Lombard Street: Visiting San Francisco’s Crooked Street
Lombard Street’s crooked block on Russian Hill has eight brick switchbacks built in 1922. Here’s how to visit, by foot or by cable car.
Things to Do
Transamerica Redwood Park
Did you know there are redwood trees at the base of the Transamerica Pyramid?
Black Bird Bookstore & Cafe
An independent bookstore and cafe in the Outer Sunset, opened by Kathryn Grantham. Books from small presses and underrepresented authors. Cafe from 7am, bookstore from 9am.
Love Street Vintage
An Outer Richmond vintage shop with clothing from the 1920s through the 1970s, plus southwestern pieces and vintage jewelry.
Golden Gate Bridge
A 1.7-mile walk across the Golden Gate Bridge. The east sidewalk is open to pedestrians daily, 5am to 9pm (6:30pm November through March). The 28-19th Avenue Muni bus runs to the south parking lot.
Tunnel Records
An independent vinyl shop opened in 2017, with two San Francisco locations: 3614A Taraval in the Parkside and a second spot inside the 4-Star Theatre at 2200 Clement. Specializes in rare-groove soul, jazz, funk, and reggae.
Grooves Vinyl Attractions
A Market Street vinyl shop since 1993, selling previously-owned records at non-collector prices. Inventory leans 50s through 70s: jazz, rock, folk, fusion, soundtracks, comedy, and classical.
Groove Merchant Records
A Lower Haight vinyl shop opened in 1990, now owned by Chris Veltri. Specializes in rare grooves: jazz, soul, rock, blues, disco, international, hip hop, and avant garde.
Children’s Creativity Museum
A hands-on children’s museum at Yerba Buena Gardens with two floors of art, design, and innovation exhibits. $20 admission, open Thursday through Sunday.
Antique Vibrator Museum
A free museum inside Good Vibrations on Polk Street displaying antique vibrators from the Victorian era onward. Free guided tours on the third Sunday of each month.
WORK Vintage
A small vintage shop on Grant Avenue in North Beach with menswear and womenswear. Close to other Grant Avenue vintage shops.
Pearl Spa & Sauna
A women-only Korean spa in Japantown with body scrubs, saunas, steam rooms, and hot tubs. Open since 2016. Appointments only.
Vacation
A North Beach vintage shop on Grant Avenue with vintage t-shirts, shoes, jewelry, and designer pieces. Open daily until 8pm.
Valencia Street Vintage
A Mission vintage shop with both clothing and home goods: mid-century decor, vintage kitchenware, and wearable vintage clothing.
Relic Vintage
A vintage shop at Haight and Ashbury with clothing from the 1920s through the 1980s and deeper inventory in the 40s and 50s. Open daily.
No Shop
A vintage and designer shop on Valencia Street in the Mission with clothing across genders and decades, plus shoes. Open daily.
Missing Audrey Vintage
A small vintage shop on Stockton Street between North Beach and Chinatown with one-of-a-kind pieces and rotating stock. Open Wednesday through Sunday.
Alchemy Springs
A 2,500-square-foot sauna and cold-plunge garden on Lower Nob Hill. The centerpiece is a 40-person circular sauna; the space also includes cold-plunge tubs, rain showers, and a fire pit.
Dog Eared Books
An independent bookstore on Valencia Street in the Mission, with new and used books across literary fiction, art, politics, and graphic novels. Open until 10pm daily.
Body Philosophy Club
A vintage shop on Clement Street in the Inner Richmond, owner-curated by Belle. Specializes in natural-fiber clothing: cotton, linen, wool, silk. Dresses, denim, and 90s tees.
Dear San Francisco
A 90-minute circus show at Club Fugazi in North Beach. Created by two co-founders of The 7 Fingers (Montreal) as a tribute to San Francisco. Opened October 2021 in the venue that hosted Beach Blanket Babylon from 1975 to 2019.
Indigo Vintage Cooperative
A multi-vendor vintage cooperative with locations on Haight Street and Chestnut Street in the Marina. Clothing, accessories, and home goods from independent sellers.
American Bookbinders Museum
The only bookbinding museum in North America, with historic tools and machinery from the 16th century to modern industrial equipment. Self-guided audio tours, hands-on exhibits, and docent-led visits in SoMa.
The Booksmith
An independent bookstore on Haight Street since 1976 (San Francisco Legacy Business since 2016). New books across literary fiction, nonfiction, graphic novels, and politics, plus regular author events and silent reading parties.
Fuzz & Sway
A vintage shop on Haight Street with wearable pieces rather than collectible-only stock. Open Thursday through Sunday.
Onsen
A Japanese-inspired communal bathhouse with a 104-degree soaking tub, redwood sauna, steam room, and cold plunge. Reopened in 2025 after a five-year closure. Bathing suit optional on select days.
Decades of Fashion
A Haight Street vintage shop carrying clothing and accessories from the 1900s through the 1980s, with a deep hat selection and a formal wear section by period.
Chameleon Vintage
A Japantown vintage shop carrying Japanese designer labels (Comme des Garcons, Yohji Yamamoto, Issey Miyake) alongside an American vintage section of denim, band tees, and workwear.
Blue Bin Vintage
A sustainability-focused vintage shop on Haight Street, heavy on 90s and 2000s clothing plus vintage sports attire. Two locations: Haight and the Embarcadero.
Afterlife Collective
A vintage vendor collective on Valencia Street in the Mission with 20+ booths. Inventory spans the 1940s through the 2000s: clothing, jewelry, jackets, sunglasses, and bags.
Archimedes Banya
A Russian-style bathhouse in the Bayview with saunas, plunge pools, an on-site cafe serving Russian and European food, and chess meetups. Happy hour pricing on weekday afternoons.
Kabuki Springs & Spa
A Japanese-style bathhouse in Japantown‘s Japan Center with communal hot and cold pools, a steam room, and a dry sauna. Gendered days; all-gender on Mondays and Tuesdays.
Tunnel Tops
A 14-acre park built on top of the Presidio Parkway tunnels, with views of the Golden Gate Bridge, picnic areas, a playground, and food trucks. Opened July 2022; the Outpost Meadow expansion opened July 2025.
Green Apple Books
An independent bookstore on Clement Street since 1967, with new and used books, vinyl, and music. Acquired Browser Books on Fillmore in 2019 and opened a Green Apple location at SFO in 2024.
Amoeba Music
An independent record store on Haight Street since 1997, in a converted 24,000-square-foot bowling alley. Vinyl in every genre and an active buy-sell-trade counter.
Walt Disney Family Museum
A museum in the Presidio dedicated to Walt Disney’s life and work, from his early animation experiments through the planning of Disneyland. Founded by his daughter Diane Disney Miller and housed in a converted Army barracks.
Japanese Tea Garden
The oldest public Japanese garden in the United States, built for the 1894 World’s Fair and tended by the Hagiwara family for nearly 50 years.
Musée Mécanique
More than 300 antique coin-operated arcade machines at Pier 45, including Laffing Sal. Free entry; bring quarters.
Cable Car Museum
The working powerhouse for San Francisco’s cable car system. Free admission. The 14-foot sheaves and cables that pull every cable car in the city run continuously under a public mezzanine.
GLBT Historical Society Museum
The first stand-alone LGBTQ history museum in the United States, opened in 2011 in a storefront on 18th Street in the Castro. Rotating exhibitions drawn from the GLBT Historical Society’s archive.
San Francisco Botanical Garden
Fifty-five acres of plants from climates similar to San Francisco’s, inside Golden Gate Park. Free for SF residents with ID; free for everyone before 9am and on the second Tuesday of each month.
Wave Organ
A 1986 sound sculpture by Peter Richards and George Gonzales on a jetty next to the St. Francis Yacht Club. Twenty-five PVC and concrete pipes turn wave action into low resonant tones. Free, open 24 hours, best at high tide.
Hippie Hill
A grassy slope in the southeast corner of Golden Gate Park, gathering spot for the Haight-Ashbury counterculture since the late 1960s. Sunday drum circle, picnics, and 4/20 traditions.
Balmy Alley
A one-block residential alley in the Mission covered with murals since 1972. Themes include immigration, Central American politics, and neighborhood history. Free to visit, daylight is best.
Clarion Alley
A one-block alley in the Mission with rotating murals managed by the Clarion Alley Mural Project, founded 1992. Themes include housing, identity, and political resistance. Free to visit.
Seward Street Slides
Two long concrete slides in Seward Mini Park, designed by 14-year-old Kim Clark in 1973. Free, open Tuesday through Sunday 10am to 5pm. Bring or grab cardboard.
Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Company
A fortune cookie shop in a Chinatown alley, hand-folding cookies on motorized griddles since 1962. Owned by Kevin Chan. Free to watch; bags of flat unfolded cookies are $10.
Church of 8 Wheels
Roller rink at 554 Fillmore Street, inside a decommissioned Catholic church. All-ages afternoon sessions and adult evening sessions. Rental skates available.
San Francisco Columbarium
Neoclassical 1898 columbarium in the Inner Richmond at 1 Loraine Court. Over 8,500 niches under a stained glass dome. One of the few places in San Francisco still able to inter remains. Free.
Beat Museum
Two floors of Beat Generation manuscripts, letters, and ephemera at 540 Broadway in North Beach. Half a block from City Lights. $8 adult admission. Daily 10 AM to 7 PM.
Parrots of Telegraph Hill
Naturalized flock of cherry-headed conures that has lived on Telegraph Hill since the early 1990s. Best seen late afternoon near Coit Tower and the Filbert Steps. Free.
Shipwrecks of Lands End
Rusted shipwreck remains visible at low tide along the Lands End Trail. Check tide charts before you go. The 3.4-mile coastal path with Golden Gate views is the reason to go even without the wrecks.
Peephole Cinema
Peephole in a wall at 280 Orange Alley, off 26th Street in the Mission, that screens curated short films on a 24/7 loop. One viewer at a time. Free.
Internet Archive Headquarters
Internet Archive headquarters at 300 Funston Avenue, in a former Christian Science church the nonprofit bought in 2009. Servers where the pews used to be. Free public reading room and Friday tours.
Tenderloin National Forest
A narrow alley off Ellis Street transformed into a dense garden of redwoods, murals, and benches. Two minutes to walk through, and a genuine surprise in the Tenderloin.
Cartoon Art Museum
Cartoon and comic art museum at 781 Beach Street in Fisherman’s Wharf. Collection of about 7,000 original pieces; rotating exhibitions. $10 adults, free first Tuesdays.
Mrs. Doubtfire House
The Pacific Heights Victorian at 2640 Steiner Street used as the exterior in the 1993 film Mrs. Doubtfire. Private residence; viewable from the public sidewalk.
Albion Castle
Stone castle built in 1870 for the Albion Brewery at 881 Innes Avenue in Hunters Point. Underground sandstone caves and natural springs. Visits by appointment only.
Conservatory of Flowers
Victorian wood-and-glass conservatory at 100 JFK Drive in Golden Gate Park, opened in 1879. Five galleries of tropical and aquatic plants. $12 adults, free first Tuesdays.
Garden of Fragrance
A walled garden inside the SF Botanical Garden designed for visitors with visual impairments. Every plant chosen for scent or texture, with raised beds at arm’s height.
Presidio Pet Cemetery
Half-acre pet cemetery along McDowell Avenue in the Presidio. Hundreds of graves of dogs, cats, and smaller pets; many headstones mimic the format of military grave markers. Free, dawn to dusk.
Institute of Illegal Images
Mark McCloud’s private collection of LSD blotter art, housed in his Mission District home. Generally considered the largest collection of its kind. Visits by appointment only.
Isotope Comics Toilet Museum
Hayes Valley comic shop at 326 Fell Street with original artwork painted on toilet seats by working comic artists. Free to view; comics for sale.
Shakespeare Garden
Small walled garden in Golden Gate Park planted with species mentioned in Shakespeare’s works. Each plant labeled with the relevant passage. Free, dawn to dusk.
Tree Fern Dell (Mescaline Grove)
A sunken hollow of towering tree ferns in Golden Gate Park, nicknamed Mescaline Grove since the 1960s. Dense canopy, prehistoric plants, and a two-minute walk that drops you into a rainforest.
Aquatic Park Tombstones
The seawall at Aquatic Park is built with real tombstones from San Francisco’s relocated 19th-century cemeteries. Names and dates still visible in the concrete if you look closely.
Book Club of California
Nonprofit dedicated to fine printing, book arts, and California literary history. Founded 1912. Library, rare books, letterpress exhibitions, and public lectures at 312 Sutter Street, Suite 500.
Fort Miley Batteries
Abandoned Endicott-era coastal defense batteries (built 1899-1902) on the cliffs near Lands End. Concrete bunkers and gun mounts open to walk through. Free, dawn to dusk.
Portals of the Past
Six Corinthian columns from the Towne Mansion (destroyed in the 1906 earthquake) installed at Lloyd Lake in Golden Gate Park in 1909. Best at dawn when the lake is still.
Cloudflare Lava Lamps
Cloudflare’s SoMa lobby at 101 Townsend Street displays a wall of about 100 lava lamps. A camera records the wax motion to help generate cryptographic random numbers. Free, weekday business hours.
Mission Dolores Cemetery
San Francisco’s oldest cemetery, dating to 1776, adjacent to Mission Dolores at 3321 16th Street. About 100 graves from early settlers, Ohlone peoples, and Gold Rush pioneers. Featured in Hitchcock’s Vertigo.
Three Gems (James Turrell Skyspace)
James Turrell skyspace inside a grassy mound in the de Young Museum‘s Osher Sculpture Garden. Free to visit. LED lights around the oculus shift how the sky color appears.
Golden Gate Park Bison Paddock
A herd of American bison has lived in Golden Gate Park since 1891. Small paddock in the western half of the park, free to see from the fence along JFK Drive.
LeRoy King Carousel
A 1906 hand-carved carousel by the creator of Coney Island’s first carousel. Roughly 65 wooden animals inside a glass pavilion at Yerba Buena Gardens. $3 a ride.
Lotta’s Fountain
A cast-iron fountain from 1875 that became the city’s central gathering point after the 1906 earthquake. Still the site of an annual predawn ceremony every April 18th at 5:12 AM.
Alvord Lake Bridge
The first reinforced concrete bridge built in the United States, completed in 1889 and shaped to look like rough stone. Fake stalactites hang from the arch at the Haight Street entrance to Golden Gate Park.
Buena Vista Park Tombstones
San Francisco’s oldest park has 19th-century cemetery headstones built into its footpaths. Fragments of names and dates visible in the stone borders, repurposed when the city moved its dead to Colma.
House of Air
An indoor trampoline park inside a renovated military airplane hangar at Crissy Field in the Presidio. Thousands of square feet of trampolines, ninja course, and foam pits.
Legs of Haight Street
Giant fishnet-stocking legs in red high heels jut from a second-story window above Piedmont Boutique on Haight Street. The legs have been there since 1995. A 30-second photo stop.
Letterform Archive
A hands-on typography and design archive in Dogpatch with over 100,000 items, from medieval manuscripts to punk zines. Staff pull pieces for you to examine. Free visits by appointment.
Sutro Egyptian Collection
About 700 ancient Egyptian artifacts (including two intact mummies) collected by former SF mayor Adolph Sutro in the 1880s. Housed in the free Global Museum at San Francisco State University.
Golden Gate Park Lawn Bowling Club
The oldest municipal lawn bowling club in the United States, operating in Golden Gate Park since 1901. Free lessons on weekends, no reservation needed. Three greens next to Robin Williams Meadow, with an Edwardian clubhouse from 1915.
Jack’s Record Cellar
A record shop at 254 Scott Street that opens only on Saturdays from 2 to 7 PM. Founded in 1951, specializes in 78s and 45s, run by Wade Wright since 1961.
Heineman Building
A 10-story building only 20 feet wide at 130 Bush Street, covered in glazed terra cotta and hammered copper. Built in 1910 as a necktie, belt, and suspender factory by architect George Applegarth.
Spark Social SF
An outdoor food truck park in Mission Bay rotating from a pool of over 200 Bay Area trucks. Permanent bar, four fire pits, and lawn games near Chase Center.
Big Eye Keane Paintings
Margaret Keane’s big-eyed paintings were one of the biggest art phenomena of the 1960s, sold from a San Francisco gallery under her husband’s name. The fraud unraveled in a courtroom paint-off in 1986.
Free Gold Watch
A screen printing shop on Waller Street that also runs a pinball arcade in the back. About 60 machines, 50 cents to $1 a game, one block south of Haight Street.
Golden Fire Hydrant
A gold-painted fire hydrant at 20th and Church that reportedly saved the Mission District during the 1906 earthquake fires. Repainted every April 18th at 5:12 AM.
Circus Center
A nonprofit circus school where you can take a single drop-in trapeze or aerial silks class with no experience. Also hosts public performances in a small theater. Founded in 1984.
Cal Academy Herpetology Collection
The California Academy of Sciences houses the sixth-largest herpetology collection in the world with over 315,000 reptile and amphibian specimens. Behind-the-scenes tours occasionally give access to the research storage.
1908 Cistern Circles
Over 170 gold-painted or brick circles on San Francisco streets mark underground cisterns built after the 1906 earthquake. Each holds 75,000 to 200,000 gallons of emergency firefighting water, and they’re still in active use.
Lincoln Park Steps
Mosaic-tiled staircase at the end of California Street climbing to Lincoln Park and the Legion of Honor. Fewer crowds than the 16th Avenue Steps, with ocean views at the top.
Vermont Street
Potrero Hill’s Vermont Street has seven switchbacks between 20th and 22nd Streets. Site of the annual Bring Your Own Big Wheel race every Easter Sunday.
Lincoln Park
A 100-acre park in northwest San Francisco built over a former cemetery. Home to the Legion of Honor museum, an 18-hole golf course, and access to the Lands End Trail.
Anglers Lodge & Casting Pools
The Golden Gate Angling and Casting Club offers free fly casting lessons in Golden Gate Park, organized in 1933 and casting on three concrete pools built by the WPA in 1938. Patient instructors, no equipment needed.
Claude the Albino Alligator
An albino American alligator at the California Academy of Sciences with white skin and pink eyes. Fewer than 100 albino alligators are known to exist, and Claude was a resident of the Swamp exhibit from 2008 until his death in December 2025.
Hopper’s Hands
A pair of yellow metal hand outlines bolted to a fence behind Fort Point, made by Golden Gate Bridge ironworker Ken Hopper around 2000. Runners high-five them at the turnaround point on the Bay Trail.
16th Avenue Tiled Steps
A 163-step mosaic staircase in the Inner Sunset that runs sea-to-sky, leading up to Grandview Park.
Battery Spencer
A Marin Headlands overlook 500 feet above the Golden Gate Bridge‘s north tower, with the bridge in the foreground and the San Francisco skyline behind it.
Baker Beach
A mile of sand at the southwest edge of the Presidio, with the Golden Gate Bridge visible from the beach.
Coit Tower
An Art Deco tower on Telegraph Hill with panoramic views and Depression-era murals inside. Take the Filbert Steps up through the gardens and wild parrots.
Twin Peaks
The highest point you can drive to in San Francisco at 922 feet. On a clear day you can see from the Farallon Islands to Mount Diablo. Christmas Tree Point is the main viewpoint.
Urban Hike: Stairways of San Francisco
San Francisco has hundreds of public stairways climbing its hillsides. Filbert Steps to Coit Tower, the 16th Avenue Tiled Steps, the Lyon Street Steps, and dozens more, often lined with garden plantings.
Painted Ladies Victorian Walk
The famous row of Victorians on Alamo Square is just the start. San Francisco has roughly 48,000 Victorian and Edwardian homes built between 1849 and 1915.
Mission Mural Walk
Balmy Alley has murals dating to the early 1970s. Clarion Alley‘s project has cycled more than 700 murals since 1992. A self-guided walk through decades of Mission District street art.
Chinatown Walking Tour
The oldest Chinatown in North America. Walk the alleys (Waverly Place, Ross, Spofford) past the Tin How Temple, family-association buildings, and tea shops, not just Grant Avenue’s main strip.
Crissy Field
A restored tidal marsh and waterfront promenade in the Presidio with ground-level views of the Golden Gate Bridge. Flat and easy walking from the Marina to Fort Point.
Lands End
A coastal trail at the northwest edge of San Francisco, about 1.5 miles one way. Cypress trees, shipwreck remains visible at low tide, and a cliffside labyrinth above Mile Rock Beach.
Presidio
A former military base turned national park at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge. 1,500 acres of forests, beaches, trails, and historic buildings.
Dolores Park
16 acres in the Mission District that draws 7,000 to 10,000 people on sunny weekends. Sloped lawn with downtown views, J-Church streetcar running along the western edge.
Golden Gate Park
1,017 acres stretching 3 miles from the Haight to Ocean Beach. Gardens, museums, lakes, a bison herd, a Dutch windmill, and miles of trails.
Asian Art Museum
A comprehensive Asian art collection spanning 6,000 years across every major Asian culture. Housed in the former San Francisco Main Library, a 1917 Beaux-Arts building in Civic Center.
Exploratorium
A hands-on science museum at Pier 15. About 600 exhibits explore perception, physics, and the natural world. Founded in 1969, relocated to the Embarcadero in 2013.
California Academy of Sciences
An aquarium, planetarium, and natural history museum under one living roof in Golden Gate Park. Over 46 million specimens, plus a four-story rainforest dome.
de Young Museum
American art from the 17th century to today, plus international textiles and major traveling exhibitions. The Hamon Observation Tower is free to enter.
SFMOMA
The West Coast’s largest modern art museum spans seven floors of painting, sculpture, photography, and architecture. Free first-floor gallery, no ticket needed.
San Francisco Cable Cars
San Francisco’s cable car system has been running since 1873. A guide to the three lines, the current $12 fare and Cable Car Plus pass, and how to avoid the longest waits at the Powell turnaround.
Alcatraz Island
How to visit Alcatraz: how to book tickets through the official operator, what’s on the audio tour, and what to expect on the ferry from Pier 33.
Mission Community Market
A Thursday afternoon farmers market on Bartlett Street in the Mission. 3pm to 7pm, March through November, run by Foodwise.
Stonestown Farmers Market
Sunday morning farmers market in the Stonestown Galleria parking lot, 9am to 1pm year-round. Free parking. Near SF State.
Clement Street Farmers Market
Sunday morning farmers market on Clement Street in the Inner Richmond, 9am to 2pm year-round. Northern California growers.
Fillmore Farmers Market
A small Saturday morning farmers market at the Fillmore Center plaza, year-round. 9am to 1pm. Next to the Fillmore Auditorium.
Alemany Farmers Market
California’s oldest farmers market, opened in 1943 and operated by the City. Saturdays 6am to 2pm at 100 Alemany Boulevard. EBT accepted.
Heart of the City Farmers Market
A farmer-operated nonprofit market in United Nations Plaza since 1981. Sundays and Wednesdays year-round. EBT and Market Match accepted.
Ferry Plaza Farmers Market
Foodwise’s year-round farmers market outside the Ferry Building. Saturday 8am to 2pm, Tuesday and Thursday 10am to 2pm. EBT and Market Match accepted.
Camera Obscura
A 1946 camera obscura at Lands End that projects the coastline onto a dish inside a small wooden shed. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Palace of Fine Arts
The surviving structure from the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition. Designed by Bernard Maybeck and rebuilt in concrete in the 1960s. Free to visit.
Rite Spot Cafe
A small Mission District bar at Folsom and 17th with live music most nights. Jazz, blues, folk, and singer-songwriters. No cover.
Public Works SF
An electronic music venue on Erie Street off Mission since 2010. House, techno, and bass music with a side patio. Cover $10 to $30.
Oracle Park
Home of the San Francisco Giants since 2000. Waterfront stadium with McCovey Cove past right field and the Bay Bridge past center. Tickets $15 and up.
Gray Area Foundation for the Arts
Nonprofit art and technology center in the historic Grand Theater at 2665 Mission Street, with immersive exhibitions and creative coding workshops. Free to $20.
Fort Mason Center
A 13-acre arts campus in former Army warehouses on the northern waterfront. Theaters, galleries, food events, and views across to the Golden Gate Bridge.
Feinstein’s at the Nikko
A 140-seat cabaret room inside the Hotel Nikko near Union Square. Jazz vocals, Broadway singers, American Songbook, with dinner service. Tickets $40 to $85.
Eclectic Box SF
Multipurpose art and event space at 446 Valencia Street in the Mission, with rotating programming including theater, dance, and pop-ups. Near 16th Street BART.
Dance Mission Theater
Dance school and performance venue on 24th Street in the Mission, with programming from folk to contemporary. $10 to $25. One block from 24th Street BART.
Club Deluxe
A cocktail bar at Haight and Ashbury with live jazz several nights a week. No cover. Open from 1989 until 2023; a revival, The DeLuxe, is slated to reopen in 2026.
Center for New Music
Experimental and contemporary music venue in the Tenderloin with concerts and sound installations. Sliding scale $5 to $20, near Powell BART.
Brick and Mortar Music Hall
A 200-capacity room on Mission Street for indie rock, garage, punk, and electronic since 2011. Stage near floor level. Tickets $10 to $20. 16th Street BART.
Brava Theater
A 300-seat theater on 24th Street in the Mission presenting work by women, LGBTQ artists, and artists of color. Founded 1986. Tickets $15 to $40.
Biscuits and Blues
A basement blues club on Mason Street near Union Square, open since 1995. Live blues and soul most nights, Southern food, about 100 seats. Cover $15 to $25.
American Conservatory Theater (ACT)
Regional theater company since 1965, with two downtown venues. Tickets $25 to $110. Powell BART.
Alonzo King LINES Ballet
Contemporary ballet company founded in 1982 by Alonzo King. Performs at YBCA and other Bay Area theaters. Tickets $30 to $95.
A.C.T.’s Toni Rembe Theater
ACT’s flagship 1,000-seat theater on Geary Street, built in 1910 and restored after the 1989 earthquake. Larger classic and contemporary productions. Tickets $25 to $110. Powell BART.
A.C.T.’s Strand Theater
ACT’s 280-seat second stage on Market Street, built as a 1917 movie theater. New plays, adaptations, and smaller-scale work. Tickets $25 to $90. Civic Center BART.
Fisherman’s Wharf
The northern waterfront stretch from Pier 39 to Aquatic Park. Working fishing docks at Pier 45, historic ships at Hyde Street Pier, and the original Ghirardelli factory site.
Ferry Building
The 1898 ferry terminal at the foot of Market Street, now a food marketplace and the Saturday morning home of the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market.
Cable Cars
The only city-operated cable car system still in daily service, with three lines climbing the hills from downtown. Technology patented by Andrew Hallidie in 1871.
Mission Dolores
San Francisco’s oldest building, an adobe chapel completed in 1791 that survived the 1906 earthquake. Founded as the sixth Spanish mission in California.
Golden Gate Bridge
The 1.7-mile span connecting San Francisco to Marin, opened in 1937. Walking, cycling, and viewpoints on both sides.
Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory
Fortune cookies folded by hand in a Ross Alley shop, operating since 1962.
Washington Square Park
A 19th-century public square at the base of Telegraph Hill. Morning tai chi, afternoon picnics, and Saints Peter and Paul Church on the east side.
City Lights Bookstore
The North Beach bookstore that opened in 1953 and published Allen Ginsberg’s Howl. Three floors of books at Columbus and Broadway.
