These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things: Part II
- ckesta
- Apr 3
- 4 min read
Having been a hotel concierge for thirty plus years, it is not unusual for a guest to come to my desk and ask for a restaurant recommendation. Sometimes they have one in mind they read about before arriving at the hotel. Like I do for many visitors to the city, I try to find out what kind of cuisine they like. Every now and then, I get the question, "What are your favorite places?"
With over three thousand restaurants in San Francisco, and I don't know how many bars, there is no shortage of personal recommendations I can make. In fact, I used to joke with my hotel guests and inform them that San Francisco has 3000 restaurants, and I am unfortunately woefully only familiar with just 600 of them, I disclose hanging my head.
In addition to places to eat, I have spots for good views, cheap dates, hiking, and many other varied activities and locations I've discovered over the years. Therefore, and without fanfare, here are a few more of my favorite things.
Hiking
I am an avid hiker, yet San Francisco is the second most densely populated city in the United States. However, about a fifth of the city's land is green space. That means, even on public transportation nature is never more than a few stops away. I've written about hiking in San Francisco previously:
But let me add two more: Fort Funston. Way out in the most southern and western edge of San Francisco rests a former WWII era gun battery, which has now been converted to public use. The sheer cliffs backdropped by the Pacific Ocean, make for a dramatic view. This has also been a destination for kite flyers, dog walkers, and kids of all ages.
Fort Funston
In the aforementioned article, Hiking The Rugged Environs of San Francisco, I referenced San Francisco's own rainforest on Mount Sutro, but let me give it a shout-out again. Once you are in the middle of it, you will feel like you are in Costa Rica, not San Francisco.
The second place to absorb nature is Crissy Field, on the northern edge of the Presidio and just east of the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a marshland that had existed since before the days of the Spanish Conquistadors. In 1919 the U.S. Army converted it to a landing strip for small aircraft, essentially filling in the bay. When the Presidio became a national park in 1994, a grassroots campaign grew to restore Crissy Field to its original wetland, tidal marsh configuration. Over a million people a year now come to Crissy Field to not only hike but birdwatch and picnic as well.
Museums and Galleries
In my article, Unique San Francisco https://www.sfhotelstories.com/post/unique-san-francisco, I referenced the awesome Creativity Explored gallery, but I feel compelled to enlighten you to the Tenderloin Museum. That's right, I said the Tenderloin Museum. This little gem extols the virtues and history of what many San Franciscans consider our worse neighborhood. Even though on first appearance is looks like Skid Row, beneath those strata is a community rich in history and culture and the Tenderloin Museum shares those unknown wonders.
Another overlooked museum has the impressive name, the International Art Museum of America, and punches above its weight class. Their website states: " The International Art Museum of America collects and exhibits outstanding works by famous artists. As an international public art museum, it is committed to assuring that the exhibited artworks meet discerning world-class standards of excellence.” The museum also has events for the public as well as an eclectic collection of styles.
Cheap Date
I was once a starving artist, and didn't often have the money to properly wine and dine dates. I persevered to find the best places to go on a budget (and by that I mean for free) and still impress the girl I was trying to woo.
The Musée Mécanique at Fisherman's Wharf rescued many of the old arcade games and lovingly restored them to their original design; some of them dating back over 100 years. This is a great place to go on a cheap date, all you need is a fist full of quarters and you can enjoy them as generations of flapper girls and Bobby-Soxers did decades before.
If you are a San Francisco citizen you can go to the public gardens for free, with proof of ID. Both the world-famous Japanese Tea Gardens and the San Francisco Botanical Gardens are just minutes apart by foot in Golden Gate Park. At 55 acres, the San Francisco Botanical Gardens is peppered with little nooks and shady glades, featuring benches overlooking lush ponds. Even if you are not a citizen, but still cheap, the San Francisco Botanical Gardens are FREE the second Tuesday of every month.
The Japanese Tea Garden offers free admission for the general public on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays between 9:00am and 10:00am opens at 9:00am). By the way, many other great museums and gardens which charge admission, also offer free days and various times of the month.
Lastly, there is nothing more romantic than watching the sunset over the Golden Gate Bridge, and it costs nothing.
Great Views
In my previous posting, The Best Free (or for the Price of a Drink) View in Town:
I shared some of my favorite places to get a great view of the city but let me add two more which fly under the radar. A new upscale restaurant called Chotto Matte opened in 2024, occupying the top floor of an eight-story building in the Union Square District of San Francisco. The cuisine is your standard Japanese Peruvian fusion, you know like the kind you will find in the food court of any shopping mall. The food may look like it was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright when served, but outdoor dining area offers a pretty nice view of the neighborhood even though it is not very tall.
The View from Chotto Matte
At 928 feet, plus the 103-foot cross crowning the top, Mount Davidson is the tallest natural feature within the city limits. Because it is nestled in a mostly residential area, it is not as well-known as its cousin, Twin Peaks. However, you may remember the giant cross from the first Dirty Harry movie. You can't see the Golden Gate Bridge or Telegraph Hill, but the views of the western part of San Francisco to the Pacific Ocean are the best you will find in the city.
コメント