Only got 48 hours to spend in San Francisco? Here’s our whistle-stop guide to the city.
Claire Webb - 25 May 2019
When I first got off the bus years ago, I had the strangest feeling that I’d come home,” says Laura Linney’s character in Netflix’s latest literary adaptation, Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City, a sequel to Channel 4’s 1990s original dramatisation. Beginning in the 1970s, Maupin’s stories put the spotlight on San Francisco’s LGBT community, but they’re also a love letter to this liberal outpost on the Pacific Coast.
Ever since it was founded in the Gold Rush, San Francisco has been a haven for dreamers and rebels: immigrants, beatniks, hippies, gay men and women and Silicon Valley’s techies have all flocked here. For Brits, it’s usually a stop-off on a cruise, coastal rail journey or road trip, but it’s worth spending time getting to know this laidback city and its vibrant neighbourhoods – 48 hours should give you a good start.
DAY ONE
RIDE THE RAILS
Vintage streetcars traverse the city’s three-mile thoroughfare, Market Street, and along the waterfront. As well as San Francisco originals, the F Market heritage line has given a home to antique trolley cars from across the globe, so you could find yourself in a rare open-topped Blackpool boat tram or a 1928 Milan streetcar.
GRAB A GOURMET BRUNCH
Hop off at the grand old Ferry Building, where you’ll find artisan souvenirs and a high-end food hall: how about a slab of mushroom cheesecake from Cheesequakes, or bourbon and cornflakes ice cream from Humphry Slocombe’s parlour? Work off the sugar by strolling along the palmlined Embarcadero waterfront, drinking in the bay views.
CATCH A BOAT
Boats to Alcatraz Island, the notorious maximum-security prison, leave from Pier 33. The haunting audio tour of its claustrophobic cells and solitary confinement “dark holes” includes interviews with ex-inmates. Alcatraz cruises need to be booked at least a month in advance and can be combined with a trip to Angel Island, which used to be a holding area for immigrants seeking US citizenship.
TOAST THE BEAT GENERATION
In 1957, the owner of the City Lights (citylights. com) bookstore in North Beach was arrested on charges of corrupting America’s youth after publishing Allen Ginsberg’s poem Howl. When you’ve finished browsing its crammed shelves, head next door to cocktail bar Vesuvio (vesuvio. com), a favourite hangout of Jack Kerouac and his fellow Beatniks, and order a martini – a drink invented in San Francisco.
BOOK A TABLE IN LITTLE ITALY
In the early 1900s Italian immigrants settled in North Beach and it’s still full of espresso bars, authentic delis and old-school trattorias. Former Beatnik favourite Tosca Café (toscacafesf.com) has been scrubbed up and serves the city’s best meatballs. The best place to try SF-style seafood soup, cioppino, is Sotto Mare (sottomaresf.com), while you can choose between a Neapolitan-style chewy crust, a thin-crust pizza Romana or a Californian pie at Tony’s Pizza Napoletana (tonyspizzanapoletana.com), owned by a 13-time World Pizza champion.
DAY TWO
SPOT MURALS IN THE MISSION
In the late 1700s, Spanish Catholic priests founded a religious outpost in what’s now the city’s oldest neighbourhood. Their adobe church, Mission Dolores, was built by the Ohlone people – the natives of San Francisco Bay – who put their stamp on it with a mural that was covered up for two centuries. At weekends, locals flock to the adjacent park (which has a cameo in Tales of the City) to picnic and enjoy the skyline views. Book a place on Wild SF’s (wildsftours.com) excellent street art walking tour to learn more about this working-class Latin-American neighbourhood.
ENJOY A LATIN-AMERICAN LUNCH
A stroll down Valencia Street reveals evidence of the Mission District’s latest upheaval: the fine dining restaurants, organic bakeries and hipster cafés frequented by Silicon Valley’s techies, who have moved in and made rents soar. Fortunately, the Mission’s beloved taquerias have so far survived. Refuel with a hearty burrito from Taqueria El Farolito (elfarolitosf.com), or join the hipsters at rooftop bar El Techo de Lolinda (eltechosf.com).
TAKE A WALK IN THE PARK
When the sun shines, Golden Gate Park’s 1,000 acres of lawns and lakes are the place to be. And if the weather turns, you can take cover in its myriad museums. The California Academy of Sciences is a pioneering natural history museum, planetarium, aquarium and rainforest under one roof, while the park’s oldest landmark is the delightful Conservatory of Flowers, which was modelled on Kew Gardens.
SPLURGE ON SOME FAR-OUT SHOPPING
The epicentre of the Summer of Love was Upper Haight, the district east of Golden Gate Park. In the 80s, the yuppies moved in, but the mural-daubed high street still clings to its hippie past. Stock up on vinyl records at Amoeba Music, anarchist ’zines in the Bound Together Bookstore and tie-dye tees at Jammin on Haight.
Ever since it was founded in the Gold Rush, San Francisco has been a haven for dreamers and rebels: immigrants, beatniks, hippies, gay men and women and Silicon Valley’s techies have all flocked here. For Brits, it’s usually a stop-off on a cruise, coastal rail journey or road trip, but it’s worth spending time getting to know this laidback city and its vibrant neighbourhoods – 48 hours should give you a good start.
DAY ONE
RIDE THE RAILS
Vintage streetcars traverse the city’s three-mile thoroughfare, Market Street, and along the waterfront. As well as San Francisco originals, the F Market heritage line has given a home to antique trolley cars from across the globe, so you could find yourself in a rare open-topped Blackpool boat tram or a 1928 Milan streetcar.
GRAB A GOURMET BRUNCH
Hop off at the grand old Ferry Building, where you’ll find artisan souvenirs and a high-end food hall: how about a slab of mushroom cheesecake from Cheesequakes, or bourbon and cornflakes ice cream from Humphry Slocombe’s parlour? Work off the sugar by strolling along the palmlined Embarcadero waterfront, drinking in the bay views.
CATCH A BOAT
Boats to Alcatraz Island, the notorious maximum-security prison, leave from Pier 33. The haunting audio tour of its claustrophobic cells and solitary confinement “dark holes” includes interviews with ex-inmates. Alcatraz cruises need to be booked at least a month in advance and can be combined with a trip to Angel Island, which used to be a holding area for immigrants seeking US citizenship.
TOAST THE BEAT GENERATION
In 1957, the owner of the City Lights (citylights. com) bookstore in North Beach was arrested on charges of corrupting America’s youth after publishing Allen Ginsberg’s poem Howl. When you’ve finished browsing its crammed shelves, head next door to cocktail bar Vesuvio (vesuvio. com), a favourite hangout of Jack Kerouac and his fellow Beatniks, and order a martini – a drink invented in San Francisco.
BOOK A TABLE IN LITTLE ITALY
In the early 1900s Italian immigrants settled in North Beach and it’s still full of espresso bars, authentic delis and old-school trattorias. Former Beatnik favourite Tosca Café (toscacafesf.com) has been scrubbed up and serves the city’s best meatballs. The best place to try SF-style seafood soup, cioppino, is Sotto Mare (sottomaresf.com), while you can choose between a Neapolitan-style chewy crust, a thin-crust pizza Romana or a Californian pie at Tony’s Pizza Napoletana (tonyspizzanapoletana.com), owned by a 13-time World Pizza champion.
DAY TWO
SPOT MURALS IN THE MISSION
In the late 1700s, Spanish Catholic priests founded a religious outpost in what’s now the city’s oldest neighbourhood. Their adobe church, Mission Dolores, was built by the Ohlone people – the natives of San Francisco Bay – who put their stamp on it with a mural that was covered up for two centuries. At weekends, locals flock to the adjacent park (which has a cameo in Tales of the City) to picnic and enjoy the skyline views. Book a place on Wild SF’s (wildsftours.com) excellent street art walking tour to learn more about this working-class Latin-American neighbourhood.
ENJOY A LATIN-AMERICAN LUNCH
A stroll down Valencia Street reveals evidence of the Mission District’s latest upheaval: the fine dining restaurants, organic bakeries and hipster cafés frequented by Silicon Valley’s techies, who have moved in and made rents soar. Fortunately, the Mission’s beloved taquerias have so far survived. Refuel with a hearty burrito from Taqueria El Farolito (elfarolitosf.com), or join the hipsters at rooftop bar El Techo de Lolinda (eltechosf.com).
TAKE A WALK IN THE PARK
When the sun shines, Golden Gate Park’s 1,000 acres of lawns and lakes are the place to be. And if the weather turns, you can take cover in its myriad museums. The California Academy of Sciences is a pioneering natural history museum, planetarium, aquarium and rainforest under one roof, while the park’s oldest landmark is the delightful Conservatory of Flowers, which was modelled on Kew Gardens.
SPLURGE ON SOME FAR-OUT SHOPPING
The epicentre of the Summer of Love was Upper Haight, the district east of Golden Gate Park. In the 80s, the yuppies moved in, but the mural-daubed high street still clings to its hippie past. Stock up on vinyl records at Amoeba Music, anarchist ’zines in the Bound Together Bookstore and tie-dye tees at Jammin on Haight.