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My list of more than 125 fun things I can easily list thousands of great things to do in the San Francisco Bay Area, but here is my SHORT LIST. The fun is always close by in the greater Bay Area. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or comments. Email (909) 557-7151 Updated August 25, 2011
Please feel free to contact me should you have any questions or suggestions. EMail If I was going to SF as a tourist, I would park my car in the garage below Union Square Park in downtown. I would spend the day walking around Union Square, Chinatown and North Beach. The walk from the parking area to the furthest point is only three miles. San Francisco is a small town. Remember to wear some good walking shoes and a fleece to keep warm during the summer, a jacket the rest of the year. Always dress in layers in San Francisco. February 2, 2012
Here is my One Day Arts Walking Tour (Two, and three days is always better)
Suggestions from Tamy Ojala 01/2012: Pt. Reyes Station-Visit this little seaside cove town of mom and pop shops, great bookstores, art galleries, and wonderful little organic restaurants and bakeries. Then take a 20 minute drive to see the lighthouse and beautiful coastal drive. Don't forget to take a tour of Cowgirl Creamery and stop in their shop at the cheese artisan. There is a great Parisian herbalist who owns a little shop called Garden of Eden who can make a remedy for any ailment you may have. Stop in Bolinas on the way back and go to the large "free bookstore" exchange a book or pay a nominal fee, there are no attendants, an honor system bookstore. Have a snack at the Bolinas Cafe, get the best French onion soup West of NYC and have a glass of local wine, watch the locals. Or if up for dinner, get fish, it is locally caught, right of the Bolinas Bay. A day at the beautiful scenic Headland, across the GG Bridge, go through the one-way tunnel, take in the scenery, take a visit to the Headlands Center for the Arts and peruse the gallery, go up and visit the lighthouse, then take a ride down to the beach and have a picnic, stop at the Marin Mammal Center on the back and visit a sea-lion or porpoise. Stop in quaint and picturesque downtown Sausalito and get an ice cream at Lapphert's old-fashioned ice cream shop and stroll around the famous little seaside town and peruse it's many art galleries and shops, perhaps get dinner at Avatar's, the most tasty infusion of interesting ever Indian-Mexican Cuisine, the owner will come out and great you and create a special dish. SF- Take a stroll up to the top of Nob Hill's San Francisco Art Institute, have lunch in the SFAI organic cafe, have the best view of the SF Bay from the rooftop, Alcatraz, Coit Tower, Fisherman's Wharf, Nob Hill, North Beach... all gloriously in front of you. Don't forget to check out the amazing Diego Rivera Mural or see the vicinity where he and Frida Kahlo stayed in the back area, check out the galleries, visit the photo department that Ansel Adams founded. Perhaps a lecture from a famous artist will be going on at the time of your visit! Walk over and join the tourists at Lombard Street, a minute away. You might get a glance of the famous beat and owner of City Lights Bookstore, Lawrence Ferighetti who often takes strolls here! SF-Get the area's best seafood at the Pacific Cafe on Geary Street, although, maybe I shouldn't be posting this, as it used to be a best kept secret of locals! Be sure and try the "sand dabs" and seasonal abalone, get the yummy on-the-house shrimp-louie salad and fresh baked sourdough bread. It is small and they don't take reservations, so be prepared to wait, we have had to wait for up to 2 hours in recent years, however, they give you free wine while you are waiting, if you have good conversation with you, it is worth the wait! Afterwards, take a short drive or even walk to the breathtaking historical site where the Sutro Baths used to be. Walk around the ruins, stroll into the tunnel-cave that juts out to the ocean, feel as if you are underwater, listen to the sounds of the pounding surf, and look through the crevices and holes at the glorious ocean. Toy Boat Cafe on Clement St. SF- Serving up countless confections (think frozen bananas, affogato, ice cream sandwiches, heaped waffle cones and slices of old-fashioned cakes and pies) and some gourmet sandwiches, this colorful retro cafe is an eyeful and a mouthful. An old-fashioned coin-operated mechanical horse usually topped with over-sugared children is a focal point amid the tables and shelves of cartoon action figures. While you're waiting for your double-scoop Double Rainbow ice cream, peruse the whimsical selection of vintage toys--nothing better than a stick-on mustache to complement your mint chip sundae. I have spotted Robin William's here more than once; it is one of his local favs. Visit Oakland's 3 Grand Art Deco Theatres, the Fox, the Paramount, and end up the Grand Lake Theatre.! A tip to the grand past. The architecture at all theatres are lavish and the owner of the Grand Lake always puts an intelligent, usually left leaning, political message on the marquee. There is a great coffee shop/ bakery called "Day of the Dead" filled with Dios los Muertos relics right next door to the Grand Lake and a neat bookstore. The Oakland Museum-a wonderful museum of art and the best example of California's history in California. Great for kids. They also have first Friday events with music and food. Frankly, I was shocked, but I would say the content is better than most of the museums in SF, under one roof. Best example of California's artists. The lovely Island town of Alameda- Where the speed limit in this old-fashioned town is 25 MPH! Stroll Mayberry town's Park Street of eclectic Mom and Pop specialty stores, the only old-fashioned newspaper stand left in the West, outdoor ice rink, bookstores, art deco film theatre, and eclectic restaurants, coined as the new gourmet ghetto, and don't forget the best and largest antique fair in the West outside of Pasadena every first Sunday. Also, the Gold Coast has some of the best examples of architecture in the Bay Area, an architectural students dream, from all in one stroll, there are always historical walks going on. See the USS Hornet, amazing volunteer run. You can even sleep on board this haunted ship that once housed 20,000 men! Alameda- Stonehenge Storybook Community- Architectural community right out of Grimm’s fairy tales! With its backdrop of quaint cottages and lush landscaping, the rustic stone arch of Stonehenge invites us to enter another world. Glimpses of half-timbered houses clustered around shared gardens bring to mind medieval hamlets and village greens, as imagined by an illustrator of a 1920s book of fairy tales. The scaled-down, picturesque composition of the houses imparts an air of unreality, not unlike a stage set. The residences employ faux half-timbering, steeply pitched roofs, round turrets, and tall chimneys to produce the medieval effect. Rough-hewn stonework and hammered metalwork (latches, handles, hinges, and sconces) are designed to appear hand-made. Integral landscaping, including winding paths, benches, and fountains, unify these richly textured parts into an enchanting whole, very interesting architecture. Tilden Park in the Berkeley Hills-All in the beautiful Berkeley Hills, feels far away from Berkeley campus, downtown. Take a ride on a restored Victorian merry-go-round and have an ice-cream cone with a handmade cone, take a 3 minute drive down the lane and visit the cows, goats, pigs, sheep, chickens, and ducks at the Little Farm, take a ride through the redwoods in a small gage-train and see the model train sets. Visit the Botanical Gardens. Have a picnic at the lake. Scotts Valley-Roaring Camp--brings you back to California's Gold Days. Makes you feel like you are on the set of "Little House on the Prairie'. Ride an antique train to Santa Cruz through the majestic redwoods. Feels like you are on a movie set, bring a picnic lunch. Walk over to Henry Cowell State Park and see the majestic redwoods. There is a tree that has been rumored that Teddy Roosevelt slept in when the area was a "tree house resort", you can walk in it now, and it housed a bed, table, and a woodstove inside a redwood tree. Niles, CA Silent Movie Theatre-See silent films every weekend in this theatre that used to be Charlie Chaplin's first studio accompanied by live music. Old-fashioned popcorn, candy, and drinks. Come early and stroll in the quaint town with a plethora of antique stores, a lovely train museum where you can board a train and take a trip through "Little Yosemite"....the valley of Sunol. Where Chaplin made his first films! Thanks Tamy for your excellent suggestions...
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Copyright 2012 Jesús Manuel Mena Garza. All rights reserved.
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