SF
Guide

Curated by a local tour guide.
What I recommend on tour, collected in one place.

Neighborhoods

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North Beach

North Beach is San Francisco's Little Italy and Beat Generation hub, with espresso bars, City Lights bookstore, and…
Russian Hill

Russian Hill is a steep residential neighborhood above North Beach, home to the crooked block of Lombard Street…
Pacific Heights

Pacific Heights is the hilltop of mansions and bay views above the Marina, with Fillmore Street shopping and…
Financial District

The Financial District is San Francisco's downtown core of office towers, from the Transamerica Pyramid to the old…

Where to Eat

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Marufuku Ramen

Hakata-style tonkotsu ramen in Japantown. So delicious.

Japantown Japanese

Liguria Bakery

Liguria Bakery makes one thing: focaccia bread since 1911.

North Beach Italian Bakery, Bakery

Swan Oyster Depot

Anthony Bourdain called this his favorite seafood spot in America on No Reservations.

Nob Hill Seafood

Tony’s Pizza Napoletana

Tony Gemignani is a 13-time World Pizza Champion and the first American to win the World Pizza Cup in Naples (2007).

North Beach Pizza

Things to Do

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Classic

Musée Mécanique

Private collection of 300+ antique coin-operated arcade machines at Pier 45, including Laffing Sal, the automaton that originally laughed inside the funhouse at Playland at the Beach (1928-1972). Ed Zelinsky started collecting as a kid; his son Dan runs it now. Free entry; machines run $0.25 to $1.00. Bring quarters.
Classic

Dear San Francisco

Created by Shana Carroll and Gypsy Snider, two co-founders of Montreal's The 7 Fingers (Les 7 Doigts), as a tribute to their hometown. A 90-minute circus show that opened October 12, 2021 at Club Fugazi, the North Beach theater that hosted Beach Blanket Babylon from 1975 to 2019. 678 Green Street; tickets from around $59.
Classic

San Francisco Botanical Garden

A 55-acre garden inside Golden Gate Park holding around 9,000 plant species, with collections from climates similar to San Francisco's: Mediterranean, cloud forest, Australasian, and high-elevation tropical. Funded by a 1927 Helene Strybing bequest, planted by WPA crews starting in 1937, opened May 1940. 1199 9th Avenue; free for SF residents with ID and free for everyone 7:30 to 9am daily and on the second Tuesday of the month.