San Francisco

Where to go— mostly where to eat— from perspective
of local residents, circa 2009-2015

Contents:

Tips For Travelers

The poor man’s scenic tour via #30 bus (not to be confused with the very different route of 30x– note the ‘x’ for EXPRESS)

The 30 goes between the baseball stadium (AT&T Park), downtown near major museums, through Chinatown, North Beach (historic Italian neighborhood), near waterfont tourist attractions, Aquatic area, is convenient for Fort Mason, continues through main shopping area of Chestnut Street in the Marina District, and loops around for convenient destination of beach with excellent view and walking distance to Golden Gate Bridge.

Fishermans’ Wharf – If going to the Waterfront (northeast corner of city), maybe skip the Pier 39 tourist-trap shops, and instead go see Museé Méchanique for early Twentieth Century carnival games on the actual Fishermans’ Wharf of Pier 45 near the western end of Embarcadero at Taylor Street (behind Boudin bakery cafe).

Fine Art

Exploring

Restaurants, Bistros & Coffee

Downtown

Within short walking distance of Union Square, there’s a beautiful building for those who appreciate fine architecture:
Mechanics' Institute Library 57 Post St. - a Carnegie-style lending library and Chess Room that requires membership but offers tours open to the public.

Ferry Building (where Market Street begins)

North Beach

Chinatown

Grant Street is for tourists, and Stockton Street is the community marketplace.

Tenderloin & City Hall area

Hayes Valley

Walking distance from City Hall:

North of Panhandle (NoPa)

Near the “panhandle” of Golden Gate Park and “Painted Ladies” houses of Alamo Square Park:

Polk Street / Russian Hill

Marina District / Chestnut Street

Cow Hollow / Union Street

Be sure to see the stange but beautiful Vedanta Society Old Temple house, which was constructed across different architectural eras: Edwardian & Victorian.
2963 Webster St at Filbert St, just off Fillmore St

Lower Pacific Heights / Fillmore St

South of Market (SoMa)

Mission District

Grocery Stores

Bicycling

The car, truck and bus drivers were very respectful and accommodated safe urban bicycling.

But beware of other bicyclists jumping lights and causing havoc.

(Pro Tip: if you can’t stop abruptly for traffic lights or pedestrians due to a trendy fixed gear bike lacking hand brake, you shouldn’t be riding a velodrome configuration on city streets.)

Safety First:

Bicycle Map:

Bike Shops:

Events:

Other:

Internet Service Provider

Sonic.net provides excellent DSL service, proven to be extremely reliable even in old (1920’s) buildings with ancient copper wires and at extreme end of the run from telco central hookup.

They continue to champion for rights (not just for their customers) regarding privacy and other aspects, challenging “spooky” agencies, etc.

Copyright © 2021 Daniel Joseph Pezely
May be licensed via Creative Commons Attribution.