San Francisco, CA

San Francisco is a drinkin’ city and there are more bars here than I would know how to count (of course, that’s partly because of the 1 drink, 2 drink, 3 drink, floor problem). There are bars for your ritzy side and bars for your dive needs and bars for everything in between that you might want to act out on any given day. But there are only a handful of bars that are more than just bars … meaning that there are some spots that you can go to for drinking and dancing PLUS something else. Here’s some info on eight of those more-than-just-a-bar bars in San Francisco:

1. Beauty Bar – Based off of a New York concept (and probably something European before that although I haven’t done my research), this spot is both a salon and a bar. So, yes, you can go for a night out with the girls and really treat yourself to something special. Just remember that things always look better when you’ve got the blurry eyes of three-cosmos-down so you might want to hold off on any serious style changes while you’re here.

2. Foreign Cinema – I’m the first to admit that I haven’t been here so my review is biased, based only on what I’ve read. But it’s on my last of places that I should check out because they apparently screen foreign and independent films on the back wall of the restaurant that this bar is affiliated with. And if I understand correctly, it’s also an art gallery.

3. Bar None – It’s still technically just a bar, but it’s a beer pong bar. And it’s got pool tables and darts as well, so it’s a sports bar but it’s a bit more filled with stuff to actually engage in than with just plain old sports on TV.

4. Space Gallery – It’s primarily an art space. But they have so many openings and other special events that you’ll readily find the alcohol flowing away.

5. Double Dutch – Again, I’m going off of hearsay here so you’ll get a better update whenever I get a chance to get over there. But in the meantime, what I’ve heard is that it’s a hip hop spot where you can show off your break dancing in competition-like style. It’s dance first, drink later – the reverse of the standard bar.

6. Madrone Lounge – They offer different activities on different nights, but if you’re looking for a spot that’s as much like going to a house party as it is like going to a bar, this is it. They’ve got free pizza on Sundays and board game night (plus other goodies) on Mondays. But they’ve also got DJs, live music, release events, and all that other jazz, plus drink specials. Half bar, half home.

7. 111 Minna Gallery – It’s an art gallery and a bar with lots of events and other kinds of stuff. You might see a fashion show taking place here or you might find some other indie event going on. There’s always drinking.

8. Brainwash Cafe – It’s a Laundromat. And a bar. Yes, really. There’s also live music almost every night of the week. And sometimes stand-up comedy.

Yes, there are places worth checking out at and around the Fisherman’s Wharf / Pier 39 area. Even if you are a local, there are things to be seen. But mostly, you’re going to find cheesy souvenirs and those black-and-white “escaped from Alcatraz mental hospital” outfits that I’m going to go ahead and hope you wouldn’t ever buy. So you want to make sure that you do enough of the tourist thing to say that you’ve been there but you don’t get stuck in the stores and sales down there. Here are 5 places to hit (and then get yourself away from) in the area:

1. Musee Mecanique – This is the only reason that I ever go to the Fisherman’s Wharf area if I’m not taking a house guest there to look around. In fact, the only times I’ve ever gone to the area alone, it’s to go here. Admittedly, that’s because I have an obsession with Ms. Pacman (on my old MySpace account, I listed “someone who could beat me at Ms. Pacman” under “who I want to meet” – I still haven’t). And this old arcade museum feeds that addiction for only fifty cents at a time. But it’s good for everything – a spot to show visitors, a place to play old games for a few hours with friends, a quirky date. You can stick with SkeeBall and pinball games or you can put your quarters into the strange old games that have been around since … probably before you were. Get photo booth pictures done to commemorate it.

2. Chowders – You have to get clam chowder in a bread bowl if you’re down in this area. There are only two places that I recommend getting it down there. The first is over at the street vendors that are right there at Fisherman’s Wharf, although I stay away from that area simply because the birds that scavenge around there annoy me too much to eat well there. So, instead, I go to Chowders at Pier 39. It’s totally cheesy and touristy, but it’s got cheap clam chowder compared to all of the other restaurants in the area. And they’ve got both the traditional white and the red. And they have fried veggies of all kinds.

3. The Sea Lions – Okay, I’m not saying that you should go over here all of the time just for fun. But you should go and see them to say that you’ve seen them. Think about it, in how many other cities does your local wildlife include sea lions as well as wild parrots and incarcerated bison? And really, the sea lions are a total laugh if you pay attention to them. They’re always trying to push each other off of the docks, they make the most ridiculous of noises and the way the parents treat the babies is terrifically amusing. You can say you’ve been to Pier 39 and you can see the view of Alcatraz while getting some real entertainment. It’s free.

4. The Bushman – He’s almost always down there. What you see in terms of street performance down there depends on your preferences. I, personally, thought the silver robots were great five years ago and wouldn’t stop now for much reason at all. Likewise, I’ve seen enough breakdancing so unless it’s amazing, I’m walking on by. But every single person I know pauses if they come across the Bushman because, despite the fact that this dude is basically famous, there are a whole bunch of tourists that don’t know the bush is about to jump out of them. And sometimes, he’s in a bad mood and gets annoyed with people who don’t tip to watch which, in itself, is pretty amusing. Seriously, though, if you see a show of any kind and you like the performance, it is worth your dollar to donate. Where else do you get entertainment for a dollar?

5. Sit by the water – Yes, really. It doesn’t matter whether you do it right here or you walk further west to Aquatic Park where there’s a bit of a beach. Take the time to take a look at the Bay. It’s a gorgeous place. The fog is magical. The bridge, Angel Island, and Alcatraz all make their marks in the landscape. When we are lucky enough to live (or visit) a place as beautiful as this, we should be smart enough to take the time to enjoy it.

As mentioned last week in my introductory blog about what you can expect from About San Francisco, you’ll get a weekly update about the things that I saw in San Francisco from the week before. This week is just a brief one because it was actually mostly an indoor week for me; I was wrapping up a book deadline and didn’t get to do too much playing around town. But you’ll get the basic introduction to what you’re going to be reading here every Monday morning.

So, that’s the first point to be made. Weeks around here run from Sunday to Saturday. You’ll get the update on Monday about anything interesting that was noted in the San Francisco scene during the prior week. So, last week was July 15th – 21st. And of course, it’s now Monday the 23rd and you’re getting the update about it. So if something exciting happened to me on Sunday the 22nd, you probably aren’t going to know about it until next week (unless of course it’s worthy of a blog post of its own).

The other thing that you might be wondering is what exactly goes into the post since there are any number of things that I might have seen during the week. Well, that’s the point. Anything is fair game if I saw it out in the city. For that matter, it could even be something I saw online if it was really eye-catching. So, it could be a film or live music event that I went to but it might just be a conversation that I saw between a person and himself at the local bus stop one day. Anything is open.

What’s the point? I really do believe that the only way to get to know a city from the inside out is to learn all of the little details about it here and there, the things that you would see if you were able to walk the streets of a place every single day. And since you either don’t live here – or you do but obviously can’t walk in my exact shoes each day – I believe that seeing San Francisco through my eyes will help you learn more about an insider’s perspective on the city I love to share.

That said, what did I see this past week in San Francisco (besides my keyboard screen)? Well, let’s start with seeing since one of the things I did go out into the world today was have an appointment with my optometrist. So, I saw his office, which wouldn’t be notable except that it’s such a cute little office. It’s located on Powell Street, near Columbus Avenue which puts it right near Washington Square Park (where the ladies were out in full force doing their tai chi). The office has a dutch door – you know, the kind that just the top or bottom half can be open – and they keep the top half open during business hours so it’s a cozy, homey kind of place. And it has a dog which greets customers with a cuddly look.

For that matter, I also saw my chiropractor this week and the office there is also cozy. In fact, we were joking around while I was there that I was just going to start getting my mail there because it’s so easy to just linger and linger. In a city as big as San Francisco, it is surprisingly easy to find professional offices which are comfortable, welcoming and almost like home. That’s why I have “my optometrist” and “my chiropractor” instead of just “the doctor” of whatever of kind of medicine. San Francisco is good for making you feel like you’re home, no matter where you’re originally from.

And speaking of originally from … I’m originally from Tucson, Arizona so it’s shameful to admit that when the weather creeped up towards 70 degrees last week, I was whining that it was hot. I blame the humidity (yes, I think San Francisco is humid, and I don’t care what my East Coast friends have to say about it). But the truth of the matter is that I’ve just grown accustomed to the weather here. You can grow accustomed to almost anything I guess. Which is why another thing I saw this past week was the eyes of my neighbor at 4:30 in the morning. We both woke up when the 4.2 Richter earthquake shook our buildings, peeked outside to make sure all was okay and then went back to bed.

And that’s the story of my week in San Francisco!

If you are in San Francisco and you go to the intersection of Montgomery St. and Washington St., you’ll find the beginning (or the southern end anyway) of Columbus Avenue. If you walk along this street, through pieces of Chinatown and the neighborhood of North Beach, you will eventually find yourself at the end of Columbus Ave. where it hits Beach Street not too far from the Bay. You will have passed a number of restaurants, several convenience stores, a few bars and a couple of famous locations (like the green building that is Francis Ford Coppola’s restaurant). You could stop at any of these places, but here are ten of the spots that you should be sure to stop during this walk:

1. City Lights Bookstore / Jack Kerouac Alley / Vesuvio – It’s the typical cliché tourist answer to give about where you must stop on Columbus Ave, but it’s still true. If you’re in the area, you should stop. There is rich history in and between these two buildings where the beat poets drank and read and lived their literary lives. Buy an independent magazine at City Lights. Order one of the specialty drinks on the board at Vesuvios. And take touristy pictures of the murals in the alley between them.

2. Church of Scientology – You will notice this spot because well-dressed young folks are standing outside encouraging you to go in. Go ahead and check it out; it’s absolutely fascinating. There’s a blocked-off exhibit of Ron L. Hubbard’s office (which of course he didn’t really have there). They’ll even give you a free stress test. I’m not saying to join the movement; I’m saying that you’ll get an interesting education and an experience worth sharing over dinner when you go here.

3. Kennedy’s Irish Pub and Curry House – When you walk by, you will smell the spices of the Indian food and it will beckon you in. But where is the Indian food? After all, the entire front room of this building is an Irish sports bar. No, wait, there it is in the back – the Indian restaurant that has both South and North Indian cuisine. Their dal soup is fabulous and the garlic naan is a must-get. There are pool tables and a couple of arcade games.

4. XOX Truffles – I didn’t like truffles until I got the ones that they make here. Honest. They’re amazing. And if you go in and buy a coffee for $1, you can get a free one. But you’ll want more than one.

5. Columbus Café – There are tons of cafes in San Francisco and you could easily get a coffee at any of them. There’s not a bad one in the bunch. But the people here are always especially friendly, the food is good … and it’s just enough off-the-beaten path of restaurants that you’ll be able to enjoy the San Francisco street life passing by without being overwhelmed. Besides, there are some cool paintings on the outside of the building.

6. Washington Square Park – It’s a small corner park that has that neighborhood feel to it. People play Frisbee together on the rare sunny San Francisco day. It’s quiet. Except when there’s a festival in the neighborhood, then it’s craziness.

7. Rosalie’s New Looks – This is a wig and costume shop. It’s probably not the best one in the city, but it’s an interesting stop on a North Beach walk. In a city where you can wear a costume to work and it’s unlikely that anyone will blink an eye, why not wear a wig? At least stop and look.

8. Artist & Craftsmen Supply – Sure, it’s “just” an art supply store. But there’s a little bit of magic in here. They have all kinds of fun little things that you can buy to brighten up your day.

9. Cobb’s Comedy Club – Big name comedians come here on a regular basis but it’s just as fun on amateur night. If you’re in the area on a night when there are some tickets available, you should stop and get some laughs. And get a buzz as well since they’ve got a two drink minimum at all of their shows.

10. Mara’s Italian Pastries – It’s a small place but if you’re seeking true Italian treats during your walk through “Little Italy”, this is your spot. They’ve got gelato, they’ve got cannoli and they’ve got things I don’t know the names of that are both beautiful and tasty.

At a very basic level, this is a blog about San Francisco from an insider who loves the city and is happy to share it. It may contain all sorts of oddities and information about the city. But here are five things that you can be sure to expect from this blog on a regular basis:

1. My favorites. One of the best ways to get to know the truth about a city (or at least its partial truth) is to ask someone who lives there about their favorite places. You’ll get info on my favorite restaurants and bars, favorite neighborhood, and favorite people who live and work in the city.

2. Blogs and books. I hardly think that I’m the only resource in the city about the city. Nor do I think I’m the best. I’m happy to share information with you on where you can go to get other information about San Francisco. There’s lots of creative people here so there’s lots of spots to find this news.

3. Insider insights. I plan to give you a weekly sneak peek into what an insider thinks about something in San Francisco. Often, these will be tourist destinations that are worth checking out as an insider, but they could be anything about the city that you know only be living here.

4. What I Saw In San Francisco. This is going to be a weekly post in which I share with you the things that I saw during the previous work during the course of living a normal life in San Francisco. It might be a great sale somewhere or it could be the rantings of a stranger on the street. If I saw it, it’s fodder. You’ll see this on Mondays, starting next Monday, July 23.

5. Lists. Finally, you’ll get lots of lists. You can probably already tell that I like them. They’re a perfect format for sharing all kinds of things that I might forget to share otherwise. Like “Ten Places To Check Out In Golden Gate Park” or “Five Ways To Get Cheaper Rent In SF”. You’ll see lots of them – if you have any requests, you’re welcome to send them.

So, that’s it, five things that you can expect from me on a regular basis. It’s a commitment in writing. That’s practically a contract … from me to you, a commitment to provide you with insider information to make San Francisco more of home to you whether you’re from here or don’t even live here (yet!).

As you might know, this site was recently searching for a new city blogger to get its pages up and running. As you can see, that blogger is now here and ready to start sharing San Francisco’s inside information with you. Over the course of the next few days, I’ll post some more information about what you can expect to find on this site and why you won’t want to miss out on the information that will be offered here. In the meantime, you can learn a little bit more about me by visiting this page.

By the way, that photo up there is me (although I don’t have the colored hair anymore) and it’s there because the focus of this blog is going to be on shrinking down San Francisco into bite-sized pieces of information for you to digest.

This site is currently in need of a blogger. If you have any interest in writing about this city, feel free to submit an application at 451 Press.

Thank you

451 Press, San Francisco, Blogger Wanted

Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund

April 16, 2007, will be remembered as one of the darkest days in the history of the Virginia Tech community and the world beyond.

To remember and honor the victims of those tragic events, the university has established the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund to aid in the healing process and generate financial support.

The fund will be used to cover expenses including but not limited to:

• Grief counseling
• Memorials
• Communication expenses
• Comfort expenses
• Incidental needs

If you plan to give, please click the link below: