The Golden Dragon on Washington Street in Chinatown (http://bayarea.citysearch.com/profile/882719/) has great dim sum. Lots of variety and it is very yummy! They used to have an all-you-can-eat buffet for about $10 (not sure if this is still available)
I arrive on Monday the 20th, so Saturday the 25th would be fine. I would prefer lunch. Don’t know what the exact time would be, when do you usually get lunch?
Can I get to the Stinking Rose by bus?
I’ll start a thread in MPSIMS. I’m thinking Tommy’s Joynt might fit in better with your budget, and better for a group if we get enough people (and easy to get to from the Financial District). We’ll see what everyone comes up with in the thread.
I don’t know if it is pier 39 in particular, but there ARE the sea-lions which are taking one of them over, which is pretty cool. I guess it must be 39.
Another recommendation for the automaton place at the Cliff house. There’s also a decent camera obscura there.
Yeah, Tommy’s seems to have a little more affordable food.
Great!
I’m off to school now.
Yep, the Coronet will close.
It was bought by the Goldman Institute on Aging, which is eating up real estate from Arguello to Masonic along Geary. I think this happened two years ago (I could be off). It was expected to close over a year ago, but somehow, ity’s been able to hold on long enough to show it’s second to last true calling. If it can just hold out three more years…!
BTW, the employees there are fantastic and I’m happy top see them again and to give them my business.
If you are planning on visiting any outlying areas, let me know. I’ve lived in Sacramento and Santa Cruz, so I know a lot about the areas around the San Francisco Bay Area.
[sales pitch mode] Although Santa Cruz is more of a local tourism destination than an international one, it is a good place to go if you want to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city. It’s about an hour and a half away down some beautiful coastline. Santa Cruz is full of hippies and surfers and political eccentrics (although recently this town was overrun with a bunch of silicon valley millionaires- yuck!). We’ve got beautiful redwood forests and awesome beaches (you can still have beach bonfires on a lot of them- yay!). We’ve also got a boardwalk which isn’t all that cool but has a really awesome roller coaster from the 1920s.
If you do plan on stopping by Santa Cruz, let me know. There are a lot of really cool secret things hidden away in the forest and throughout town, and some really good restraunts that shouldn’t be missed (like a tiny fine Italian restraunt that plays loud rap music and has a smoke machine- the Italian chef usually wears a brightly colored wig and screams out obscenities as the diners toast to him). Plus, I know a heck of a lot hotel desk clerks and could probably set you up with a discout room.[/sales pitch mode]
Have fun and let us know how the trip goes!
Santa Cruz sounds spiffy, but isn’t that at least 1.5 hours away from SF? My Bay Area Transit map doesn’t even show it, so I don’t know how to get there.
One thing that is closer though are some other cities that might not be as pretty, but… Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Mountain View or better yet: Cupertino - ah, just the sound of it.
Hey I see the Caltrain runs down there for a couple bucks. Except Cupertino isn’t on the route.
Any Apple geeks up for a pilgrimage to the holy place?
I’d recommend skipping the Exploratorium. It’s really for kids. What you want is the Computer History Museum on the grounds of NASA Ames Research Center, in Mountain View. They’ve got one of just about every significant computer ever made. Johnniac, Whirlwind…the list goes on. But you have to let them know a few days ahead of time so they can put you on their admission list.
http://www.computerhistory.org/about/tour/
You also want to keep in mind that you cannot go swimming any time of the year at San Francisco beaches unless you possess a thick layer of insulating blubber. It’s fargin’ cold! So don’t bother bringing your swimsuit.
Another museum that might interest you is the Cartoon Art Museum, between 2nd and 3rd (I think) on Mission Street (the address is 655 Mission). This is right by the Montgomery BART station in the downtown area. Right now they have an Edward Gorey exhibit and a Spiderman exhibit, in additional to their fabulous permanent collection of comic strips, cell art, and graphic novel panels.
Here is their website.
I love playing tour guide in SF and I work right downtown, so if you have any more questions, feel free to email me. Everyone’s suggestions so far are great, and if you would like suggestions for things to see/do in Berkeley on the cheap, let me know. I’m a Berkeley girl.
If possible, check out Berkeley. It’s easy to get to from downtown SF by BART, and it’s got cool stuff. Just ask mle. And if your up for the hour steep uphill bikeride, you can get some amazing views. A less strenous bike adventure can be had at Angel Island, just hop on a ferry from Fisherman’s Wharf.
A tourist is seriously considering paying a visit to Mountain View? ::shudder::
I live in SF, commute to Mtn View. If I didn’t work there, I would never set foot in the concrete strip mall that is Mtn View ever again. For the love of all that is holy, do not go visit Mtn View in a tourist capacity. And I’d steer clear of East Palo Alto too, if I were you. 
One of my favorite places to suggest to tourists is the Point Bonita lighthouse just across the GGB in Marin. May be difficult w/o a car, though. Another cheap fun trip is to take the commuter ferry from the end of Market street (Port of San Francisco) out to Sausalito, Tiburron or Angel Island. A cheap way to get out on the water ($9) in the Bay and see some great views. (And they serve booze!)
If you’re going out to Tommy’s at Geary and 25th, be sure and get a Scorpion Bowl from Tradr Sam’s while you’re at it. You won’t much care where you go or what you do after that.
- Dooku, one of the Haight’s “interesting characters”.
Thanks again everybody! I just compiled a list of all the things so that I can print it and take it with me.
One more thing: I thought it might be fun to go golfing if I have the time, since it’s very expensive here and there are no courses nearby. What would it approx. cost to play golf for about 2 hours in SF?
A lot of good suggestions in this thread.
I’m surprised no one has mentioned the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park… I’d recommend it.
If you want to see sea lions, but avoid the highly touristy Fisherman’s Wharf area, I’d recommend the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito. It would be a good trip to combine with the Point Bonita Lighthouse for excellent views of the Golden Gate and the Bay.
I also want to second the recommendations for a trip to Angel Island and a BART trip over to Berkeley.
Getting from San Francisco to Santa Cruz or Big Basin would be problematic without a car, but the bus trip to Muir Woods will be worth it… just make sure you get off that highly crowded mile loop onto the other trails that many tourists don’t even realize exist (or don’t have time for).
If you like sushi, you might try My favorite sushi place in SF, Fuku-Sushi. 1581 Webster St
Nice assortment & great price.
(Yes, this is an actual restaurant).
This cabinet is part of the permanant collection at The Palace of the Legion of Honor. It’s truly magnificent. The PotLoH is in Lincoln Park, itself a beautiful setting.