16th to 20th and Misson, Guerrero, Valencia) you’ll be fine.
Oh yeah-- I’m pretty sure there is no such address as 63398 Valencia St. The street just isn’t that long.
The Mission is one of those areas that is fine during the day, but parts can be a little dicey at night. It is a major center for street-level heroin-dealing, for example. But the food is superb and there are plenty of nice night spots with lots of traffic even at late hours. As you said, I wouldn’t worry much about wandering around the well-lit main areas even at night and I wouldn’t worry at all during the day.
- Tamerlane