Interurban Era

All of this was written for a couple of transit friends who are planning on visiting the city, so I figured my fellow readers would appreciate it too. This is mainly focused on the City/County of San Francisco proper. If you like this one, I'll do one for the East & North Bay as well, eventually!

Transit trips:

1. Ferry building for breakfast, there's some great places like "daily driver" for breakfast, then definitely ride the ferry to Oakland, hop off and have lunch at Line 51 brewery which is excellent and has a vintage GM bus inside. See if the USS Potomac museum is open and take a tour. https://www.usspotomac.org/ Take the next ferry back.

2. See if you can ride the "boat tram" near the end of the day so you can ride it through Delores Park on the J church line from the ferry building to Balboa Park. Then ride the BART back downtown or wherever is closest to your hotel.

3. Definitely try to have lunch at the best Chinese restaurant in town: Harborview, next to the brutalist Hyatt. https://www.harborviewsf.com/ Then walk across the street and Take the 1 California trolley bus from there over nob hill to the end of line and walk 4 blocks to China beach for a fantastic view and a quieter and nicer beach than Baker or Ocean beaches. A+ golden gate view. Then ride the 1 back in towards town and grab a coffee or tea at "Beanstalk" and sit in a wooden lifeboat parklet!

4. Get a "snowy plover" at Andytown on the roof of the Trans Bay Transit center and walk the gorgeous rooftop garden. https://www.andytownsf.com/ Then go downstairs and ride the 5 fulton out to Golden gate park. See the SF conservatory, then hop on the bus again out to the coast to see the windmills. There's lots to do in the park itself, check out the artifical mountain built at Blue Heron Lake: https://sfrecpark.org/facilities/facility/details/Stow-Lake-410

5. Starting at Powell Street. Check out the cable cars but don't ride them from Powell Street. Then go downstairs and take the 3rd ave T Muni line out to Chinatown terminus. Then walk down Stockton Street and drink in the atmosphere. Then take a right on Pacific and go down and visit the Comstock Saloon.

It is an old fashioned bar with some of the best mixed drinks and one of the best hamburgers in town. Then, walk up Columbus and visit City lights books and grab something to read for the plane ride back. Continue up Columbus, and if you want another drink and you have some cash, go to Besuvio's. This is the old school beatnik bar featured in many pieces of writing.

Further up Columbus, there are other excellent restaurants. The most strongly recommended of mine I would say would be Sotto Mare. This is by far the best seafood restaurant in the city and I highly recommend either anything with shrimp or anything with scallops. Their alfredo is fantastic and you can get either shrimp or scallops in them and it's great.

Once you're bursting at the seams because their portion sizes are huge, walk uphill to Coit Tower (or take the cute MUNI bus that goes up the hill) to walk it off. It is worth whatever touristy money that they charge to go to the top because the view is spectacular and there's some incredible art Deco murals inside that are definitely worth looking at. Now. After you're done, on the side of telegraph Hill through the gardens that takes you down to embarcadero and then they could go to the Exploratorium. Right the back down to the ferry building and then go to the Muni museum at the base of Market Street.

6. Check out the cable car museum. This is also the ideal place to pick up the cable car because nobody really does it in the middle. I would suggest riding out to to Hyde Street Pier. There you can visit the Maritime museum https://www.nps.gov/safr/index.htm which has the eureka as featured in presidio Bay. Amongst a very well tended to collection of vintage boats and another spectacular view of both the Golden gate bridge and the rest of the bay. https://www.cablecarmuseum.org/

Avoid Pier 39 at all costs. Do not go.

There are no good restaurants there and you will probably catch covid from all of the mindless tourists bumping into you and coughing so avoid that place at all costs. Plus, you didn't visit San Francisco to be surrounded by out-of-towners!

You don't need to visit Alcatraz Island, but if you do want a nice boat tour, there are little tiny fishing boats that offer boat rides out the Golden gate and back again for a reasonable price and that is always fun. You can find them south of the Hyde Street Pier. To escape this area without having to stand in line forever for the cable car. Take the 30 bus back down into Columbus avenue and go have some espresso in the gorgeous outdoor seating at Cafe Greco. https://www.caffegreco.com/

7. Another great adventure starts by hopping on the 22 Fillmore and riding it up to potrero Hill. At the top of potrero Hill. Hop off. Then go to Farley's Cafe and have a delicious coffee and bake good. Read a book or draw or relax for a little while. If you want lunch, there is a great French place called Chez Maman. https://farleyscoffee.com/

Potrero Hill has one of the best views of the city. After that, walk down 16th Street to the end where the water is and go to Crane Cove Park. This is an amazing refitted Union Ironworks shipyard that they turned into a beautiful seaside Park and kept all of the original cranes and slipways for you to enjoy. https://sfport.com/cranecovepark

Afterwards you'll probably want something to drink so mission Rock resort. For a seat out on the deck. The view is spectacular. Afterwards hop on The T third Muni line and right across a drawbridge in a street car, a pretty unique Transit experience. If you feel adventurous, you can hop off at the Caltrain terminal and take the Caltrain down the peninsula to San Jose and back up again. This would take about 3 hours so it's not essential, but it is a fun trip. https://www.caltrain.com/

TIPS & TRICKS:

• there are three little neighborhood strips that you would probably want to check out. The first is on Divisadero. You can ride numerous buses to get out there and there are a collection of great cafes, comic book stores, and small trinket stores I think you would enjoy. Also the Dog Park at Duboce park is lovely and has a stop on the N Judah, it's always a nice place to spend time on a sunny day.

• You should also visit the Castro if only to walk up and down, checking out the cute stores, and then hop on the F line to ride down Market Street from the terminus there.

+Ride the J Church MUNI line to the top of Delores Park, you won't be disappointed. Bonus points if you do this at Sunrise/ Sunset.

• While not the most scenic, Polk Street is a very good example of the core of San Francisco and what it used to feel like in the old days. If you have a chance to explore it for a little bit in between other events, do so.

+Explore the small pedestrian alleys in Chinatown, there's all sorts of fantastic small businesses tucked down unlikely alleyways, just use your street smarts, if it looks like a dead end or is just a garbage truck access road, don't go.

• Clement Street in the Richmond district is rapidly becoming one of the most interesting neighborhoods in San Francisco. There are some brand new Italian restaurants that are spectacular intermixed with some spectacularly good Chinese places, like Spices!. https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g60713-d502956-Reviews-Spices-San_Francisco_California.html

There's also green apple books which is a impressive labyrinth of new and used books that you should never miss when visiting San Francisco. There's also a really cool aquarium store that you should go to, it's better than the actual aquarium in San Francisco.

Valencia also is a charming commercial strip that's worth checking out. There's endless things to do in the Mission, it's always worth exploring whether you need a custom made Tejana hat or a fresh Mango.

• If you want a good drink and some uniquely kinky atmosphere, walk down Folsom starting at the MUNI "Yerba Buena" T third metro stop and walk between 3rd & 10th. The Hole in the Wall Saloon is a fantastic old school San Francisco LGBT biker bar that's a lot of fun, and they make inexpensive and excellent drinks. Same goes for Stalwart SF bar, the Stud. There's always some event big or small happening there, so check their calendar if there's something you want to see while you drink.

+Alamo Square park, of which the "Painted Ladies" face, is a nice respite from the rest of the city. Almost every city park in SF has a unique charm, and lots of pets going for walks. There's a fun coffee truck parked inside the park that makes some great coffee and non-coffee drinks.

+The Haight is constantly in flux, but there's some amazing gems like "Decades of Fashion" which is probably one of the most extensive vintage clothing stores in the US, organized by decade. I've found some unbelievable treasures there. The rest of the neighborhood is pretty chaotic, so keep your eyes peeled for shops, bars, and places to eat you might want to go as they change all the time.

• Finally, during the day, you should walk up mission Street to get a feel for it as it is a quintessential. San Francisco neighborhood Always look down because the sidewalks are very very messy with excrement and debris. However, there are some amazing little stores tucked in here and there and probably the best burritos and papusas in the city. I suggest you start walking at 16th and mission, walk up to 24th and mission. Go west and walk down. Valencia back to 16th.

PLACES TO AVOID:

Also here's some useful places to avoid in SF:

🛑 Civic Center & Tenderloin: (horrifying homelessness/squalor.) If you find yourself here, head towards Hayes Valley to explore the goofy, bougie "looking for a second/third husband" vibe that neighborhood has to offer with its boutiques and solid restaurants.

🌧️ Outer Sunset/Lake Merced/ Ingleside/ Excelsior (nothing to for tourists, but occasional charming local businesses. Go to West Portal instead on the Muni Metro)

🏭 Mission below 15th Street to mission and 5th. (Industrial Squalor and little to do)

🥱Pacific heights, Marina district (tony rich people place with next to nothing fun there for tourists) Visiting the Palace of Fine Arts during the weekday in imperfect weather is a pleasant walk, but beware you'll be mobbed by tourists taking selfies cluelessly in the middle of the path.

😷⛴️Pier 39 for health and safety reasons. Also ZERO restaurants and few attractions are any fun or any good. Yes, I've tried them all. It's an efficient way to empty your wallet. I still have no idea why people would visit SF and just go here.

The only outliers are the Museum Mechanique and the SS Jerimah O'Brien & USS Pampanito submarine museum.

Foods you must try:

1. Clam chowder in bread bowl
2. Cioppino seafood stew at Taditch Grill (go on a weekday)
3. Go to Sam Wo for the best American-Cantonese style Chinese food
4. Original mission style burrito (Many claim to be the first, eat more than one)
5. Sweet pork buns (bao) and dim sum at Harborview
6. Scallop/Shrimp alfredo pasta at Sotto Mare
7. Sandwiches at "ham & cheese" in the Richmond District
8. Snowy plover coffee drink at Andytown coffee
9. Drinks at Comstock Saloon
10. Papusas at Panchitas

There's lots I left out for you to explore and discover yourself!

Let me know what YOUR favorite places are in the city and why in the comments below.

I had a spare demibaguette laying around and decided to try making a more fun double dog. I found it easier to eat and 1000x more fun than just two wieners in the same bun. (giggle) Go try it if you can and report back!

I'd love to see restaurants serve these. Add your preferred topping (most likely mustard) and nom!