“Summertime will be a love-in there
“In the streets of San Francisco
“Gentle people with flowers in their hair.”
Scott McKenzie’s classic is now 60 years old, still ringing true, The city is more alluring than ever. After a COVID dip she’s rising to new heights.
Coming back shinier, cleaner, safer, more inviting. Under new management; mayor, district attorney, police chief and Giants manager with a boost from AI, tech giant advances and world class progress in medicine, education and finance, please re-think, reimage, wake up to the New San Francisco.
I first visited in 1979 and have been smitten ever since. Having grown up in a small town I’m fascinated by big cities and SF is surely not the biggest, just the best. Having toured some (foreign: Toronto, Cairo, Athens, Mexico City, Sidney, Auckland, London, Paris, Oslo, Rome, Madrid to name a few and most all ours — New York, LA, Chicago, Dallas, Phoenix, New Orleans, Miami) I say with certainty that The City tops them all. None of the aforementioned has her intoxicating mix of geography, topography, climate, bay, ocean, citizenry, culture, diversity and food, entertainment, mystery, magic and class. She’s so close, easily doable for you!
Dress in layers, wear your walking shoes, sunglasses and hat. Bring your winter coat. Pocket a credit card or two, a little cash and a water bottle. A camera will be missed if not taken.
If you must drive, drive no farther than the Vallejo Ferry Terminal. If you aren’t attracted to an hour ride each way on the Vallejo Ferry (the best way to get to SF; certainly for kids and bicyclists) then consider one of the following. (But don’t attempt to drive your vehicle to The City. There’s no parking, tickets are very expensive, towing is frequent. While far fewer, car break ins still occur. I lived there for three years without a car. It’s very liberating.)
My best trips to and from were on my road bicycle and maybe you’re capable. It’s about a four-plus-hour ride through Fairfield and onto the Vallejo for its ferry. For the more adventurous I suggest a 10-hour cycle west to Routes 12, 116 and south across Marin County crossing the Golden Gate Bridge at sunset. An easy, convenient option is catching in downtown Davis Amtrak’s Capitol Corridor train to either Emeryville where you’ll catch their bus to the city. Or getting off the train in Richmond and riding BART. If you have young ones they’ll thrill to either the Ferry, Amtrak coach or BART under the bay.
You’ve arrived at the Ferry Building ( via Ferry) or Montgomery Street Station (BART or Amtrak ) in The City. And she’s yours for the easy taking!
Coming out of The Ferry Building onto the Embarcadero (busy, wide street and bustling walkway) in front of the building. It hugs the bay.
And Market Street heads west toward the ocean. Most of SF’s streets run either east-west or north-south. However it’s main drag — Market — cuts across diagonally from northeast to southwest; the Ferry Building to Twin Peaks. All The City is about 7 miles by 7 miles so it’s very difficult to get too lost. But she’s dense, hilly, with tall pointy buildings downtown in The Financial District, lots of people hurrying around and hectic street traffic; light rail, car, bus, bike, taxi, Lyft, Uber and Waymo. Not to worry. I gotcha!
I walk Davis. From my J and Menlo residence I change up my 2-4 mile strolls utilizing four different loops; Cannery, Cemetery, Downtown and Library. Also during my 10-year SF residency I had four walking loops from the three addresses I called home in Pacific Heights, then in The Tenderloin and lastly in the Western Addition. I know these areas best but have some knowledge of all The City.
Next step: After you’ve decided how to get there: “whadayawannado”? To quote another ’70s classic, Paul Simon’s “Fifty Way to Leave Your Lover,” it’s time to “Make a new plan, Stan.” How much time you have will be a greater consideration than the stops’ cost.
Art, Culture: SFMOMA, Davies Hall, SFSU, Pier 23, Tenderloin, De Young, Legion of Honor (organ recitals on Sunday afternoons), Main Library and branches.
Tours: City Hall, Opera House, Oracle, Angel Island, Farallon Islands
Kids Favorites: Pier 39, Sky Star (Ferris Wheel) Fisherman’s Wharf, Chinatown, Cable Cars, Church of Eight Wheels, Zoo, Segway, Scooters, Ice Skating, Bowling, Academy of Sciences
Architecture: Grace Cathedral, Painted Ladies, Conservatory of Flowers, Mission Delores, Castro Theater, The Financial District, Swedenborgian Church.
Small Parks: Alta Plaza, Alamo Square, Delores, Lafayette.
Coffee: Wicked Grounds, Castro Starbucks, Cafe Trieste (from dozens).
Asian Food: Delicious Dim Sum, Burma Super Star, Bamboo.
Hotels: Fairmount, Huntington, Mark Hopkins, Stanford Court, St. Francis.
Big Parks: Golden Gate (SF Botanical Gardens, Conservatory of Flowers, De Young Museum, Academy of Sciences, Queen Wilhelmina Tulip Garden, Dahlia Garden), John McLaren Park, Glen Park Movie Houses: Opera Plaza, Roxie, Balboa, Vogue, Alamo Drafthouse Cinema.
Best Day in The City: Day game at Oracle Park and evening performance of SF Symphony at Davies Hall.
Best Long Walk: St. Francis Yacht Club across Crissy Field to Ft. Point with a stop at The Warming Hut for coffee and a treat.
Best Views: Top of Mt. Davidson, Twin Peaks, Alamo Square Park, DeYoung Tower, Top of The Mark, Legion of Honor, Piers 14 & 39.
Water’s Edge: Aquatic Park, Pier 23 for lunch, Ocean and Baker beaches.
City’s Best Secret: The Presidio.
Best Happenings: Fleet Week, Pride Parade, Columbus Day, Santacon, any Giants day game, St. Patrick’s Day.
My SF Volunteer Gigs: SF Symphony Store, SF Night Ministry, LGBT Center, Openhouse, St. Marks Lutheran Church, District 8 Office at City Hall of Supervisor Rafaei Mandelman (All surprisingly accepted me. And will welcome you.)
Uniquely SF: The Dolphin Club, Waymo cars, Wave Organ, Aunt Charlie’s, Mechanics Institute Chess Room and Library, Brides of March, Cable CarMuseum and Powerhouse, “Karl,” Folsom Street Fair, Brunch in Garden Court at Palace Hotel, GLBT and Tenderloin Museums, cable cars and their gripmen, Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Buena Vista Irish Coffee, Shuttered former federal prison on an island swarmed by tourists (Alcatraz).
Best Short Walk Twofer: Ride on gondola up to Sales Force Park and outdoor lunch on terrace at SFMOMA.
Best People Watching Spot: (tie) DMV Office on Fell and Steps at Opera House Saturday Night (Opening Night is even better,) So much to explore, entertain, excite … and so little time. Think of The City (our neighbor) as maybe 70 small towns crammed together on a cape of land surrounded by water on three sides.
Each with its own character, charisma, maybe climate separated from others by a hill, a light rail track or bus line, a park, school, early ethnicity, language or economics. Differing in size and population they are labelled with names such as Inner and Outer Sunset, Lake Merced and Stonestown, Glen Park, Excelsior, Noe and Eureka Valleys, Corona Hts., Cole Valley, Bernal Hts., The Mission, SOMA, Inner, Central & Outer Richmond, Pacific Hts., Cow Hollow, The Marina, Russian Hill, Nob Hill, Mission Bay, Potrero Hill, Dogpatch, Portola, Hunters Point and Visitacion Valley to name some but not all. A lifetime of exploration and wonder awaits you!
Let’s go for a ride and then a walk. Prior to leaving home you may want to obtain (AAA maybe) a street or transit map of SF. I borrowed from our library a copy of “San Francisco for Dummies” by Paula Tevis (Is there a Davis version?) And I’ve treasured my copy of “A Walker’s Sketchbook of San Francisco” by my friend, Eleanor Burke who sketched and walked all of The City’s streets (available on Amazon.) A little info and a map may interest you. But again … I gotcha. It’s an easy-peasy suggested fun day.
On the other side of the Embarcadero on Market at Street is a Castro Trolley stop. Board the next car headed down (west on) Market and ride it for 3o minutes or so to Castro. Ask the operator if needed. What historic city name, antique car did you ride? Maybe some lunch? A quickie on Castro would be a Hot Cookie or a slice at Pizzalicious.
Look in The Twin Peaks Tavern at the OGGs. Then take a booth around the corner at Orphan Andy’s for more elaborate, but thrifty, tasty fare. Don’t leave without a walk into The Castro Theater. Are you up for a walk down Market? Back to The Ferry Building? Give it a go. You are about two hours and 3.5 miles from your trolley boarding.
Suggested stops along or just off Market are as follows. Check ‘em out! SF LGBT Center, Openhouse, Haight Street Art Center, Zuni Cafe (world famous chicken), Mission Dolores and its namesake park, at Van Ness walk up to Civic Center for City Hall, Opera House, Davies Symphony Hall, Main Library, SF Jazz Center and Asian Art Museum, walk down Hayes St. for its trendy shops and tasty treats, marvel at the Orpheum and Golden Gate Theaters, at Powell catch the gripman turning around the cable cars, at Fourth St. maybe enter the Jewish Museum, Yerba Buena Center and my fav of all; The SF Museum of Modern Art. Delancey Street Restaurant, The Crocker Galleria is good but Sales Force Park sitting atop The Transit Center is marvelous.
Did you see The Palace Hotel? Its Sunday Brunch in its Garden Court is just simply over the moon.
1,500 words are far too few. And 100, 1,000 times that number would be insufficient. If you think you know The City; maybe not. Have you walked the Presidio Tunnel Tops Park? Sailed underground between Union Square and Chinatown in the Stockton Street Tunnel or been carried up to Sales Force Park on its gondola? Why she’s so enticing: a mountain lion recently came up the peninsula to Lafayette Park. How can you resist a trip? Hop on Amtrak for a day off. You’ll return rewarded, refreshed, rejuvenated.
Let’s meet at Specs’ (Twelve Adler Museum Cafe on William Saroyan Way) or across Columbus and the Banksy Mural at City Lights. Know them?
“To be where little cable cars climb halfway to the stars.”
— Douglass Cross, 1962
— Long a Davis resident and retired from a successful HVAC sales career, I enjoy travel, reading and now finding my writing voice. I value your input so please email me (bertieb1970@gmail.com). Thank you. Bertie.