San Fran members, need advice...

[klutch]

I'm leaving on a bike trip with a friend in 5 minutes from here in Vancouver, figured I should ask here as I'll be checking my email on the way...


What are the good sights to see in/around San Fran? I'll be there Sunday/Monday/Tuesday, so I don't have a lot of time to waste with the nonesense stuff. Staying at the Fairmont, so I'm pretty central to any area. Need to see that crazy-ass street that Bullit was filmed on, and that other really twisty one. Also the bridge, and any aircraft carriers stationed there would be sweet to do a wheelie down the deck on. Or any other ideas...

 

[edkwon]

Fisherman's wharf, golden gate park, the japanese tea gardens, the most crooked st in the world, is Lombard St, the really crooked part is Lombard St between Hyde St and Leavenworth.

Also check out Coit Tower, its the one of the highest points in the city and a good vista for taking photos of the whole peninsula.

 

[cvrefugee]

Alcatraz?

 

[klutch]

Ah damn, almost forgot about alcatraz. Thanks for the advice; I'm already at U of Washington, so progressing a little quicker = more time in San Fran.

 

[BigDaveDogg]

Nice trip. You snapping pics along the way?

 

[klutch]

Yeah, I've gotta get on the camera. Didn't bother with any in Washington since I'm always there anyway, but we're now in Oregon (Florence or something), and the scenery is improving. Pics to come.

 

[NecroJoe]

If you can, do an "Alcatraz After Dark tour. Also, the audio tour does have some genuinely interesting facts and stories.

I'd avoid Fisherman's wharf...all tourist-y shit. Coit tower, though, is cool. There's an Aston Martin dealership north of the Golden Gate Bridge, and a Lambo dealership on Van Ness in San Fran. There's also a Ferrari/Maserati Dealership in Redwood City...and it's right across the street from one of the worst strip clubs in the state: The Hanky Panky.

China town is fun. (lots of cool cheap stuff to be found in the hundreds of random shops.)

A Giants game could be fun...than again, if you're like me, you'd rather help a friend move than watch a baseball game.

Garlic fries at Gordon Biersch are not to be missed. There's on on "The Embarcadero." Essentially, it's the same street as "Fisherman's Wharf", just further south. Go there during happy hour, where they are cheap, as well as their beer.

If you want to see one of the 3 best aquariums in the country, the Monterey Bay Aquarium is awesome. It's a drive, but you can take Hwy 1 the whole way, and drive past some cool beaches and scenery.

 

[Blind_Io]

Forget Pier 39 and Fisherman's Warf, they are just tourist traps full of overpriced junk. Aside from seeing the sea lions that took over half the marina there's nothing worth seeing.

For the best coffee in town find yourself a Philz Coffee.
For the best burrito, be daring and try a taqueria over in The Mission. Go with a local.
You should really drive or walk through The Castro. The Pride Parade was today so there still might be some decorations and stuff up. If nothing else it can be a shocking experience to out-of-towners. Bring a camera.

Also, don't trust One Way signs and try to turn into the left most lane. They put those up on any road with a median.

http://img260.imageshack.**/img260/9295/noleftgo7.jpg
This is common.

yeah, they are illegal.

Spoiler

Don't go here:

Spring for the GPS. I've lived here 3 years and I still can't find my way around this fucking city.

Spoiler

http://img258.imageshack.**/img258/584/sfbullittmr1.jpg

 

[NecroJoe]

How about Amoeba Music store, if you're into that sort of thing.

 

[BlaRo]

^ Does Fred come with every hotel room booking?

 

[edkwon]

Good point on getting good Mexican food at the Mission area, and forget doing chinatown since youre from Vancouver and probably get all the good asian food you can eat.

 

[Blind_Io]

Yeah, all the Chinese places seem to be run by Mexicans these days and all the Italian places in North Beach are run by Asians.

Fuck if I know the logic there.

Best Guinness in town is a small pub in the Sunset called Durty Nelly's.
There's also an old soda fountain in the Mission that has been there for 80 years or something. I know how to get there but I don't remember the name. Anyway, I highly recommend the surreal experience of walking into a vintage diner and being served by punk rock types with colored hair and face piercings. They are really very nice. Oh yeah, two words: Guinness Float. Yeah, you heard right, fuck your root beer.

 

[klutch]

Wicked, thanks for the advice all. I'm in San Fran now, and totally freakin jealous of the roads you guys have just north of here.

 

[klutch]

 

[klutch]

I'll post tomorrow with details, too drunk/tired now.

 

[klutch]

Any cool bike shops or anything in the downtown core area?

 

[Blind_Io]

I go to Berkeley Honda Yamaha over here in the East Bay, it's a smaller shop and has a really family/neighborhood vibe. I don't know any bike shops in SF, but you can look them up on Yelp.com. Golden Gate cycles is pretty big, but they have a reputation of overcharging.

Also, I have tomorrow off and I'm done with class at about 5 today. If you are going to be in town we could meet up for dinner or lunch or something.

I'll send a PM with my cell number. If we don't end up meeting up, have a safe trip. What is your route back?

/impromptu SF meet!

 

[Zuhaib]

*Wonders how I missed this thread*
Well you must be on your way back, but, I would have told you to go visit Dudley Perkins in San Francisco, they are the oldest HD dealer west of the Mississippi. They used to be at one of there original locations but they moved recently out of the city to South San Francisco (which is *actually* a different City from San Francisco) and to a mega shop. But they have a lot of old bikes and its a mini Harley/Motorcycle museum.

I thought the other local SF people had this thread covered, but i guess not =P Dudley Perkins is 1000x better then Berkeley Honda, i have been there its just a dealership.

 

[NecroJoe]

Looks like Babe has got a bad case of "blue balls."