Modern Vespa

I know there are several members on here who live in or close by this fair city. I am looking for advice about visiting for a week during the first week of October with my wife. I worked there years ago doing some artesian plaster on a building on Mission. During down time, I would with walk around the city with other guys on the crew. Other than some of the obvious touristy places, I really enjoyed the city. But it has been ten years and I wonder how much the city has changed. Is it still worth visiting? Good places to eat, visit, etc...? Thanks

I think SF is worth visiting, but I'm biased in living near it for a while and using it for my own specific purposes (i.e. going to every place that makes a specific thing and comparing them). It probably depends on what you like and your definition of a good time. I think living near something and visiting a place are different modes, so I'm not quite sure how you're looking to spend time there with your SO.

Questions I'd ask somebody visiting are: are you using SF as a hub to get other places nearby, or looking to be in the city? Are you looking to see things, eat things, be outside (nice time of year)? How spendy are you going to be and what is your tolerance for local flavor?

Where to stay is an interesting question too. I don't have a lot of experience with that, but when we've had people come out, they have sometimes stayed in Oakland or Berkeley or somewhere quieter and taken the BART in for activities.

Is there any other detail or ideas that you have?

Will probably take a day trip to Yosemite, another up to John Muir woods. Other than that, the rest will be around the city itself. It will be a modest budget, no 4 star hotels, just a safe, comfy place is good, no pools, spas, etc.. We are simple people and will walk most of the time with the occasional cable car or bus to get to a different part of the city. Chinatown is a must, if nothing else, for the great Dim Sum and the wonderful neighborhood. Other than that, we are open to possibilities.

Some of my favorite places from my time there:

• Tunnel Tops park: opened last year, and the best park in the city. CalTrans took down Doyle Drive, the old onramp to the Golden Gate Bridge, and replaced it with a new freeway. They build tunnels over the freeway, and a park over the tunnels (hence the name). Now you can walk from the Disney Museum to Sports Basement/Crissy Field (the bayshore). They have food trucks, so the former Picnic in the Presidio is effectively every day now.
• Andytown: my favorite coffee shop. They have many locations near Ocean Beach (as well as one at the Transbay Park downtown). Their signature drink is the Snowy Plover, named after the beach bird, which is a double shot of espresso and handmade simple syrup floating in San Pellegrino, topped with the most decadent handmade whipped cream you've ever had. Their newest location is on the site of the former Playland at the Beach amusement park where the It's It ice cream sandwich was invented; hence, they have an It's It affogato at that location in homage. Their breakfast sandwich is an eggy grilled cheese that makes an excellent beach snack, as does their chocolate chip cookie.
• Pizzetta 211 is a cozy pizzeria with a few tables and top notch ingredients. Think a margherita pizza but with mascarpone cheese and arugula. It's thin crust, not quite Italian style, but excellent. Get it with a glass of red wine.
• Mandalay is a Burmese restaurant, a delicious Asian ethnic variety that you don't see very often. Mango chicken, Mandalay Special Noodle, and the Mandalay Cooler (ginger lemonade) are all worth trying.
• Cafe Aquatica in Jenner is a rad daytrip if you've got a Vespa. You ride along the Tomales Bay to their patio overlooking the Russian River delta. Get there before 3pm on the weekend for live music.
• Ridgecrest Blvd is a ribbon of road unfurled along the top of Mt Tam - also phenomenal if you've got a Vespa.
• Twin Peaks is a fun ride too if you don't wanna cross the bridge. Gorgeous view of the city and the ocean, plus you can watch the planes take off from SFO.
• Everyone has a favorite burrito place. My go-to is the al pastor super burrito at Street Taco on Haight.
  

Eating tends to be a major portion of what I do, so when I go to the city things sometimes look like:

* Hayes Valley: a nice little mid/high-end eating retail area that has a cute little park and great for browsing, noshing, and people watching, as well as some streets closed down for pedestrians. We sometimes go to Chez Maman for a kir royale and a slow start of a day in SF.

* North Beach. Two spots we often hit are XOX Truffles and Stella Pastery. Good access to the Embarcadero and all the stuff along there and the main Chinatown around Stockton.

* The main Chinatown. A big mix of different kinds of restaurants, good and not-so-good. We have recently liked the very traditional Hong Kong-style Yin Du Wonton Noodle, Good Mong Kok (although v/busy), and Mow Lee Shing Kee & Company. The last is a small-scale sausage and dried meats concern that leads you to a lot of fun corners finding it; their lapcheong is great, but it's a takeaway goods store, not a restaurant.

* If you're feeling walky, we sometimes start noodling around downtown (Embarcadero or Montgomery BART), walk up by Grace Cathedral, through the Nob Hill neighborhood (great views and posh) and then one of the nice streets west to get to Japantown and the Fillmore neighborhoods. Coffee Movement is a nice little cafe in an interesting around along the way depending on how you go.

* A little west of Japantown, is a smaller Chinatown (and general eating and shopping) area on Clement, west of Arguello. That also bumps up against the old Russian neighborhood on Geary (there are still a few nice supermarkets and restaurants/bakeries) and then another nice little Asian and assorted area on Clement again, before hitting Point Lobos and the Ocean Beach areas.

* The area around Valencia and Mission is also a fast-changing and often fun area. If you're into a chill experience in a fun neighborhood, I would highly recommend one (or two!) of the chocolate classes at Dandelion Chocolate.

* A fun side trip from SF might be taking the BART over to Berkeley, walking around the UC Berkeley campus (very pretty), then either taking the Strawberry Canyon trail up to the arboretum or heading north to The Rose Garden/Codornices park, then maybe Indian Rock for sunset. There are also a ton of great hiking trails above Berkeley with spectacular views. Berkeley also has some storied food like the Cheeseboard and Chez Panisse. A personal favorite is the somewhat spendy Ippuku in downtown Berkeley. The East Bay area also boasts a lot of wineries, breweries, and distilleries.

If you are on two wheels, one of the nice things about SF is the cheap dedicated motorcycle parking and the fairly lax official rules about where one is allowed to park a motorcycle. (Whether it is upright when you come back for it is a separate issue.)

If you have things that sound interesting to you or you know more about your plans and are looking for ideas, let the thread know! I'm not familiar with a lot of what mayorofnow wrote (onto the TODO list)--there is a lot to do and see for such a little place!

Thanks for the responses so far - good stuff!

A day trip to Yosemite from the San Francisco? 5-7 hours one way!

Don't get me wrong Yosemite is very much worth visiting. A day trip from San Francisco just ain't enough time.

It's your trip.

We will drive out one day early, stay the night, get back the next day late. Or the day after. That's the plan anyway.

Do they still have mapping apps that give you real-time location of doo-doo on the sidewalks so it can be avoided?

I think so, I just saw this the other day. It's crazy in this day and age that this happens.

Was just out there last week. Took my daughter and granddaughter to see the sights. We did a day trip to Yosemite and it was a very long day! I like your idea of staying the night.

It's changed some in the last few years. I hadn't been there since 2019. Some restaurants and stores didn't make it through Covid. It's still worth the trip. Still one of my favorite cities.

The national press is really hurting San Francisco's image with all the reporting on homeless street encampments. It has been a bundle of years since I was last in San Fran - it was gorgeous. Now, that would be great town to zip around in on a rented 50cc scoot. You could explore every lane and view.

Bob Copeland

Yes, it would be great to travel by scoot. but my wife doesn't ride, nor does she like riding behind me. I'm good with waking, I'm in no hurry. This is going to be our biggest trip since our honeymoon 39 years ago. She has been wanting to go out there for years and now that I am retired, I no longer have any excuses left not to go.

St. Francis Hotel may have decent rates. Park the scooter. Walk, take public transport. North Beach for Molinari's Deli, Cafe La Press on Grant, Tadish on California, Sabella La Torre on the wharf for hot chowder & beer. Slow down, smell the coffee and enjoy the city i called home.

Are you saying that reporting on the homeless encampments and rampant crime in SF is somehow unfair? I have a cousin in SF who sent me a phone video of people breaking into a parked SUV. It wasn't a video he cribbed off the internet - it was his video, he filmed it. He says it's the new normal out there.

Are you saying it would be better to not report this in the national news? For what reason would that be? because it portrays SF in a negative light? Maybe SF needs this negative exposure. Because to go on thinking everything's OK and "nothing to see here" is rather irresponsible, and the optics of such are quite suspicious.

The decline of SF is real, it is not propaganda. I'm glad the press is reporting the facts about that. I do realize some take issue with facts especially when those facts do not agree with furthering their respective ideologies. But facts are facts. You can't make facts out of opinions. You can twist perceptions but reality doesn't budge, ever.

I'm currently in SF at the moment. Works sending me here two weeks out of every month. If you want trouble, you can very easily find it now. If you want to stay in the well lit tourist areas, you'll be fine!

Homeless are all drug addicts. My wife was an ER nurse and has pointed out all the physical signs of drug use. Keep a wide berth and keep walking. Don't feed the bears!

Biggest thing I would say is if driving, absolutely remove/hide everything from your parked car. Even down to the cell phone cord. Smash and grabs are rampant now. If you find a parking spot with broken glass on the curb, triple check the car is empty before leaving. Our guys won't park in the lot anymore, everyone parks inside the gate.

If you want to relive your Cheech and Chong glory days, don't buy weed in the city. Taxes are outrageous. Buy it in the suburbs and bring it in with you. 🤣✌🏻👽

Last comment made me laugh out loud, MJ. But it doesn't apply to mt - I don't burn or drink. I'm stupid enough and don't need anymore help in that regard. Thx for the other comments, though.

You can't go to Muir Woods without a reservation. You also should check carefully about Yosemite because they have lots of controls and restrictions and lots of road work this summer. And don't forget your sweatshirts! Sometimes it's warm in October, but it's in the 50's at some point every day, pretty much all year.

Thx for the suggestions. Yeah, I'm finding out more everyday, looks like it is going to happen because my wife has been wanting to visit for many years. So it is going to be a wedding anniversary present (39).

Just got back from Yosemite a couple weeks ago, we were there on weekdays and it still got pretty crowded.

Try to get inside the park well before 8am, before the rangers man the booths, no gates just drive right in, they'll let you pay the $35 on the way out, if you go in after 8am rumor has it there can be a line of cars for miles to enter the park and parking inside can sometimes be impossible to find if you don't get there super early.

Also by bringing bicycles we saw so much more than we could have compared to just on foot or on foot and car, we never fired up our car once while there, easy riding in the valley to the trailheads, villages, restaurants and sights.
Rumor also has it that you can't rely on getting a rental bike while there.

Yosemite and Santa Cruz are two places I'd love to go by Vespa but haven't yet.

A scooter in San Francisco can be a spectacular experience, but it ain't for the timid. Scooters are common here so car drivers aren't likely to be hostile or fearful, but they will be close to you, a lot. There are trolley tracks that can throw you, steel plates that can be slippery, very steep hills and, even tougher, places where you end up having to stop on a side hill and can't put a foot down on the downhill side. And pedestrians all over the place. And deranged wanderers who feel the need to stop in the middle of a traffic lane to shout about something. And views of the Bay and the Gate that will make your heart swell in your chest. Which is all to say, it ain't for the timid.

Only spent a couple days in San Fran, but chiming in, in case you decide you feel like riding.

I rented a Harley-Davidson Fatboy from Eagle Rider and really enjoyed the experience and the advice of the crew over there. Basically I told them the route I was planning on taking and they told me to do it all backwards lol. They said if I followed my way I would be dealing with fog along the way that would obstruct my views, but if I went the same route the opposite way it would clear out by the time I came to it.

That wasn't something I ever considered as an inlander. I'm sure if you were planning on riding others could help you figure out a nice route.