OK, my eldest is 24, artistic, animation major graduate from film school, from the 'burbs, teaches a high school art program, a foodie, and will have a full day and night in SF all by themselves with a 3 star budget and a car.
Safe hotel recommendation(s) with parking will be much appreciated.
What to see with a heavy local art flavor? Should avoid major homeless challenges (this is a suburban and not a tough, hardened, intimidating 20 something), and relatively easy access by private car, public transportation or walking. So, something like Lombard Street is probably out. I am 40 years out of date on the City. So, my thoughts and feel free to critique, stack rank or add new ones are:
Coit Tower and the Diego Rivera mural
Painted Ladies
De Young Museum
Legion of Honor
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA)
City Lights bookstore
And any places to eat nearby a must-see recommendation is a two-fer!
As always, thanks in advance. (BTW, appreciate all the answers in the related Monterey Chioppino thread!
An out of the way option, which I did on one of my SF walks pre-Covid. Balmy Street, off 24th, is basically an alley lined with murals. It ends at 25th street and Garfield Square. Here is a web page about an Arts Center featuring the murals. Even my unartistic self thought the murals were cool. I didn’t take the tour, and didn’t do any research, so I suspect I missed a lot.
Also on 24th is an excellent bagel place with great bialys, which supplies the restaurant in the Contemporary Jewish Museum. I went home with a full back pack.
The best way to see Coit Tower is to walk up. There’s a tiny parking lot at the base of the tower, and there’s almost always a line of cars waiting for spaces. You can walk up either from North Beach (the Italian district), or you can go up the Filbert Steps. The steps start at the base of the bay side of Telegraph Hill, at Filbert Street. It’s a bit of a climb (a healthy 24-year-old should handle it easily), but the views are fantastic.
BTW, the mural inside Coit Tower is in the style of Diego Rivera, but it’s not an actual Rivera work. It was a joint effort by 25 different artists hired by the Public Works of Art Project, and supervised in part by an artist whom Rivera trained.
Your son might also like Musée Mécanique, a museum full of antique arcade games and other mechanized amusements. Admission is free, though you have to pay to operate the machines.
The Ferry Building Marketplace is a must-visit for foodies. It’s full of high-end vendors and restaurants. Dandelion Chocolate is excellent, as is Blue Bottle Coffee.
One of the best things about San Francisco is San Francisco. Let the city be itself. On my only visit (and I hope to return), I ran across so many things I never expected. Pier 39 and the cable cars were a delight, but there was so much more to the city than just that.
At the very least, drive across the Golden Gate Bridge in a convertible, with the top down. I did. Holy hannah, what a great ride!
Perhaps the Palace of Fine Arts? My wife and I really enjoyed it when we were there. As for hotels with parking, they are few and far between. And the majority of those don’t include the parking in the quoted cost of the room. That said, we stayed at the Day’s Inn on Lombard Street (near the Marina District) which did have free parking available for their guests. It wasn’t necessarily the nicest hotel I’ve ever stayed at, but it was adequate for our needs and certainly wasn’t the worst place I ever stayed at either. And we felt safe walking to and from the restaurants and other places within walking distance, which we did quite a bit.
Seconding the Exploratorium (and adding trivia you can use to bore your friends and relatives : it was founded by Robert Oppenheimers brother after he was black listed)
Also academy of sciences (opposite de Young) it’s worth doing the tour too (you get to see back rooms with all the specimens not on display)
The walk around LandsnEnd from legion of Honor is amazing too, you can walk down to the beach from there it’s my favourite SF walk.
No idea about parking in the area, but Green Tortoise Hostel is clean and well-run and has a nice social vibe (and it looks like there are private room options if they don’t want to do shared dorms). The last time I stayed there was in 2019, but as a solo female traveler, I thought the neighborhood was fine.
Appreciate all the replies and have shared with my kidlet. Forgot to mention upthread, that they are staying the first night at one of the hotels on Union Square, and day 2 involves dealing with some passport stuff translates probably into 1 museum. Turns out that they have finagled the night on their own to a friends aunt’s spare bedroom in Oakland (probably the Oakland Hills but I’m not sure). Not only that, but figured out that Jo’s Modern Thai is in Oakland, and has a Michelin star.
Day 3 is a leisurely drive to Monterey to meet a couple buddies coming that day from LA. So, is there something recommended either between the Berkely/Oakland area and Monterey? And cioppino at Phil’s Fish Market is about 99% given.
The Castro Theater is closed, and is being reconfigured into a music performance venue. The owners say they will show films there sometimes, but they’re eliminating the rake of the floor, which will make it a pretty poor place to see a movie.
If you’re interested in the architecture of old movie palaces, I suggest the Paramount Theater in Oakland. You can take a 90 minute tour on Saturdays for only $10.
I’m not sure how the Exploratorium would do for a 24-year old. Great for kids, but still.
The Disney Museum is in the Presidio, which is nice also but maybe not my first choice for a few day trip. The Disney Museum is high on the list only if you are really into Disney stuff.
Oakland has a nice museum also, just down the street from the Lake Merritt BART station. I don’t remember how much art there is, I mostly looked at the history and nature sections.
Is he planning to go to Monterey via US 101 or US 1? The latter is more scenic, but much slower. Don’t know any great places to eat on the way, but it is close enough to my house that there has never been a reason to stop.
If he goes via Route 1, check for road closures. Hills sometimes fall down on the road.
: it was founded by Robert Oppenheimers brother after he was black listed)