[Scornfire]

I will say, I don't think there's another NA city quite as frustrating to drive/park in. Great restaurants, interesting areas, not necessarily my vibe, but I always managed to find something worth buying in the myriad record stores. One of the better Baseball Parks too imo, worth catching a game.

Not sure how Alcatraz has fared over the last decade, but the last time I went on the island most of it was roped off due to safety concerns as the structures were starting to deteriorate. Pier 39 is worth at least a morning/afternoon to walk around, but obviously quite congested with tourists.

My personal recommendation would be to stay in Paso Robles, we spent a few Christmases in that area at pretty affordable AirBNBs, including a guesthouse at a winery (4 lanterns? I think). The surrounding area is rife with Breweries/Wineries and great views (Morro Bay is a nice day trip), the Drive up to San Fran is about 3 hours so if you're not someone who likes getting up a few hours early to hit up your itinerary then just stick to the general SF area, I'd say Mountain View is one of the "safest" places imo, but there's a lot of bias there as my sister has lived there for 8 years now.

Honesty, I find a lot of "old" SF derelict and just uncomfortable, some call it character, I call it run down. The jokes and shots taken at it for being a dirty city are somewhat justified, but I've been on streets in Edmonton, Vancouver and Calgary that are as bad or worse, it's a large city, and most of it is genuinely beautiful.