USA.QeX.cz - Spojené státy českýma očima

Čtvrtě San Francisca
Sea Lions on Pier 39

San Francisco je město v USA. Je součástí oblasti San Francisco Bay Area. Se svými téměř 800 000 obyvateli je 4. nejlidnatějším městem státu Kalifornie a 14. nejlidnatější město Spojených států. Řadí se mezi nejhustěji obydlená města USA. San Francisco je také vyhledávaným cílem turistů díky velkému množství zajímavostí a památek. Je označováno za jedno z nejkrásnějších měst na světě.

Popis města

Golden Gateská úžina v San Franciském zálivu poskytla místo pro vybudování stejnojmenného města, které dnes spolu s Berkley a Oaklandem tvoří 6 milionovou aglomeraci. Na konci 19. století zde byli vybudovány 4 univerzity. San Francisco je významnou dopravní křižovatkou, s městy Berkeley a Oakland ho pojí visuté mosty (nejznámější Golden Gate), ale také metro a podzemní dráhy Bart. Také je zde letiště. San Francisco je zároveň hlavní námořní centrálou severní Kalifornie.

Historie

Původní Američané se v oblasti San Francisca usadili před 10 000 lety. První Evropan, který vplul do San Francisské zátoky, byl španělský průzkumník Don Gaspar de Portola v roce 1770. První španělská misie, Mission San Francisco de Asis byla založena o šest let později. Na místě, dnes nazývaném Presisio, byla postavena malá vojenská tvrz. Na ostrově Alcatraz postavili Španělé malou vesnici nazvanou Yerba Buena. Později připadlo území Mexičanům a stalo se nezávislým, ale izolovaným. Po dobytí Kalifornie Spojenými státy byla vesnice v roce 1847 přejmenována ma San Francisco. V té době bylo San Francisco malé městečko s nehostinnou geografií. To vše se změnilo za dva roky. Zlatá horečka do tohoto území přitáhla imigrační vlnu. Počet obyvatel se v prosinci 1849 zvýšil z 1 000 na 25 000. Železnice, bankovnictví a těžební průmysl přitáhl do města majoritní ekonomické síly.

Zemětřesení v roce 1906, spolu se souvisejícím požárem, zničilo 80% města, včetně historického jádra. Zemřelo přes 3 000 lidí. Otevření mostů San Francisco - Oakland Bay Bridge a Golden Gate Bridge v roce 1936 a 1937 způsobilo, že město bylo více dostupné a počet obyvatel prudce vzrostl. V druhé polovině 20. století se San Francisco stalo magnetem pro malíře, spisovatele, rockové muzikanty a hippies. Také se stalo centrem osvobození homosexuálů. V roce 1989 zasáhlo město další zemětřesení. Bylo zničeno velké množství cest a silnic

Geografická poloha

San Francisco leží na západním pobřeží Spojených států a je ze tří stran obklopeno vodou; Tichým oceánem na západě a San Franciscou zátokou. Součástí města je i několik ostrovů, například Alcatraz nebo Treasure Island. K městu patří i neobydlené Farallonské ostrovy v Tichém oceánu, vzdálené 43 kilometrů od města. Hlavní část města se rozprostírá na ploše zhruba 11×11 kilometrů. Díky své poloze je San Francisco významnou dopravní křižovatkou.

Pro San Francisco je typický nerovný terén s velkým množstvím více než padesáti kopců. Podle kopců na kterých leží jsou pojmenovány i některé městské čtvrti, jako například Pacific Heights, Russian Hill, Potrero Hill, nebo Telegraph Hill.

Co vidět

• Richmond-San Rafael Bridge

Doprava

Auto

Perpetually-clogged traffic, steep hills, a confusing system of one-way streets downtown, expensive parking, and a fleet of parking control officers who enforce parking laws with zeal can make driving in downtown extremely frustrating; visitors to the city should seriously consider alternatives to automobiles when possible. In addition, traffic from the Golden Gate Bridge uses surface streets either along CA-1, 19th Avenue or US-101 on Lombard and Van Ness. The greatest hazard of driving is on Lombard Street between Hyde and Leavenworth, where a stretch known as "The Crookedest Street in the World" runs one-way down a steep hill making eight hairpin turns. Oversized vehicles such as pickup trucks, sport utility vehicles, and recreational vehicles should NOT attempt to pass through the winding stretch of Lombard Street.

The most difficult problem with your car in San Francisco will be parking. Parking throughout the city is scarce. Garages, where they are available, are quite expensive ($20-30/day downtown). San Francisco has some of the strictest parking laws and enforcement in the country. For day trips into the city, consider a park-and-ride at a Peninsula Caltrain station, at a Peninsula BART station, or at an East Bay BART station.

MHD

An all day Muni Passport good on all Muni vehicles, including Cable Cars costs $11.00.

Finding your way around

Cross streets: As San Francisco streets are numbered (100 per block) from the beginning of the street, and even and odd numbers are always on opposite sides. It is best when asking directions to ask for a cross street or neighborhood name. For instance, if you are at the intersection of Haight Street and Clayton Street, and you ask the driver of the 33 Stanyan bus "Does this bus go to Market Street?" it will get you a yes, but the bus won't get you downtown, it will get you south from that intersection to Market and 18th in the Castro district.

Numbered streets and avenues: San Francisco has both numbered streets, in the Mission, the Castro, Noe Valley, and SoMa, and numbered avenues in the largely residential Sunset and Richmond districts. Mixing numbered streets and avenues when asking directions may leave you miles from your destination. This can be confusing, as San Franciscans will not say "Street" or "Avenue" unless it is required to avoid ambiguity. Thus, "I live on Fifth Avenue" but "I live near Fifth and Geary." Street signs generally don't have "Street" or "Avenue" either; they just say "GEARY" or "MASONIC".

See

San Francisco has much to see - these are just the most significant sights. For more detail see the individual district sections, often linked from this entry.

A couple of passes are available which offer discounts to many interesting attractions.

• CityPass. A relatively cheap and easy way to cover many attractions of the city is the CityPass. For a fare of $54 (adults) and $44 (children 17 and under) you get admission to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), the Legion of Honor and the de Young Museum (both must be visited on the same day), the Aquarium of the Bay, a Blue and Gold Fleet bay cruise, and the Asian Art Museum OR the Exploratorium. A City Pass works for 9 consecutive days starting with the use of your first ticket (each ticket only accounts for one visit to each attraction). The pass also includes seven consecutive days of Cable Car and MUNI fares. * Go San Francisco Card, [36]. Another easy way to cover many attractions and tours is the Go San Francisco Card. This card allows you to take some tours for free (Wine Country tour, San Francisco Sightseeing, City Tour), Bay Cruises, museums, aquariums, The Conservatory of Flowers, and many other activities. Other tours and activities are also discounted from $5.00 to 40%. The cost of the card is $45 for 1 day, $65 for 2 days, $89 for 3 days. $119 for 5 days, and $139 for 7 days.

Landmarks

• The Golden Gate Bridge, located at the Golden Gate, is perhaps the most recognizable landmark in San Francisco and one of the most famous bridges in the United States, and has been called one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World. The bridge spans the Golden Gate, a strait between San Francisco and Marin County to the north, and is one of the major road routes into and out of the city.
• The Presidio, located in the Golden Gate district, was founded in 1776 and was the longest-running military post in the U.S. before closing as a base in 1994. It is now a part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and contains the Fort Point National Historic Site. From its vantage point overlooking the spectacular Golden Gate, Fort Point protected San Francisco harbor from Confederate & foreign attack during & after the U.S. Civil War. Its beautifully arched casemates display the art of the master brick mason from the Civil War period. The Palace of Fine Arts is a beautiful building, built for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition and reminiscent of Roman and Greek architecture.
• Coit Tower, atop Telegraph Hill in North Beach, is dedicated to the San Francisco firefighters (who fought a massive blaze in 1906 after the earthquake that destroyed much of the city center), and the tower is rumored to be designed to resemble the nozzle of a fire hose. At 250' high, it is a healthy hike from the nearby neighborhoods just below the hill.
• Alamo Square Park in the Western Addition district is home to the famous Painted Ladies row of Victorian houses on its east side along Steiner Street, with many other pretty Victorians encircling the lovely park.
• Lombard Street. The (nearly) twistiest street in America, between Hyde & Leavenworth on Russian Hill. The city has a twistier but less scenic hill-climb along Vermont Street, south of McKinley Square on Potrero Hill. You can get a view of Lombard from the Powell & Hyde cable car line.
• 22nd Street between Vicksburg and Church in Noe Valley and Filbert Street between Leavenworth and Hyde on Russian Hill - At a 31.5% grade, these streets share the honor of steepest streets in San Francisco.
• The Mission Dolores Church in the Mission District is one of the oldest structures in the city with superb city views from Dolores Park. The walls of many nearby buildings, especially on alleys between Market and Valencia are painted with a fantastic collection of murals of all sorts.

Neighborhoods

• Fisherman's Wharf is a great place to see amazing street entertainers, eat excellent seafood, watch sea lions, visit museums, or take a cruise to the infamous Alcatraz Prison or the pleasant Angel Island. Working fishing boats still come into the small harbor at Jones and Jefferson, the endpoint of the Muni Historic F-streetcar. There are also small day and party boats available. The fresh breeze from the bay can provide a bracing setting.
• Chinatown, centered around Grant Street from Bush to Columbus, is part tourist trap, part an exhibit of local life. Good eating places remain, and the side streets especially have stores one wouldn't find in a mall. Stockton Street, the street paralleling Grant to to west is the main street where most locals do their shopping for groceries. Be sure to sample some of the Dim Sum and other specialties offered in the many bustling shops. However, many local Chinese prefer to eat and shop in the new Chinatowns located in other neighborhoods such as the Inner Richmond neighborhood or on Clement Street between 2nd and 12th Avenues. The Muni #1 (California) and #2 (Clement, does not run at night) buses get people from one Chinatown to the other.
• The Civic Center has impressive Beaux Arts buildings including City Hall and the War Memorial Veterans Building, the celebrated Asian Art Museum, music and theater venues (including large concert halls and a renowned Symphony and Opera), and the main public library.
• The Castro is the center of San Francisco's LGBT community, with theaters and small shops and restaurants.
• Treasure Island. An artificial island half-way between San Francisco and Oakland connected to Yerba Buena Island which the Bay Bridge passes through. The Island has excellent views of San Francisco & Oakland skylines and quirky structures from the international fairground-turned-navy base-turned neighborhood. Accessible by Muni bus #108 from the Transbay Terminal downtown.

Museums

When the morning is foggy, you may want to visit a museum. Golden Gate Park has the most famous museum, the M.H. de Young Museum, rebuilt and reopened in 2005. It is on the #5 and #44 bus lines, its garage entrance is at the north edge of the Park, at 10th Avenue and Fulton Street. Its former Asian collection is now permanently housed in the Asian Art Museum, located in the Civic Center. The Legion of Honor Museum is in Lincoln Park, at the western end of El Camino del Mar Avenue, in the northwest corner of the Richmond district. The #18 bus route, always near the Pacific Coast, ends there as well. These museums are open Tuesdays through Sundays, and are open late on Thursdays, but it is best to check. The new Museum of Modern Art, the Moscone Center and the Museum of Craft and Folk Art are located in SoMa, across Market Street from Union Square.

At the Hyde Street Pier in Fisherman's Wharf you can go on board several historical ships, including the 1886 Balclutha clipper ship, a walking-beam ferry, a steam tug, and a coastal schooner. At Pier 45, to the east of Fishermen's Wharf, the World War II submarine USS Pampanito can be visited.

The Exploratorium at the Palace of Fine Arts in the Marina will keep you busy for an entire day with their Science and Perception exhibits. In the Presidio, a few blocks the north and west, you can visit the gardens of the new Lucasfilm studios.

Parky

• Golden Gate Park, in The Avenues district, is a massive (roughly 1/2 mile-by-four mile) urban oasis with windmills, bison, museums, and a carousel hidden among its charms. The park contains the antique palatial greenhouse of the Conservatory of Flowers, the modern and ethnic art focused de Young Museum, the large Japanese Tea Garden, and the Strybing Arboretum, a collection of plants from across the temperate world.
• Lincoln Park, in the Richmond, defines the extreme Northwestern corner of San Francisco. It provides majestic views of the Marin Headlands, the Golden Gate Bridge from the Ocean side, and the Pacific Ocean itself. At the extreme western end the well known Cliff House provides both semi-casual and a more formal eating and drinking place. The Legion of Honor museum at the center of the park houses many incredible artworks.
• Twin Peaks, accessible by car or on foot via Twin Peaks Boulevard (north of Portola Drive, just east of Laguna Honda). The small parking area at the northern tip of Twin Peaks Boulevard (875' above sea level) is near the physical center of the city, and one of its highest points, providing spectacular views in all directions. Tour buses can get backed up here during the day, but it's a great place to really appreciate the City from above, especially at and after sunset. Temperatures up there can be quite a bit lower than in the rest of the city, so bring a jacket.
• San Francisco Zoo. Located in the Lake Merced area at the end of the L streetcar line near Ocean Beach, this large and well maintained Zoo is a great place to go if you are traveling with children or have a fondness for penguins, primates, lions or llamas. It is Northern California's largest zoological park.

Tours

Harbor tours

One of the best ways to see San Francisco is from the waters of San Francisco Bay. There are many companies offering San Francisco harbor tours of varying durations and prices but they all provide marvelous views of the bay, the bridges, the island of Alcatraz and the city.

Only specific island tours are allowed to land at Alcatraz, but the typical harbor tour will circle the island at a slow crawl, giving you plenty of opportunity to photograph the now-inactive prison from the water.

Also consider taking a ferry from San Francisco across the bay to Tiburon, Sausalito, or Alameda. Same views for a fraction of the price.

Most tours leave from docks between Fisherman's Wharf and adjacent Pier 39. Tickets can be purchased at kiosks along the waterfront walk. Buy tickets a day or two in advance during the summer high season.

Boats usually leave roughly hourly starting around 10am and ending around 5pm. Multi-lingual guides are available on some tours. Prices range from $20-$40, more for sunset, dinner, or whale watching tours.

• Even on a sunny day the bay can be chilly, so be sure to bring a sweater as well as sun screen.
• Some boats have snack bars on board, but bring your own water and treats to avoid paying high costs or going without. There are now limited refreshments and a souvenirs shop on Alcatraz.

Companies offering harbor tours include:

• Red & White Fleet, [38].
• Blue & Gold Fleet, [39].
• Adventure Cat Sailing Charters, [40].
• Hornblowers, [41].

Walking/Biking tours

• American Running Guides, 415-864-2103, [42]. Offers guided running tours for active travelers wanting to maintain a workout routine without being relegated to the hotel treadmill. Experienced runners take clients on classic routes throughout the city and on the Marin trails, just across the Golden Gate Bridge. This is a great way to see the city and get a workout before breakfast. Reservations required.
• Geogad Mobile Tours, [43]. Geogad has free MP3 walking tours for Union Square and Fisherman's Wharf that can be downloaded directly from the Geogad website. These tours can be uploaded to any MP3 device and work best on MP3 players that can display the tour photos and maps. These tours are a great introductions to San Francisco as they explore the most popular destinations for travelers to San Francisco in a fun, relaxed way. You can also rent an MP3 player with all of the Geogad Mobile Tours of San Francisco from the California Welcome Center at Fisherman's Wharf for a small fee. These tours include Fisherman's Wharf, the Ferry Building, Market Street, and Union Square. These tours are designed to make your sightseeing easy by linking some of San Francisco's best sightseeing together. For example, the Ferry Building tour ends where the Market Street tour begins. Likewise, the Market Street tour ends where the Union Square tour begins. Best yet, the staff of the California Welcome Center can answer all of your sightseeing questions to make your trip to San Francisco really memorable.
• San Francisco City Guides, [44]. Founded in 1978, City Guides is a non-profit organization with more than 200 trained volunteers who lead FREE history and architectural walking tours in San Francisco. They are sponsored by the San Francisco Public Library.
• Bike and Roll.
• All About Chinatown.

Bus/Driving tours

• A Friend in Town, 800-960-8099, [47]. Offers personalized sightseeing tours conducted by a trained historian. Solo travelers or groups up to 30 are picked up and dropped off at their home, hotel, or anywhere within 100 miles of downtown San Francisco.
• Blue Heron Custom Tours and Travel, 415-337-1874, [48]. Private, custom tours for groups of six or fewer persons in and around the San Francisco Bay Area. Visit boutique wineries in Napa and Sonoma, San Francisco's vibrant neighborhoods, the giant redwoods of Muir Woods, the hillside village of Sausalito, the magnificent California coast, and the beautiful Monterey Peninsula. Go Where You Want to Go!
• Mr. Toads Tours, 877-467-8623, [49]. Semi-Private Environmentally Friendly Tours are provided in 10-passenger, Propane Powered pre-1930s touring cars. Highlights include Chinatown's Fortune Cookie Factory, Victorian Homes, Lombard Street, Haight-Ashbury, Golden Gate Park, Presidio National Park, Golden Gate Bridge, Palace of Fine Arts, and Ghirardelli Square. Frequent daily departures from Fisherman's Wharf and Union Square. Reservations recommended and can be made online.
• Gray Line Motorized Cable Car Tour.
• Isolda Anilovich - Russian-Speaking Tour Guide, 415-351-2232, [50](in English), [51] (in Russian). Private, custom tours of San Francisco, Bay Area and Napa Valley are provided in native Russian language. Flexible accommodations to suit your interests, taste, and budget.

Other tours

• Guided Segway Tours, 415-474-3130. New three hour guided tours on a Segway. Departures daily. See the San Francisco Waterfront, Marina Green, Fort Mason and more. Includes 35-45 minutes of training and 2 - 2 1/2 hours of sightseeing. Small group make this ideal for individuals and families. Reservations required. Tours are now also offered in Sausalito.
• Local Tastes of the City, [53].
• Ballpark Tours - San Francisco Giants AT&T Stadium, [54].

Performing Arts

• San Francisco has a Half-Price Ticket Booth located right in the middle of Union Square, where tickets for most San Francisco theater performances can be purchased the day of the performance for half-price. Run by Theatre Bay Area, all service fees collected from the sale of tickets by TIX Bay Area goes right back into the theater community.
• Go to a concert, a play, a Jazz or a folk-song performance. There are performances most days to choose from, as by the San Francisco Opera [55], the San Francisco Symphony [56], in Herbst Theater (where the U.N. charter was signed) [57], in the Old First Church [58], and for musicals in the Orpheum or the Golden Gate Theaters [59], all located in or near the Civic Center. The museum of the Legion of Honor [60], located in Lincoln Park overlooking the the Golden Gate (North end of 34th Ave.), has organ concerts which can be heard in many of its galleries, Saturdays and Sundays at 4:00 pm, as well as music performances in its Florence Gould Theater, as by the the San Francisco Lyric Opera [61]. For the fall and spring Jazz festivals look into the SFJAZZ calendar. San Francisco also has many Jazz Clubs, best found by browsing the web, as. Contemporary bands are featured at The Fillmore auditorium and less frequently at the large Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in the Civic Center. There is an annual blues festival in late September, at various locations. Many, but certainly not all, and no free events are listed by the City Box Office. There are at least two great free bluegrass music festivals each year - during February on the Marina and late September or October in Golden Gate Park.
• Ballet of the world class variety can be seen for only $10. San Francisco Ballet sells standing room tickets (with excellent views from the back of the orchestra) during the afternoon of each performance as well as two hours before showtime.
• Plays are performed at the Geary (by the American Conservatory Theater), Curran, and the Marines Memorial theatres; those are near Union Square, and at the three small New Conservatory theaters in the Civic Center [www.nctcsf.org].
• Musicals from Broadway and Los Angeles are shown at the traditional Golden Gate and Orpheum theaters on Market, near the Civic Center. For outrageous fun princes and paupers go to Beach Blanket Babylon in North Beach. Teenagers are welcome at the Sunday Matinees. It considers itself the longest running musical revue in theater history.

Events

• Critical Mass. On the last Friday of each month, bicyclists (in San Francisco, and about 200 like-minded cities world-wide) gather at the north end of Market Street on the Embarcadero and ride en masse to some destination, militantly demonstrating their right to occupy the roads. If you are driving in SF on a Critical Mass day, you will want to listen for radio traffic reports, but if you are stopped by the mass the best thing to do is maintain a good sense of humor and remember that it will all pass in about 5 minutes. Tempers can and do flare.

GLBT community events

San Francisco is famous for its exuberant and visible gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) community.

• The San Francisco Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Parade and Celebration is one of the largest gay pride parades and festivals in North America. It's a huge, happy, chaotic celebration of diversity, politics, sexuality, and San Francisco wackiness, on the last weekend in June. It fills Market Street and some seven city blocks from there to City Hall. About a dozen stages and spaces offer everything from square dancing to hip-hop, from a family garden to Leather Alley. Hundreds of businesses, community groups, non-profits, and political groups attempt to connect with hundreds of thousands of celebrants. It's a movement, it's a market, it's a party. Both parade and celebration are for everyone — straight as well as gay are welcome.
• Pink Saturday is a street party in the Castro on the Saturday night before the Pride Parade and Celebration.
• Halloween in the Castro. Halloween, the holiday when everyone puts on a mask, has long been a special time for gay, lesbian and bisexual people to take off the "straight-looking mask" they sometimes wore all year, and be themselves. What remains today is a huge, sometimes poorly controlled, street party in the Castro on the evening of October 31st each year.

Sports

In addition to the spectator sports teams in San Francisco, there are also teams nearby in San Jose and Oakland.

• San Francisco Giants, AT&T Park (in SoMa). Major League Baseball team.
• San Francisco 49ers, Monster Park (on Candlestick Point in Southeast San Francisco). National Football League team.
• San Francisco Seals, Negoesco Stadium (on the University of San Francisco campus in Western Addition). United Soccer Leagues Premier Development League team.
• University of San Francisco Dons, University of San Francisco campus (in Western Addition). Various college sports including baseball, basketball, soccer and volleyball.
• San Francisco State University Gators, SF State campus (in Twin Peaks-Lake Merced), . Various college sports including baseball, basketball and soccer.

Learn

The University of California, San Francisco is one of the city's largest employers and is dedicated solely to the education of health and the biomedical sciences. Also in the University of California system is the Hastings College of the Law, a major law school located in downtown San Francisco. The San Francisco State University is another major public university that offers a broader range of studies than the UC colleges in the city. Rounding off the city's public colleges is the City College of San Francisco, a two-year community college.

San Francisco also has numerous private colleges and universities, each with a different focus: the arts, design, law, business, religion, you name it.

Work

Being the world-class tourist attraction that it is, San Francisco's economy is mostly centered on tourism. Its frequent portrayal in music, films, literature and popular culture has helped make the city and its landmarks known throughout the world. San Francisco has developed a large tourist infrastructure with numerous hotels, restaurants, and top-notch convention facilities.

While its been a long time since people considered Montgomery Street in the Financial District to be the "Wall Street of the West", San Francisco remains one of the principal banking and finance centers of the west coast of the United States. Many major financial institutions and banks are based in the city or have set up regional headquarters here.

San Francisco's proximity to Silicon Valley has made the city increasingly attractive for high-tech companies. In recent years, San Francisco has also been making itself a center of biotechnology.

Buy

San Francisco has a wide range of small and locally-owned businesses throughout the neighborhoods of the city. In fact, San Francisco has for the most part repelled the development of large chain retailers and big box stores that are common across America.

Fisherman's Wharf has all your typical touristy souvenir shops and a few small shopping centers. Union Square has many national retailers and fancy boutique stores, as well as a few shopping centers thrown in to the mix.

Eat

San Francisco is a sensual, epicurean city with a vast array of restaurants. The price range is huge, and you can spend anywhere from a small fortune to a couple bucks for every type of cuisine. Vegetarians and vegans will find SF a paradise. Sushi is a local obsession, and though you can find a sushi bar on almost every street corner, the Richmond district has more than its fair share of excellent sushi chefs. San Francisco also has the largest Chinatown in North America, as well as one of the largest Chinese communities in the West, and many exceptional restaurants serving dim sum and other Chinese delicacies are found throughout The City. This localized Chinese cuisine has its feet in Hong Kong and America, and is different from what many visitors are accustomed to. Fisherman's Wharf serves fresh seafood, especially clam chowder and crabs cooked to order. North Beach is the place to go for Italian food, and the Mission for Mexican restaurants (and Latin American cuisine of all sorts). San Francisco restaurants are also very corkage friendly. Average corkage fee appears to be in the $15 range, with some of the more pricey places charging $25-35.

Drink

The best way to find a good bar or club is to ask the advice of a local; but barring that a copy of The SF Bay Guardian or the SF Weekly will help you find something suited to your personal taste. Review website Yelp is based in San Francisco, and therefore offers very thorough coverage of San Francisco's night life.

San Francisco is very much of a "scene" town. Head to the Marina for mid-20s to mid-30s professionals (and those visiting from Los Angeles). Haight-Ashbury, famous for the “Summer of Love” and hippies, is still a place for alternative lifestyle, now has many neo-punks and hipsters in the mix. South of Market (SoMa) and the Mission District have left-over dot-commers and hipsters hanging out on every corner. The Castro primarily serves San Francisco's gays. With a large Irish population, San Francisco has a number of very good Irish pubs extending out into the Sunset neighborhood. North Beach is home to several dance clubs and strip clubs.

If you like soccer (football) and all things English, you should stop into the Kezar Pub, at the edge of the Haight-Ashbury District, or Lower Haight's Mad Dog In the Fog. The pub quiz and bar food are good. Swill some pints and stay in the dark. Good for an entire day's worth of drinking. It is also central to other "dive" bars on Haight, including the beer mecca Toronado.

Beer

San Francisco, despite being much smaller than New York City, sports more microbreweries. Anchor Brewing Company (makers of Anchor Steam, found throughout the US) is brewed on Potrero Hill, though it is generally not open to the public (tours are available Friday afternoons by reservation). Similarly, Speakeasy Ales & Lagers opens its doors on Friday evenings, though its location in Hunter's Point makes it hard to reach without a car. The other microbreweries are housed in brewpubs:

• Beach Chalet & Park Chalet are at the Pacific end of Golden Gate Park, where you can enjoy a view of the ocean or sit in the lawn area.
• Pizza Orgasmica in the Richmond District specializes in California-style pizza.
• Wunder Brewing is the City's newest brewery, located in the Sunset District.
• Magnolia Brewing Company is in the heart of the Haight, and operates a second restaurant down the street, The Alembic.
• San Francisco Brewing Company is on Columbus Ave in North Beach, in the shadow of the Coppola Building.
• Thirsty Bear, South Of Market, caters mostly to the happy hour crowd.
• 21st Amendment, also in SOMA, is three blocks away from the Giants' home at AT&T Park.

Other destinations for beer drinkers include North Beach's Rogue Ales Public House, the Embarcadero's Gordon Biersch's alehouse, the City Beer Store and Tasting Bar on Folsom St, and the famous Toronado Pub on lower Haight Street, which specializes in Belgians ales.

Alameda and Marin Counties also host many microbreweries worth trying. And although Santa Rosa is 45 minutes north of San Francisco, no beer lovers should skip the renowned Russian River Brewing Company in downtown Santa Rosa.

Stay safe

As with many other major cities in the world, San Francisco has its share of problems. The areas that one should be most cautious are in the neighborhoods of Bayview-Hunters Point, Visitacion Valley, Sunnydale, Western Addition, Ingleside, Tenderloin, the area around 6th and Market, and parts of the Mission and Potrero Hill. San Francisco is on the peak of a 3-year surge in violent crime, and most of these murders occur in the southeast of the City. Two Hispanic gangs have been known to shoot or stab people for wearing the wrong color, so it is recommended to keep red or blue articles of clothing to a minimum while walking through the Mission District, especially around 16th and Mission and 24th and Mission. The South of Market (SoMa) district used to be somewhat dangerous; however, recent gentrification (something that has become fairly common and a social issue in SF) has transformed it into a rather hip and much safer neighborhood with plenty of art galleries and clubs.

San Francisco attracts a large homeless population. If someone begs from you, you may either politely say that you do not have any change or just keep walking, and he or she will generally leave you alone. The main homeless area is around 6th and Market, heading towards City Hall, and in the Tenderloin. Haight Ashbury also has lots of panhandlers, and the area near Golden Gate Park at the end of Haight Street near McDonald's is notorious for junkies and should be avoided at night.

Pickpocketing can be expected, as with any other large city. Be especially cautious on crowded MUNI buses and during the busy holiday shopping season.

When parking in Bay Area parking lots, be wary of anyone strange demanding payment for the space. Scam artists may patrol lots where there is no attendant and tell motorists to pay them directly in cash, making sure they don't notice the payment machine. This can result in your car being towed.

Be careful to check for ticks after hiking in fields in the bay area. There is a high rate of lyme disease transmission in the Bay Area. If a bulls' eye rash develops at the tick bite site, immediately seek medical help and treatment with antibiotics.

Tourist Information

San Francisco's visitor information centers offer maps, brochures and other information for tourists.

• San Francisco Visitor Information Center, 900 Market Street, ☎ +1 415 391-2000 (fax: +1 415 362-7323), [2]. Visitor Center run by the San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau. edit
• California Welcome Center, Pier 39, Building P, Second Level, ☎ +1 415 981-1280 (info@pier39.com), [3]. One of several California Welcome Centers across the state

Kalifornie

• San Diego
• San Francisco
• San Francisco Bay