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21 Offbeat Things to do in San Francisco


Contrary to popular belief, a visit to San Francisco needn't cost a fortune. In fact, it's hard to think of another city which offers so much to so many for so little. In part that's due to the incredibly beautiful backdrop: just wandering across the hills, soaking in blue-bay and white-city views, is a major pleasure. But it's also due to San Francisco's casual, bohemian, and bountiful spirit. Throughout its history, people who had little money but a great desire for fun-hopeful 49ers, bongo-banging beatniks, poverty-stricken artists and struggling writers-have always known how to have a good but inexpensive time here.

 

The following diversions are so low-cost that some are even free. All phone numbers have a 415 area code.

1. Forget that early-morning jog for once and take off instead to Washington Square (Union Street and Columbus Avenue). Here, at about 8 each morning, the Chinese community turns out to practice Tai Chi, and no one minds if you follow along. Dress comfortably. Celebrate afterward with a cappucino at nearby Caffe Trieste (609 Vallejo), one of the city's oldest coffee houses. Info: 392-6739.

2. Listen to jazz al fresco any Saturday afternoon in spring, summer and fall at The Ramp, a longtime waterfront hangout. Sip a beer, nibble on barbecued ribs, and take in the great local (and sometimes national!) talent. During the week there's no jazz but the burgers, bay views and dry-hauled boats can't be beat! No cover, and prices are low. Info: 621-2378.

3. Learn to meditate at the San Francisco Zen Center. Free each Saturday morning. Info: 863-3136.

4. Jump off the Powell-Mason cable car at Washington & Mason Streets to visit the Cable Car Museum with an underground viewing room that lets you see the cables at work. Photographs, memorabilia, and vintage cable cars are on display. When you're finished, visit nearby Chinatown or hop back on the next car to continue your journey. Free. Info: 474-1887.

5. Take a docent-led walking tour through "Gold Rush City," reliving the days of San Francisco's saloons, brothels, and sudden riches. Free each Wednesday and Saturday. Info: 557-4266.

6. Pick up a sourdough loaf, some good cheese, and a bottle of wine, and then hop a morning ferry from Fisherman's Wharf to historic and beautiful Angel Island, once home to a prosperous band of Miwok indians. Take the 5-mile perimeter hike with its astounding views of San Francisco, Alcatraz Island, and Marin County. Enjoy your picnic on a pristine strip of white-sand beach or a sunny bluff overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge. Later, relax on the grass landing beside the ferry dock, watching the excitement of at least one ferry's arrival and departure before you head back to the city in the late afternoon. Info: 546-BOAT.

7. Row your loved one around and about Golden Gate Park's Stow Lake. Take a picnic aboard, or buy a burger at the snack bar. Boats rent by the hour. Info: 752-0347.

8. Stop at Greens-one of the world's best vegetarian restaurants -- and get a tofu sandwich or black bean soup from the takeout counter. Once outside, turn left and head for the docks. Find a spot that suits you. Eat your lunch and watch the sailboats, windsurfers, and massive container ships strut their stuff atop the water.

9. Attend a performance of West Coast Live, the City's only live-performance radio show. It's San Francisco Vaudeville, hosted by Sedge Thomson (with bits of Garrison Keillor and Johnny Carson thrown in). You never know what famous personality or Andalusian string band will show up. Broadcast from the Exploratorium each Saturday, from 10 a.m. to noon. Info: 664-9500.

10. Stroll around Yerba Buena Gardens, one of the city's newest treasures. Located in artsy SOMA, the beautifully-landscaped Gardens are filled with sculpture and afford an unusual view of downtown from the south. At lunchtime you can stretch out in the sun and watch working San Francisco-secretaries, artists, lawyers, bike messengers-stroll along. At night, when the lights come on, downtown looks exciting and futuristic, like something out of Fritz Lang's Metropolis. Entrance to the gardens is free. 701 Mission Street (between Third and Fourth Streets).

11. While you're at Yerba Buena, visit one of the nearby museums. The SF Museum of Modern Art (151 Third Street, 357-4000) has a fine collection and usually a touring show. The Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (701 Mission, 978-2787) offers up one cutting-edge exhibit after another. The Cartoon Art Museum (814 Mission, 227-8666) traces cartoon history with changing exhibits.

12. Visit the city's most unusual retail store, the tiny and gorgeously-decorated Paxton Gate at 1204 Stevenson Street (a block or so from the sensational, ever-popular Zuni Restaurant). It's hard to get across just how nifty Paxton Gate is; suffice it to say that if you're looking to buy a mounted giant green walking-stick insect, a taxidermied mouse dressed up like Hamlet, a bromeliad mounted on cactus wood, or some gardening tools hand-forged in Japan, this is the place to go! Info: 255-5955.

13. Browse the exhibits at the San Francisco Art Institute (800 Chestnut), oldest art school in the west and alma mater of some of the nation's most acclaimed artists. Displays here are always a surprise, sure to be innovative (and sometimes shocking!). Check out the Diego Rivera Gallery with its huge Rivera mural. It's all free. When you're through, enjoy an inexpensive and very good lunch at the rooftop café, where the views are among the City's best.

14. Buy a copy of the beatnik's war cry, Howl, at the City Lights Bookstore (261 Columbus Avenue). Founded by beat poet and painter Lawrence Ferlinghetti in 1953, City Lights was the nation's first paperback bookstore. Cross Kerouac Alley to Vesuvio's Bar, another 50s hangout. Sip a beer, read your paperback, and howl at passersby. You'll often spot Ferlinghetti in the upper-floor office.

15. Tour San Francisco's oldest remaining building, historic Mission Dolores (Dolores Avenue @ 16th Street). Built in 1782, it was the sixth California Mission established by Father Junipero Serra. The Mission retains its adobe walls, original tiles, timbers lashed together with rawhide, hand-carved altars -- it's the real thing! Info: 621-8203.

16. Save money by spending it at the clothing factory outlets! Most are located near each other in SOMA (the area South of Market Street). You'll find top-name outlets like ACA Joe, Georgiou, and North Face, as well as dozens of lesser-known brands. A good place to start is in the 600 block of Third Street, and then branch out. Most outlet stores sell a Factory Outlet map to guide you ... happy shopping!

17. Put on your walking shoes and take the Hyde Street cable car to Aquatic Park. Turn left to follow the waterfront. Just before the Municipal Pier, turn left again. Go up a hill; in a short while you'll descend a long flight of steps on the right into Fort Mason. This area is home to a few small museums (Museo ItaloAmericano, Craft & Folk Arts, Mexican). Continue along the waterfront. You'll wander past the Marina Green, a favored kite-flying spot. Just beyond the St. Francis Yacht Club you'll hit a long white sandy beach, a popular dog-walking, wind-surfing and jogging spot. At its end you'll find Ft. Point (circa 1853) nestled beneath the Golden Gate Bridge. The fort, which holds a small museum, is fun to explore.

When you're through, retrace your steps to the cable car. The entire round trip is about five miles. Walking swiftly, you can make it in an hour, but there's so much to see and do that it might well take an entire afternoon. And the best thing is, it's free!

18. Check out the jam sessions most nights and Sunday afternoons at tiny Pier 23 on the Embarcadero. Stay away if you don't like crowds-this place is always jam-packed. However, for the price of a beer or a mineral water you'll hear some of the best music around. Info: 362-5125.

19. Enjoy more than 3,000 varieties of trees, shrubs and flowers at Strybing Arboretum in Golden Gate Park. You'll get delightfully lost on the always-beautiful but sometimes-labyrinthine walkways. The color show changes dramatically with the seasons. Info: 661-0822.

20. Spirit the kids away for an afternoon at the Exploratorium, the hands-on science museum that has sparked dozens of imitations around the world. More than 500 exhibits invite viewer participation. People gladly make fools of themselves here by shouting into snaking tubes, strumming weird-looking guitars, flashing strobe lights at their friends, or sending their voices rocketing from one side of a room to another. Kids love this place! Free first Wednesday of each month. Info: 563-7337.

21. Sip a martini or a Virgin Mary at Maxfield's Bar in the Sheraton Palace Hotel (Market & New Montgomery). What makes this bar better than most others is the backdrop: a gigantic, highly-colored Maxfield Parrish painting called The Pied Piper. Once you feast your eyes on this astonishing work, you'll visit it again and again. Info: 392-8600.

12. Visit the city's most unusual retail store, the tiny and gorgeously-decorated Paxton Gate at 1204 Stevenson Street (a block or so from the sensational, ever-popular Zuni Restaurant). It's hard to get across just how nifty Paxton Gate is; suffice it to say that if you're looking to buy a mounted giant green walking-stick insect, a taxidermied mouse dressed up like Hamlet, a bromeliad mounted on cactus wood, or some gardening tools hand-forged in Japan, this is the place to go! Info: 255-5955.

13. Browse the exhibits at the San Francisco Art Institute (800 Chestnut), oldest art school in the west and alma mater of some of the nation's most acclaimed artists. Displays here are always a surprise, sure to be innovative (and sometimes shocking!). Check out the Diego Rivera Gallery with its huge Rivera mural. It's all free. When you're through, enjoy an inexpensive and very good lunch at the rooftop café, where the views are among the City's best.

14. Buy a copy of the beatnik's war cry, Howl, at the City Lights Bookstore (261 Columbus Avenue). Founded by beat poet and painter Lawrence Ferlinghetti in 1953, City Lights was the nation's first paperback bookstore. Cross Kerouac Alley to Vesuvio's Bar, another 50s hangout. Sip a beer, read your paperback, and howl at passersby. You'll often spot Ferlinghetti in the upper-floor office.

15. Tour San Francisco's oldest remaining building, historic Mission Dolores (Dolores Avenue @ 16th Street). Built in 1782, it was the sixth California Mission established by Father Junipero Serra. The Mission retains its adobe walls, original tiles, timbers lashed together with rawhide, hand-carved altars -- it's the real thing! Info: 621-8203.

16. Save money by spending it at the clothing factory outlets! Most are located near each other in SOMA (the area South of Market Street). You'll find top-name outlets like ACA Joe, Georgiou, and North Face, as well as dozens of lesser-known brands. A good place to start is in the 600 block of Third Street, and then branch out. Most outlet stores sell a Factory Outlet map to guide you ... happy shopping!

17. Put on your walking shoes and take the Hyde Street cable car to Aquatic Park. Turn left to follow the waterfront. Just before the Municipal Pier, turn left again. Go up a hill; in a short while you'll descend a long flight of steps on the right into Fort Mason. This area is home to a few small museums (Museo ItaloAmericano, Craft & Folk Arts, Mexican). Continue along the waterfront. You'll wander past the Marina Green, a favored kite-flying spot. Just beyond the St. Francis Yacht Club you'll hit a long white sandy beach, a popular dog-walking, wind-surfing and jogging spot. At its end you'll find Ft. Point (circa 1853) nestled beneath the Golden Gate Bridge. The fort, which holds a small museum, is fun to explore.

When you're through, retrace your steps to the cable car. The entire round trip is about five miles. Walking swiftly, you can make it in an hour, but there's so much to see and do that it might well take an entire afternoon. And the best thing is, it's free!

18.
Check out the jam sessions most nights and Sunday afternoons at tiny Pier 23 on the Embarcadero. Stay away if you don't like crowds-this place is always jam-packed. However, for the price of a beer or a mineral water you'll hear some of the best music around. Info: 362-5125.

19. Enjoy more than 3,000 varieties of trees, shrubs and flowers at Strybing Arboretum in Golden Gate Park. You'll get delightfully lost on the always-beautiful but sometimes-labyrinthine walkways. The color show changes dramatically with the seasons. Info: 661-0822.

20. Spirit the kids away for an afternoon at the Exploratorium, the hands-on science museum that has sparked dozens of imitations around the world. More than 500 exhibits invite viewer participation. People gladly make fools of themselves here by shouting into snaking tubes, strumming weird-looking guitars, flashing strobe lights at their friends, or sending their voices rocketing from one side of a room to another. Kids love this place! Free first Wednesday of each month. Info: 563-7337.

21. Sip a martini or a Virgin Mary at Maxfield's Bar in the Sheraton Palace Hotel (Market & New Montgomery). What makes this bar better than most others is the backdrop: a gigantic, highly-colored Maxfield Parrish painting called The Pied Piper. Once you feast your eyes on this astonishing work, you'll visit it again and again. Info: 392-8600.