If you're going to San Francisco...

[SoulOfTheFlame]

Hey guys,

I'm going to SF for business this week. I'll be flying down, having a free day on Wednesday, and a free night on Thursday (i'll be working the rest of it). Anyone have any good tips on MUST-SEE things to see and do in the time I have?

[Otto-matic]

The place where they film Mythbusters

[I_H8_Crawford]

Alcatraz if you've never been, and can get a ticket.
Pier 39 is touristy
Wine tours in the valley is cool
Are the Giants playing in town? It's a beautiful ball stadium
There's a cool Harley shop you can visit if you like bikes
If you have a sweet tooth you can visit the Jelly Belly factory in Sacramento

...

Or, if you swing that way, go to Market St south(I think) of the giant rainbow flag, I'm sure you'll have a great time there.

[Fuzzy McGillicuddy]

Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair

[icarus]

Originally Posted by I_H8_Crawford

Alcatraz if you've never been, and can get a ticket.

Now this is something the other tour guides won't tell you. In this particular cell-block, Machine Gun Kelly had what we call in the prison system, a "bitch". And one night in a jealous rage Kelly took a make-shift knife or "shiv", and cut out the bitch's eyes. And as if this wasn't enough retribution for Kelly, the next day he and four other inmates took turns ****ing into the bitch's ocular cavities. This way to the cafeteria!

[Engine09]

Coit Tower - Nice view of the city.

Lombard St. - If you have a rental car


Yeah, the staduim the Giants play at is incredible.

[Eastern Girl]

Originally Posted by icarus

Now this is something the other tour guides won't tell you. In this particular cell-block, Machine Gun Kelly had what we call in the prison system, a "bitch". And one night in a jealous rage Kelly took a make-shift knife or "shiv", and cut out the bitch's eyes. And as if this wasn't enough retribution for Kelly, the next day he and four other inmates took turns ****ing into the bitch's ocular cavities. This way to the cafeteria!

Ah Phil Hartman... good quote!

[ken0042]

If you are a techie you might want to check out the Sony Metreon. (I think that's what it's called.) It's been 6 years since I was there but it had some pretty cool stuff. My personal favourite was the virtual bowling down the hills of SF.

[The Goon]

Try to take a streetcar from downtown to the Pier district and hang on the outside. It's a blast. Also, see if you can walk across the Golden Gate bridge. It takes about half an hour to get across, and you can get some fantastic photos.

[Kev]

Agree with Crawford. Alcatraz and the pier is very cool.

[Inferno]

Originally Posted by I_H8_Crawford

Alcatraz if you've never been, and can get a ticket.

If I were ever to go to San Francisco Alcatraz would be one of the first places I check out on my free time.

Apparently Cell 14 in Block D is suppose to be haunted by a very violent ghost. It's said to be always cold and back when it was still open they had a prisoner in there who was screaming saying something with red eyes was in there with him. They ignored him and the next morning when they opened the cell they found him dead with marks on his neck that would suggest he had been strangled to death.

[OldSam]

Muir Woods - redwood forest. Unbelievable!

[Reaper]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy McGillicuddy

Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair

That's exactly what I was thinking when I saw the thread title.

[Buff]

Alcatraz. Very cool.

Winchester Mystery House
it is actually in San Jose, but you're close enough.

[Bobblehead]

I was actually diasppointed by SF when I visited there in '92. Alcatraz was cool, the city is remarkable, but Fisherman's Wharf was such a tourist trap that it just felt uncomfortable. Restaurants were overpriced, same with hotels.

It is historic, the way the city was built on the hills is amazing, but the touristy part of it just seemed overdone.

Going to Oakland via Bart and seeing the Jays play the A's was great (Guzman won, Carter and Gruber hit Homers link)

Perhaps the issue was I was a poor student. If I had more money it may have been better, and I still want to see a Niners game. Another issue was it was less than a week after the Rodney King riots, so things were still pretty tense. But I personally liked Monterrey and area better. Going to a bar, discovering the band is also Canadian, also McMaster grads, and having them pay off your bar tab can tend to skew memories.

[ken0042]

Forgot about the redwood forest and the Winchester Mystery House. Both of those are good calls too!

[troutman]

Originally Posted by Bobblehead

I was actually diasppointed by SF when I visited there in '92. Alcatraz was cool, the city is remarkable, but Fisherman's Wharf was such a tourist trap that it just felt uncomfortable.

If you go to SF, avoid the tourist traps. There is so much more to see in this amazing city. Pick up the Lonely Planet guide book for SF.

Mission District
Haight-Ashbury
Castro (gay district)
Golden Gate Park
Theater District
Museum of Modern Art
Financial District
Chinatown
North Beach
Sausalito
Wine Country
Entertainment - restaurants, bars, cafes, live music

[Flames in 07]

Union Square if you want to shop, the Drake on Powell for the best meal and drinks in downtown.

[browna]

Was there last fall for 3 days,

The Wharf is ok..sure its touristy, but no different than anywhere else.

Take the street car from the wharf to downtown...or even walk the 40 mins. Very cool
arctitecture. Nice to have a fairly central downtown.

Chinatown wasn't anything special either, if you've been to Vancouver. Sure a lot of little markets, but almost as many junk shops.

The new ball stadium is pretty cool, being on the water and all.

Haight Ashbury is completely overhyped. After seeing the 3rd hemp store in a row, and try hard beatniks attempting to still revive the 60's trhough dress and free spirited OR bitchy attitude, the street is completely nothing special. It may be historic, but nothing more then that. If you have 3 or 4 days and want to drive 30 mins to walk the street for an hour go for it...but there's no reason to go back to see anything differnt then you could see walking down a hybrid of Kensington (not even that upscale) 17th, or 9th Ave in Ingelwood.

Went across the bridge...pretty cool, as was Sausalito and the GG Park.

Didn' have time to go to wine country. Alcatraz is woth the trip too.

We ate at a restaraunt at the top of one the hotels downtown (Sheraton?). About 30 floors up, at the top hill of downtown, so depending on the side, you could see the bridge to the west, or the bay facing toward oakland to the south(eastish).

Great shopping in Union Square. Macy's with an entire 3 floor stand-alone Men's Store.

Beware...a few block walk west from downtown gets you in the seedy area with peep shows and shadiness all around.

We'd go back, although this time exploring across the bridge/wine country..and south towards Santa Cruz...and a day or two in the city to shop and breathe in the city.

[Julio]

Just got back from San Fran on Sunday...Don't have a ton to add, except I'd bike across the Golden Gate (bike from Pier 39, then take the ferry back from Sausalito. North Beach is cool...good food there. Chinatown if crawling with tourists but I got a couple of good finds there
Union Square for shopping is cool...if you are from out of town go to Macy's...you get a card for 11% off of everything during your trip there, even the sale stuff.
Didn't get to go to a Giants game (Dodgers were in town and no tickets to be found), but went to an A's Seattle game. Stadium is a bit of a hole concourse wise, but good fans.