San Francisco Bay Area: Your favorite things to do or places to go
 

OK, a few people have requested this in different threads. So I'm planning to do a few of these, maybe one a week, then post in the resource guide thread. I figure we'll hit NY, Chicago, Atlanta, and some other big cities first. Post other cities to do in the suggestions thread.

Feel free to mention both well-known top restaurants and little divey places. Mention tourist attractions that are great plus things to do that are off the beaten path.

Here are a few things to do in the San Francisco area.

Alcatraz tour. I am usually anti-touristy things, but this tour (get the audio guided tour thing) is really cool.

Sushi Groove South. Tons of great sushi places in SF (see the sushi thread for a long list). This place is very "SF-style" with a nice, somewhat dark ambience. A friend I just took there said "this is the first time I've been at a sushi place with a DJ, interesting!" which pretty much sums it up. Great fish as well, of course.

Harris'. The best steak in SF, this is an old-school place with great martinis, steaks, and whatever else you want. Expensive, but well worth it.

Izzy's. For a more casual steak, go to Izzy's in the Marina. For about $25 you get a steak and two sides. I recommend the Prime Rib plus Izzy's potatoes and creamed spinach.

Tommy's Joynt. This place makes great corned beef, pastrami, brisket, and tons of other stuff. They'll make that up on a platter for you with a couple of sides for about $8 or make a big sandwich for you for $5. I recommend the brisket sandwich w/ BBQ sauce or the corned beef and cabbage.

Tommy's Mexican and Tequila Bar. This is out in the avenues, a bit of a hike from the center of the city, but really everything's close in SF. A nice meal after checking out Golden Gate Park during the day. They have some pretty good Mexican food, but the highlight is the bar w/ countless forms of tequila that you can sip straight or in some really great margaritas.

Farmer's Market at Ferry Building. On Saturday mornings. This place is a little pricier than the other farmer's markets in the Bay Area due to its central location, but it has tons of great vendors. Lots of really, really delicious stuff to buy. Also, inside the building are a lot of great speciality stores like olive oil stores (on a Saturday between the stores and vendors, there are probably 20 places selling high-end olive oil!), chocolates, butcher, cheese place, bakeries, etc. Between the farmer's market and ferry building shops you can put together an INCREDIBLE picnic.

Anchor Steam Brewery Tour. I haven't actually done this, but people love it.

Scharfen Berger Factory Tour. In Oakland. Another one I haven't done, but am told is great. They make really great chocolate.

Re: Your favorite things to do or places to go: San Francisco Bay Area
 

The best bread I've had in the US is at Acme which started in Berkeley but is also in the Ferry Building market. Berkeley also has terrific chaat at Vik's, which is basically a barebones warehouse operation adjacent to their food import business.

In the Castro is Anchor Oyster Bar, which has the best New England clam chowder I've had. It's a little neighborhood secret with the same guy in the kitchen every day.

The standard touristy (yet still very good) Chinese place is House of Nanking but down the block and up Broadway is Yuet Lee, which IMO is much more delicious. I'll typically just order whatever specials they have and go to town.

Another tradition was having a sausage foccacia sandwich and some good coffee at Mario's Bohemian Cigar Shop off Washington Square or getting a delicious sandwich at Molinari's, a couple blocks down Columbus. Molinari also makes fresh ravioli that you can buy by the box.

EDIT: Forgot about Pyung Chang in Oakland. Excellent soon dubu for people who like Korean food. And Avatar's Punjabi Burritos in Mill Valley.

Re: San Francisco Bay Area: Your favorite things to do or places to go
 

I'm a big fan of City Lights for independent and political books. This probably isn't news for anyone who lives in the city.

Edit: Also like the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park

Re: San Francisco Bay Area: Your favorite things to do or places to go
 

See the seals(sea lions?) hanging out at Fisherman's Wharf.

Re: San Francisco Bay Area: Your favorite things to do or places to go
 

Daver,

At Yuet Lee, the following are some standouts:

BBQ Pork Chow Mein (so much better than what you'd normally expect from this)
Sweet and Sour Pork with Plum Sauce (best sweet and sour pork I've ever had)
All the fish dishes (many of them they'll steam whole then cut it open and debone it right there at the table for you. Also, they go grab a live fish from the tank for your approval. That's cool.)
Beef w/ asparagus and black bean sauce.
Beef tenderloin.
As you noted, the specials.

Everything is cheap ($8-10ish) except for the big fish dishes ($20-30ish). With four, 2 meat dishes, some chow mein, and a fish is a good amount of food.

This place is also open super-late, something like 4am on the weekends.

Re: San Francisco Bay Area: Your favorite things to do or places to go
 

Boston should be next, I've probably seen more in SF than I have in Boston and I haven't done anything in SF.

Re: San Francisco Bay Area: Your favorite things to do or places to go
 

All,

The Buena Vista (near Fisherman's Wharf) is famous for their Irish Coffee. Very good stuff.

After visiting City Lights, head to some bars in North Beach before getting some food at Yuet Lee.

Tosca is old school. The drink of choice is a cappucino/brandy mixture that is delicious. They do all sorts of coffee/liquor drinks. Just get the house special, it's the best. They have tons of glasses lined up and ready to go.

If you're in more of a beer mood, Vesuvio is great.

Savoy Tivoli if you want to meet some girls and be at a livelier and louder bar.

Bubble Lounge if you want sophisticated older champagne vibe. I'm not a big fan.

Cigar Bar for, well, cigars. And expensive alcohol. Often a cover here, but worth it if you're in the mood for a cigar on the patio.

Kell's if you want to meet some young girls in a crazy college-bar type atmosphere.

Grant & Green if you want to listen to some live blues while you drink.

Gino & Carlo's if it's 6am and you are ready to drink w/ some crusty old Italian locals. This is a pretty sweet bar, actually.

Kennedy's if you are in the mood for some great beers (HUGE beer selection, cheap great beers) or some curry - yes, it has an Indian joint in the back! Also, foosball and other games.

Li Po (or The Buddha Bar across the street) if you want to venture over to some Chinatown bars on your way to Yuet Lee. Buddha Bar features one of the drunkest, most insane bartenders in the city. Also, if you go, you must have some shots of "The Chinese." You can also get The Chinese at Li Po, just look for the ceramic pots.

That's a small fraction of the bars right in that area. Good times.

Re: Your favorite things to do or places to go: San Francisco Bay Are
 

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In the Castro is Anchor Oyster Bar, which has the best New England clam chowder I've had. It's a little neighborhood secret with the same guy in the kitchen every day.

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This place is really good.

My favorite thing to eat in northern California is Mexican food. It's a real treat for someone coming from the east coast where it's very hard to get anything near that quality. I know Diablo has posted about El Farolito in the past, it's really good. I still think Taqueria Santa Cruz is the best Mexican I've ever had.

Other than food I think one of the coolest things I did in SF was playing Frisbee on a beach under the Golden Gate Bridge. I forget the name but I'm sure any of the locals know where it is.

http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/38/img4750vx7.th.jpg

Re: San Francisco Bay Area: Your favorite things to do or places to go
 

Golden Gate Park is one of the nicest parks i have ever been to. Steinhart Aquarium(im not sure if it has moved or something?) is the 2nd best aquarium i have ever been to, with Monterey Bay Aquarium Winning out here.

The Dragon Well is in the top 3 Chinese Resturants I have ever been to.

I've been to the San Francisco Opera House twice and it is the most beautiful building I have been to in the United States.

This one should be pretty obvious, but ATT/SBC/PacBell park for Giants Games. This is my 2nd favorite baseball stadium after Wrigley field. The view is just spectacular.

The whole area by Fishermans wharf is pretty sweet. I am a seafood lover and the clam chowder/all dishes around here are just fantastic. As is the sourdough pizza. damn, now i want some sourdough pizza. My uncle's favorite restaurant is Scoma's, right by Fisherman's Wharf, but i prefer Pompei's Grotto.

I had a few friends who went to SF State, I def got drunk and partied and met lots of cute girls there on a few occasions, fun part of town. Also, that long beach near there rules. Isnt it called Ocean Beach or something?

I live about an hour from SF, so this is the best i could do. Like Evan said, i couldnt part with the delicious Mexican food that Taqueria Santa Cruz makes me almost daily. Seriously ridiculously good.

Re: Your favorite things to do or places to go: San Francisco Bay Are
 

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Tosca is old school. The drink of choice is a cappucino/brandy mixture that is delicious. They do all sorts of coffee/liquor drinks. Just get the house special, it's the best. They have tons of glasses lined up and ready to go.

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Unless times have changed over past couple years, you can smoke in there too! (Although I guess this might not be good for some people...)

Wanted to recommend the Lower Haight area - couple good spots there (had a good friend who lived at Haight and Fillmore), and noticed doesn't get much love in SF threads: Mad Dog in the Fog (good bar to watch soccer games); Rosamunde's Grill (excellent sausage sandwiches); Toronado (one of the better beer selections in SF, 100+ on tap); Molotov (reminds me of Kilowatt in Mission; gritty biker type bar).

And second Daver's comment about Acme Bread - best I've ever had in US, Bay Area is lucky to have it there.

-Al

Re: Your favorite things to do or places to go: San Francisco Bay Are
 

Evan,

My favorite burrito place in SF is La Taqueria on Mission near 25th. El Farolito is my second favorite.

Oh, I mentioned Tommy's above for Mexican. Pretty much across the street from there is Trad'r Sam's. It is a tiki bar w/ all sorts of crazy fruity and milkshake drinks. On weekends it is often packed with young, super drunk people. It can be really fun (if you're drunk) or really annoying (if you're not). If you go there, take a cab. Those scorpion bowls and milkshake drinks will get you super messed up. Also, the most horrible hangovers ever.

Re: Your favorite things to do or places to go: San Francisco Bay Are
 

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Tommy's Joynt. This place makes great corned beef, pastrami, brisket, and tons of other stuff. They'll make that up on a platter for you with a couple of sides for about $8 or make a big sandwich for you for $5. I recommend the brisket sandwich w/ BBQ sauce or the corned beef and cabbage.

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On Saturdays their special is BBQ ribs.. very tender and delicious.

They have great sides, too. I usually opt for a side of brussel sprouts.

Re: Your favorite things to do or places to go: San Francisco Bay Are
 

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My favorite burrito place in SF is La Taqueria on Mission near 25th. El Farolito is my second favorite.


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I like tacos more than burritos and pretty much get them without exception at northern california mexican places because I love all the different choices of meats. Which place do you think is better for tacos?

Re: San Francisco Bay Area: Your favorite things to do or places to go
 

For people coming into town - I've stayed at 6-7 hotels in SF, and here are my favorites:

<u>W Hotel</u> (Soma) - Great atmosphere, nice rooms, excellent location. Downside is it can be pricey and is always booked.

<u>Hotel Monaco</u> (Union Square) - a nice boutique hotel. Nice touches everywhere, centrally located, not overpriced and they have a free wine tasting every night of the week.

<u>Pan Pacific</u> (Union Square) - this is your run of the mill "nice" hotel - think Hilton, etc. Central location, is fairly nice, and isn't too expensive.

I'm sure others can chime in.

Re: Your favorite things to do or places to go: San Francisco Bay Are
 

Also in the Lower Haight is Memphis Minnie's, superb BBQ. Nearby up Haight is Magnolia Brew Pub which has okay food but some very good beer.

For tourists :

The Exploratorium is really fun and right near the green belt on the Marina which has great views of Golden Gate Bridge. Also nearby if you bikes it's really fun to ride around the Presidio and you can ride across the bridge.

Coit Tower is actually really cool, the view is nice but my favorite thing are the WPA murals.

The De Young Museum is pretty cool; the building itself has really interesting architecture, you can go up in the tower for another cool view, and it's right in Golden Gate Park which is a totally amazing place (again best on bikes because it's huge).

I love going up to Twin Peaks and Buena Vista Park, but like my favorite thing generally is trekking around.

The Mexican food in the Mission is indeed great. I'm kind of tired of taquerias now so I've been hitting other places :

Chava's has amazing mexican soups called "caldos" that are rich and spicy.

Los Jarritos is a sit-down joint that has all the regular stuff; I love the "sopa de albondigas" (meatball soup)

Re: San Francisco Bay Area: Your favorite things to do or places to go
 

nyc,

If you like the W and Monaco, other hotels you would like are the new Hotel Vitale (across from the Ferry Building) and the Clift (near Union Square). These are all sorta "hip, stylish, relative expensive boutique hotel" vibe.

Those are all relatively pricey, though. Expedia usually has tons of much cheaper hotels in SF that are totally fine to stay at. Except if there's a big convention in town, at which time prices get ridiculous.

Re: Your favorite things to do or places to go: San Francisco Bay Are
 

Well since this says Bay Area and not just SF I will add some of my fav places down on teh pennisula.

Sushi: Fuki Sushi on El Camino Ave in Palo Alto. This is my favorite sushi places outside of the best of the best national stuff (i.e Nobu).

Mexican: Casa Lupe in Los Altos. Sort of a dive, it is basically someones house on Main St, but man I love this place.

American: Somewhat unknown and stuck with the hotel restaurant stigma, but Parcel 104 at the Marriott near great adventure is surprisingly good.

There are tons of other great restaurants of course, but those are 3 I would eat at weekly.

Re: Your favorite things to do or places to go: San Francisco Bay Are
 

If it's the beach in the pic, it's Baker Beach. not really a swimming beach, as the water's cold, the currents can be ripping and it's a popular fishing beach for striped bass, halibut and perch. the eastern end (towards the ggb) is affectionately known as man-fort beach by the local fishermen. basically, it's a nude beach that's frequented mostly by older men.

Re: Your favorite things to do or places to go: San Francisco Bay Are
 

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If it's the beach in the pic, it's Baker Beach. not really a swimming beach, as the water's cold, the currents can be ripping and it's a popular fishing beach for striped bass, halibut and perch. the eastern end (towards the ggb) is affectionately known as man-fort beach by the local fishermen. basically, it's a nude beach that's frequented mostly by older men.

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Yea, that must be it, there was a naked guy that seemed to be doing laps around the beach or something. We didn't go in the water so I'll trust you about it being cold. It was in May so the weather hadn't totally warmed up yet, although it was pretty hot that day.

Re: San Francisco Bay Area: Your favorite things to do or places to go
 

lots of my favorites have already been posted, so i'll go with: festivals/street fairs
i think sf is the home of the counterculture street fair. you get the standard renaissance fair up in marin and the snooty ala carte ala park in the gg park, but for a "you don't see this everyday in springfield" experience, go check out folsom street fair, castro street fair, carnival or haloween night in the castro. there's also the more standard cultural street fairs like Nihonmachi in J-town, or the 10-10 parade in chinatown.

Re: San Francisco Bay Area: Your favorite things to do or places to go
 

c,

Memphis Minnie's is far from superb BBQ. It is marginal at best, though I guess decent enough for SF BBQ. You're not from the South, are you?

For BBQ in SF, you can get ribs at Big Nate's, which are pretty damn good. Also Brother-in-Law's BBQ used to be very good, I haven't been back since they reopened as Lily's. Assuming it's the same, they make excellent ribs and brisket and sausage. That's pretty much it when it comes to BBQ in the city. Oakland has a few good places. I've only been to Everett &amp; Jones, which is pretty good - I like the brisket. But apparently there's better over there.

For some outstanding fried chicken and soul food, Powell's Place is a great place to go. http://powellsplace.citysearch.com/page/o459/Menu.html

"there's something satisfying about a place where you can get a dinner of smothered pork chops, liver and onions, or ox tails (with two sides plus corn muffins) for under $10."

That says it all. Legit. I prefer to just get the fried chicken to go from there with a bunch of sides, so good.

Magnolia is indeed a good brew pub with very good beers, but a sorta crowded bar area. 21st Amendment and Rogue are two other excellent brewpubs that have better bar areas.

Re: San Francisco Bay Area: Your favorite things to do or places to go
 

the buffalo (bison) herd in the park is pretty cool as well.

Re: San Francisco Bay Area: Your favorite things to do or places to go
 

Last time I went to SF I stayed at the Cow Hollow inn in the marina district and it was awesome. The rooms are normal size but just have a very nice feel. The location is good for walking or driving places; they have free highspeed wireless.

Re: Your favorite things to do or places to go: San Francisco Bay Are
 

ohh we can do peninsula too? then its on!

The four restaurants where we frequently go to lunch in Mountain View are:

-Cafe Yulong. This place is my favorite. It is seriously a fantastic lunch deal. I always get the Szechewan Sha Zhang Noodles with Seafood, which is a giant bowl of homemade noodles covered with onions, zucchini, chiles, shrimp and calamari, soooo good.

- Sushitomi - I LOOOOOVE sushi, and this place has tons of awesome stuff. The first time i went i had Kobe Beef and Toro Nigiri, super expensive, but just flat out amazing. Since then I have gotten the Sashimi Lunch Special, which is a ton of sashimi, soup and a salad for like 12 dollars. Whenever im having a bad day pre-lunch i go here.

- The Old Siam - This is the best Thai Food place i have ever been to. The Pad Se Ew here is just ridiculously good, the waitresses, while seeming mean and snappy, are incredibly nice once youve gone a few times, and this is the restaurant where we most frequently converse with the servers. KAI NGA- Deep fried chicken nugget mixed with sweet&amp;sour sauce. Is pretty insane too. But yeah, its just fried chicken breast, which always rules.

- Dittmer's Gourmet Meats and Wurst-Haus - Ridiculously good sandwiches, their walls are just covered with awards. They have 50+ varities of sausage and the most comprehensive meat selection i have ever seen. My friend and I spent ~$100 here on meat for our superbowl party and didnt regret it. The day after I made probably the best sandwich i have ever had when i made a big slab of skirt steak on the grill, cut it up, put it on a ciabatta roll, fried some of dittmer's thick cut garlic bacon and some onions and put it all together. they won the award for best bacon in california in 2006. and they have slab bacon, nuff said?

Re: San Francisco Bay Area: Your favorite things to do or places to go
 

Diablo - I'm not from the South and don't know much about bbq, but I'm not a big fan of Memphis either (although my buddy who lived in Lower Haight liked it alot, in part cause it's pretty cheap).

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For some outstanding fried chicken and soul food, Powell's Place is a great place to go. http://powellsplace.citysearch.com/p...9/Menu.html<br />
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So good - reminds me that I enjoyed strolling around Hayes Valley when I lived in SF. (Powell's is not too far a walk from this area).

Food wise I like the frites place there (I believe it's called "Frites"), Absinthe wasn't bad, Suppenkuche, Hayes Street Grill. Sure there are more / better restaurants in walking distance but can't recall off the top of my head. Also some good bars (Place Pigalle I liked alot, as well as Jade which I went to recently and thought was cool). Also remember there being some good design stores on Hayes.

-Al

Re: San Francisco Bay Area: Your favorite things to do or places to go
 

Al,

http://www.hayesstreetgrill.com/ is a great suggestion for a reasonably priced nice seafood dinner in SF. The thing to get is their grilled fish w/ fries. They get whatever the best fish is that day and you choose one of them, grilled up with your sauch of choice and a side of amazing fries for under $25. It is really, really good.

The frites place you are thinking of is Frjtz http://frjtzfries.com/ . In addition to excellent frites and sauces, they also make some really tasty crepes. Nice patio in the back to sit and eat snacks or a meal.

Re: San Francisco Bay Area: Your favorite things to do or places to go
 

Hayes Valley has some really good burger joints, too. The name of my favorite is escaping me at the moment, however.

Re: San Francisco Bay Area: Your favorite things to do or places to go
 

Diablo - oh right that Frjtz place had crepes too - good stuff. Damn this thread is making me miss SF.

-Al

Re: Your favorite things to do or places to go: San Francisco Bay Are
 

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If it's the beach in the pic, it's Baker Beach. not really a swimming beach, as the water's cold, the currents can be ripping and it's a popular fishing beach for striped bass, halibut and perch. the eastern end (towards the ggb) is affectionately known as man-fort beach by the local fishermen. basically, it's a nude beach that's frequented mostly by older men.

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Yea, that must be it, there was a naked guy that seemed to be doing laps around the beach or something. We didn't go in the water so I'll trust you about it being cold. It was in May so the weather hadn't totally warmed up yet, although it was pretty hot that day.

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yeah, that's bakers beach...I have a painting of it at my house. It's always effing freezing there no matter what.

Re: Your favorite things to do or places to go: San Francisco Bay Are
 

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yeah, that's bakers beach...I have a painting of it at my house. It's always effing freezing there no matter what.

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Ah thanks - now I don't miss SF as much [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

-Al

Re: San Francisco Bay Area: Your favorite things to do or places to go
 

I'll try to do a roundup of my favorite (indie) live music places :

Great American Music Hall - tons of great music, awesome space, 5 thumbs up!!!
(bad neighborhood though, so not a place to bar hop)

Bimbo's 365 - really cool place but only has bands like once in a while, definitely go if you see a good show scheduled here

The Independent - meh space, big enough, lots of good bands

Hotel Utah - never been here, someone else has to review

Bottom of the Hill - I hate this space, it gets way too crowded and the bar is right on the floor, but they have lots of good bands, so check their listings, also out in the middle of nowhere which is annoying

Make out Room - not bad, has some pretty good bands now and the cover is like $3-5

Amnesia - little joint with great hipster Gypsy and Klezmer and Balkan music a couple nights each week, very fun; no hard liquor &amp; very tiny so if you're not into the band it sucks.

Elbo Room - very rarely has decent bands but it's actually a really nice space, fun crowd, band on one floor and just a bar on the other floor so you can pick your poison

Re: San Francisco Bay Area: Your favorite things to do or places to go
 

Barney's Gourmet Hamburgers is a really great place, there's a few locations but the one I'm thinking of is just off of Lombard near the Marina.

Mt. Diablo is a good destination in the east bay, on a clear day it's got the second best visibility in the world. You can drive all the way to the top, but there's a lot of fun hiking spots, including a really cool place called rock city.

A great place to take kids is Tilden Park, also in the east bay area. There's a mini train that you can ride and a merry-go-round. Really good botanical gardens there also to keep the ladies happy.

Cable Car Museum is very interesting also if you're into that sort of thing.

Lastly, Fior d'Italia, pretty much the best Italian food I've ever had.

Re: San Francisco Bay Area: Your favorite things to do or places to go
 

c,

Excellent list. Comments on a few of those + a couple others.

GAMH - Not a big fan. I think the acoustics generally suck.

Hotel Utah is a cool little place, small, more singer-songwritery acoustic stuff than rocking music. Doesn't get all that much really good stuff, but a fun place to have a couple of beers.

BOTH - Hah, I love it. Best place in the city to see punk/indie shows. Yeah, it can get way too crowded, but has incredible energy.

Bimbo's I agree is a great place to see shows, usually the stuff they book is more on the low key side.

Elbo Room, I agree w/ your review.

Slim's is one of my favorite places to see shows, small club that gets lots of good shows.

Cafe du Nord is another great small venue, with more low-key pretty sounding and jazzy stuff, though they also do some cool rocking indie shows.

The Hemlock Tavern has some great shows that really rock out including some cool punk shows. The front half is a really good bar separate from the music part.

The Red Devil Lounge gets a lot of old 80's/90's acts coming through, plus the occassional new stuff. OK place.

Re: San Francisco Bay Area: Your favorite things to do or places to go
 

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Mt. Diablo is a good destination in the east bay, on a clear day it's got the second best visibility in the world. You can drive all the way to the top, but there's a lot of fun hiking spots, including a really cool place called rock city.

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The "fact" that Mt Diablo has the 2nd best visibility in the world was actually started by a real estate promooter around 1915. It just isn't tall enough.

I actually grew up right at the base of Mt Diablo and believed this myth until I recently stumbled upon the wikipedia article about the mountain.

There is actually a flower called Mt Diablo buckwheat only found there. It was thought extinct since 1936 but was rediscovered in 2005.

My personal favorite place to hike is Morgan Territory park east of Mt Diablo. There are lots of great trails, it's not very popular and a great place to take your dog for an off leash walk (dont know if it is technically allowed). The road to the park is a great one lane winding road which is a very fun drive, but be careful several people have died plunging off the side of the road.

http://i18.tinypic.com/2qsxfmx.jpg

Re: Your favorite things to do or places to go: San Francisco Bay Are
 

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If it's the beach in the pic, it's Baker Beach. not really a swimming beach, as the water's cold, the currents can be ripping and it's a popular fishing beach for striped bass, halibut and perch. the eastern end (towards the ggb) is affectionately known as man-fort beach by the local fishermen. basically, it's a nude beach that's frequented mostly by older men.

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Yea, that must be it, there was a naked guy that seemed to be doing laps around the beach or something. We didn't go in the water so I'll trust you about it being cold. It was in May so the weather hadn't totally warmed up yet, although it was pretty hot that day.

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yeah, that's bakers beach...I have a painting of it at my house. It's always effing freezing there no matter what.

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It must have been 80+ that day, by far the hottest weather I've seen in SF or Santa Cruz (I've spent a lot more time in SC). Really nice place to hang out though, the bridge/cliffs in the distance look really cool.

Re: San Francisco Bay Area: Your favorite things to do or places to go
 

wrt san francisco clubs.

my FAVORITE club EVER was the Cocodrie, which is now closed down. article.
i remember reading that article and almost being in tears as i read it.

My favorite sf club at this point is the fillmore, mostly because of the insane amount of ridiculously cool, historic artwork everywhere.

put me up for one vote for the pound, which is super underrated and fun.

Re: San Francisco Bay Area: Your favorite things to do or places to go
 

Memphis Minnies is not good BBQ no matter where you are from. I've eaten there twice, don't think I will go again.

Ali Baba (19th and Valencia, Haight between Steiner and Fillmore) makes pretty damn good Shwarma and Falafel, IMO.

Lots of people (myself included) like the atmosphere at Zeitgeist they have a nice little out door patio, but it is often times quiet crowded.

La Randia (20th and Valencia)- Decently strong $12 dollar pitchers of margarita, mariachi band, a bit of a dive though. Good value I think.

Majoul- 22nd and Mission- I don't know why I like it. It's not my scene (trendy/ European) and the drinks are weak. There is something about sitting on a rooftop staring out at the city chatting comfortably with friends that I find pleasant.

Edit to add Fort Funston. Nice little lookout spot about 150 feet over the ocean. Nice short walk, and cool to watch hang gliders do their thing. The sunsets are nice, but I prefer Muir beach for sunsets in the bay area.



Claude

Re: San Francisco Bay Area: Your favorite things to do or places to go
 

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The sunsets are nice, but I prefer Muir beach for sunsets in the bay area.

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muir is a nice beach, but the sunset views are compromised vbecause it's a north facing beach. some of the beaches along point bonita provide great unobstructed sunset views, though.

for the record, muir is another manfort beach, but sunny summer days (especially during the weekdays) sees some hot younger and milf-ish residents from nearby homes sporting what god gave them.

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If it's the beach in the pic, it's Baker Beach. not really a swimming beach, as the water's cold, the currents can be ripping and it's a popular fishing beach for striped bass, halibut and perch. the eastern end (towards the ggb) is affectionately known as man-fort beach by the local fishermen. basically, it's a nude beach that's frequented mostly by older men.

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Yea, that must be it, there was a naked guy that seemed to be doing laps around the beach or something. We didn't go in the water so I'll trust you about it being cold. It was in May so the weather hadn't totally warmed up yet, although it was pretty hot that day.

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yeah, that's bakers beach...I have a painting of it at my house. It's always effing freezing there no matter what.

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It must have been 80+ that day, by far the hottest weather I've seen in SF or Santa Cruz (I've spent a lot more time in SC). Really nice place to hang out though, the bridge/cliffs in the distance look really cool.

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baker can actually be a very nice respite from the heat during the three days of heatwave that the City experiences every year. when it's 90 downtown, it's usually high 70's at the beach. it's really nice when it's clear at the end of summer and the baitfish are hanging around. the bait attracts the stripers and the stripers attract porpoises. very cool sight to see the sun going down and porpoises playing in the surf

Re: San Francisco Bay Area: Your favorite things to do or places to go
 

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The "fact" that Mt Diablo has the 2nd best visibility in the world was actually started by a real estate promooter around 1915. It just isn't tall enough.

I actually grew up right at the base of Mt Diablo and believed this myth until I recently stumbled upon the wikipedia article about the mountain.


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This news crushes me. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

I just read the wiki article and it looks like it's not even close. Oh well, there are still some pretty good views from up there.