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If you're going to San Francisco...

Haus of Mystery

10:12 / 25.02.05

I will be visiting San Francisco for three weeks as of March 10th - first time in America and everything. I will be staying with friends in Oakland, but as they both work, I will have plenty of time for exploration. So: Any advice on places to go, places to eat, good record or clothes shops, weird things to look at etc... would be welcome form anyone who has visited or even better, is a native.

Cheers!

14:27 / 25.02.05

Sutro Baths -- dreamlike setting, used as location in "House of Secrets" during the whole back-in-time sequence.

Musee Mechanique -- used to be located next to Sutro, now is in touristy Wharf area, if my sources are to be trusted. Antique machines, nickel and dime operated for the most part. Clockwork dramas and dioramas are the best, but they also have fortunetellers and precursors to pinball.

The Wharf is where the sea lions hang out, obligatory chowder in bread bowls.

Amoeba Records in the Haight.

Um.

There's a great Indonesian place called Borobodur, and a really great sushi place which I can't remember the name of, the sign is just a yellow fish hanging outside. Sorry can't be more detailed, but local guides may help. Edamame on the bar like peanuts. Uni that smells like the ocean.

If planning to do a lot of walking, be aware that SF is probably the hilliest city in America. I know it has the hilliest road. The buses are great... when they're running.

unheimlich manoeuvre

15:00 / 25.02.05

Coincidentally I am going to be in San Francisco in March. An old friend is getting married amongst the redwoods somewhere near the Oregon border but i've got a few days on my own in the city beforehand. I arrive on March 14th. Never been to California before...
So thanks for the thread and grant cheers for the suggestions too.

Goodness Gracious Meme

16:33 / 25.02.05

*Seethes with jealousy*

Get in touch with G (formerly of the comic shop) who is v. up for visitors. Can pass on contact details in the pub next week.

19:32 / 25.02.05

Lessee...

wander about in Golden Gate Park and peoplewatch. The Botanical Garden and other neat museums are here.

visit the Marin Headlands, home of a decomissioned military outpost from the 50's. Lots of cool abandoned pillboxes, buildings, and cannon emplacements (sans cannons) amidst a nice forest.

MOMA

Cartoon Museum

Exploratorium

The Castro

The Haight

The Golden Gate Bridge

China Town

Japan Town

Lots of other stuff too.
I'm in the East Bay. I'd offer to be your native guide, but my 2-year-old daugter has robbed me of any knowledge of the nightlife. PM me if you'd like to get together for a beer or a coffee - I know of a few good cafes.

17:53 / 26.02.05

I just thought of something. The two cafes I was thinking of, Cafe Trieste and Cafe Prague, probably wouldn't be nearly as exciting to you as they are to me, since they are modeled after European cafes.
The offer still stands though, or I can take you to Noc Noc, a fancy little artsy beer bar on the Haight.

08:57 / 27.02.05

Don't worry, your Nan will look after you.

18:25 / 27.02.05

Oh no, Cafe Trieste is so nice. I love it and I'm nominally European. Anyway, you're getting Continental Europe and Britain/Ireland confused. We don't have sidewalk cafes with 1930s decor run by genuine Italians, we have Cafe Fucking Nero. And while you're up in the China Town/North Beach neck of things visit City Lights Bookstore if you're into Beat/Surrealist stuff and, indeed, books. It's just up the North Beach end of China Town.
If you're staying in Oakland why not have a gander round the area itself. Dunno much about Oakland but Berkeley's fab and if you get a nice day you can walk in the hills (Watch out for mountain lions. Don't run if you see one. You run, they chase, they catch and eat. They got a jogger when I was living in Berkeley.) or go to Tilden Pond.

18:52 / 27.02.05

As advice goes, "don't run if you see one" is helpful but somehow incomplete. What *should* you do? Chew chewing gum and try to look nonchalent? Fluff up your hair and try to pass as a lion?

22:00 / 27.02.05

you're getting Continental Europe and Britain/Ireland confused
I've never been to the Isles, but I always figured, you know, right across the channel from France and all, you'd have sidewalk cafes.
Fluff up your hair and try to pass as a lion?
Not far from the truth - the usual suggestiuons are to stand up tall and look as big as you can while making noise. Seem like you'd be a tough mouthful,and not worth the bother. Throwing things is usually suggested too.

02:05 / 28.02.05

Re: that potential lion - yeah, make yourself look bigger - opening your jacket and flapping the sides out is supposed to help.

The East Bay is cool - Oakland has a wealth of Art Deco architecture if you're into that sort of thing. (And, BART into San Francisco is easy...)

I have to second Golden Gate Park and Sutro Baths and North Beach; the Haight is cool for the mix of '60s and raver ambience AND for Amoeba Records...

I've been here since 1988, have gone blank on all the cool things there are to see.

Haus of Mystery

09:56 / 28.02.05

Thanks guys - keep it coming, I really appreciate it.

15:58 / 28.02.05

If you have a car, drive north over Golden Gate Bridge (famous!) past Sausalito (smarmy!) to Muir Woods (breathtaking!).

That's the redwood forest referenced by Woodie Guthrie, and the place where George Lucas filmed the ewok stuff in Return of the Jedi. It's vast and primeval.

17:10 / 28.02.05

Go and eat pancakes at Ti Cuz in Mission.

Oh, and even if you've never suffered hay fever in your life, be aware that you probably will in SF, like I did (it made me feel so ill, I never made it to the Monterey Aquarium, which I shall always regret). Apparently, all the trees in SF are male so that there's no fruit to clean up off the sidewalks or something, so all the pollen settles in your nostrils cos it thinks it's a female plant. Which means, in a way, you'll always get sexually lucky in San Francisco, as long as plant sperm works for you. I guess that's why you should be sure to wear flowers in your hair, huh?

19:53 / 01.03.05

eat at aqua

Haus of Mystery

20:13 / 01.03.05

I know it's cheesy, but i might have to read something from the 'Tales from the City' cyce on the plane over...

Shit, 8 days till I go. I'm so fucking excited!

unheimlich manoeuvre

06:29 / 21.03.05

I'm in San Francisco!
Flew in and went straight to Sacremento to visit the bridegroom, then really very long road trip to Crescent city on the Oregon border, via wine country, for the ceremony. It was good, married amongst the redwoods at the Trees of Mystery.
Now drunk, various friends are catching flights back to England but I have until thursday.
Once again all the suggestions are/were much appreciated.
Made the mistake of walking from North Beach to Golden Gate Park. I'm used to hill walking but fuck I may never walk again....
Mwah Ha ha ha ha