San Francisco, CA

There is an oft-repeated quote that is attributed to Mark Twain (although it’s also said that he didn’t say it) which goes something along the lines of “the coldest weather I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco”. It doesn’t really matter who said it, it rings a little true for anyone who visits here in the summer because of the fact that they come with their Midwestern shorts and end up having to buy jackets or San Francisco fleeces to protect themselves from the chill. Once you live here, you get used to it more or less and can tell the subtle differences in the weather throughout the year.

Here’s what to expect on a normal day in San Francisco during any season:

The basic weather in San Francisco is somewhere around sixty degrees with only the tiniest hint of chill or humidity. For people (like me) who are from dry areas, it can feel a bit moist but those from wetter parts of the world say that it’s not so humid here. There’s fog during most days, although if you’re in certain parts of the city (like The Mission) you’ll find more sun.

The time to expect rain is at the beginning of the year. When I first moved here, it was January and it rained for a solid four months. Everyone told me it was an anomaly. And I’ve since found that to be true. It usually rains off and on throughout January and February and then tapers off. It’s not particularly cold at that time, but the wind and mist can make it feel chilly.

Springtime is nice. I wouldn’t exactly say that I take out my skirts (although sometimes I do) but the wind tapers off, the temperatures warm up just a little bit. By the time that the summer is about to start, you don’t usually need any sort of windbreaker if you’re going out during the daytime. And it’s fairly safe to plan some sort of picnic on a weekend in those early days of summer. This is when a lot of street fairs happen (Pride, Haight, North Beach Festival) and they’re usually great weather-wise.

It’s towards the middle or end of summer that the infamous summer chill seems to come in. Right about now it’s starting to get warm again. A few weeks ago people were cold. And it’s kind of relative. If you live here, you don’t notice it much. But if it’s August and 60 and you’re coming from a place that’s 90, it feels cold. But then fall comes along and it’s beautiful again. In fact it’s basically beautiful all the way through December before the rainy season starts again.

Most people know that there are plenty of activities going on in San Francisco all of the time, but they don’t know where to find out about them. Here are some of my favorite spots for learning about off-the-wall events (and major activities) happening in San Francisco on any given day.

• SF Station: San Francisco’s City Guide – SF Station is the spot that’s got the most listings for various events. It can be overwhelming but they have ways of narrowing down the search results, like letting you check what’s going on any particular day or letting you search by type of event. This is a good spot for finding out about city events like festivals.
• Craigslist calendar – There are all kinds of random things posted on the Craigslist calendar, some of which are worth checking out. You just go to the main page and then click on the date you want to search on the calendar that’s located on the left-hand column of the page. The results are divided into “events” and “classes” so scroll down if you think you might want to learn something on any given day. Really, they’ve got everything from erotic dance classes to learning business marketing techniques.
• Specific venue listings – Oftentimes, I’ll just check the calendar listings for my favorite venues. These include Red Devil Lounge, Café du Nord, and The Independent for music and Space Gallery, 111 Minna and Madrone Lounge for art and other events.
• The social networking calendar sites – There are a lot of people in the city who post events that they’re going to on the various sites so it’s a good way to find out what’s going on. Eventful, Zvents and Upcoming are the ones I use most often.

I admit it, as a local who doesn’t have a car here, I am glad that parking is so difficult to find in San Francisco. I think it limits the amount of traffic that there is in the city and encourages people to walk. And I happen to love that San Francisco is a walking city, that you can be out and about among the people who live around you, interacting with your world as part of your daily activity.

But, at the same time, I admit that I like having access to a car when it’s convenient. I don’t exactly complain when friends pick me up to go out for the evening if we’re headed out of the city or to places across the city that aren’t as easy to get to on public transportation. And when we get back to my neighborhood, it’s never particularly fun looking for parking. Still, overall, I think the parking sacrifices are worth it to live in a walking-friendly city … but of course I can say that because I never do the parking.

Having often been in the car with people who do, I’ve picked up a few tips about parking in San Francisco:

1. Practice your parking. If you can’t parallel park, you can’t get good parking in San Francisco. And if you aren’t confident enough to parallel park in a small space on a hill filled with tourist traffic, you severely limit your parking options.

2. Look for free parking first. Many people go straight to the lots and garages where you have to pay, but if you’re not afraid to look around, you can often find free parking even in popular neighborhoods. Look on the side streets.

3. Be willing to drive around for awhile. Free spots open up but you have to be patient sometimes.

4. Notice the time limits. It’s two hour parking in most locations. If you think you’re going to be longer than that and don’t want to get ticketed (but are willing to take your chances for the free spot), park on a steep hill. While it’s certainly not guaranteed that you won’t get ticketed, the parking police seem to check the steepest hills the least often while flat places get picked on.

5. Look for the chalk marks. The meter maids mark your tire with chalk and then they check back when the time is up. If the chalk’s there, you haven’t moved your car and might get ticketed. So if you’re walking around the area in which you’ve parked, make a point to pass by your car and see if you need to move it.

6. Know when it makes sense to pay for parking. Sometimes, searching for free parking is in vain. If it’s a holiday, if there’s a festival in the neighborhood, or if it’s clearly a particularly busy weekend night, you’ll probably drive around for a long time trying to find the free parking. In that case, it might make more sense to just pay. (Or to plan ahead and take public transportation from a different neighborhood).

7. Don’t over-stay at parking meters. While you can often get away with parking for longer than two hours at the free spots, the parking meters get checked and ticketed regularly.

8. Choose lots instead of garages. They tend to let you pay by the day or half day and are cheaper as a result.

9. If you’re near several garages, find one that offers a few hours free. Usually this just requires going into a store and getting validation on your ticket.

10. Challenge your tickets. If you parked and then got a ticket, challenge it. It doesn’t always work, but it sometimes works, especially if you can come up with a valid argument as to why you shouldn’t have to pay. Or at least delays paying. And if you do have to pay, think of how many times you parked in SF and didn’t pay and see that it probably evens out. It’s a small price to pay, really, for living or visiting such a terrific city.

Should you go check out Ghirardelli Square if you’re visiting (or living in) San Francisco? I suppose it depends on how much you like chocolate and how fond you are of tourist attractions, but the short answer is that you should probably go there at least once. The grounds of the place are beautiful, the location is fairly easy to access and let’s face it, the chocolate is fabulous. But there’s an insider’s way to enjoy Ghirardelli Square and you should know it.

First of all, there are several different places that you can go to check out the chocolates of Ghirardelli Square. Your best bet if you want to see the most and get in and out decently quickly is to go to the store located just off of (west of) the Ghirardelli ice cream shop at the corner of North Point St. and Larkin St. Many people trying to avoid the crowds skip this spot because it looks like there’s a big line, but it actually moves quickly and the way that the store is set up is designed to push people along. So, go in and have your hand ready for the sample chocolate square that they’re going to offer you. Then just keep moving through. If you’re planning to buy a chocolate gift, you’ll be able to see everything easily and quickly and if you’re not, you can get your free chocolate and get going.

Secondly, you should get the ice cream at Ghirardelli Square. It’s worth it, whether it’s just the fudge sauce you eat or not. But there’s a better way to do this than what most people are doing. See, right next to that chocolate store is the main ice cream selling section. And you will always find a line here. Always. But, if you stick to the outside of Ghirardelli Square and go to the actual corner of North Point and Larkin, you’ll see another entrance. It’s the upstairs to this same location, and it also sells the full menu of sundaes and whatnot that you can get downstairs. Most people don’t realize this and therefore there is rarely a long line. When this is not true is on major holidays and on weekends in the summer; these are the obvious times not to go to Ghirardelli if you’re trying avoid the crowds.

How much looking around you do after getting your treats really depends on you. There are some neat shops in there. I have a friend who can get lost for hours in the woodcarving shop down below. As for me, I’ll usually just sit at the mermaid fountain with my ice cream and see whatever entertainment they’ve got going on for the day. On days when there’s none, the people are always fun to watch. But explore if you like; the old buildings have a lot of interesting things going on for them architecturally and the stores have stuff to see if you’re into that kind of stuff (high end tourist stuff, that is).

If not, make your way down to the water that’s south of Ghirardelli Square. This will put you at Aquatic Park which is one of the beaches of San Francisco. It’s a bay beach and you’ll see boats bobbing in the water, kids letting the waves chase them and perhaps someone swimming there. It’s rarely crowded but usually has some people. And it’s not a bad place to go to see a good mix of both locals and tourists being casual in San Francisco together.

Now that’s the way to do Ghirardelli Square.

Believe it or not, there are local people who ride the cable cars of San Francisco as a means of transportation. Depending on where you’re going, they can be the most efficient way of getting there. And if you have a monthly bus pass, it doesn’t cost you anything. But these people are usually trying to get to where they want to go, which goes more smoothly if everyone follows cable car etiquette, which you might not know if you haven’t ridden them before.

If you want to ride one of the cable cars for fun, your best bet is to go to the cable car turnaround where you wait in line and you’re guaranteed to get on one. For example, there is a major one located at the intersection of Market St. and Powell St. just south of the western side of Union Square. Of course, this means that you’re going to have to wait in that line. If you don’t want to wait in the line, find a cable car stop. They are identifiable by the brown signage that shows the cable car. Stand at the stop and keep your eye out for the cable car. When you see it coming, make sure that you step into plain view. Wave at the driver as he approaches so that he knows you want to stop. Don’t step right in front of the cable car.

After the cable car stops for you, get on. Get all the way on. You can stand on one of the outside steps if there’s room for you to hold on to one of the bars. If there’s not, take a seat or stand inside. Don’t stand in the stairway space or right behind the driver of the cable car. And don’t worry about giving them your money. They’ll get it once the cable car gets moving again. When it does, you’ll pay $5 for a one way ride. The second worker – the one who isn’t driving – will collect your money.

You can ride the cable car all the way to the end of its line. If you want to get off before that stop, you should let the driver know before you reach that stop. There are no bells to ring or strings to pull, so don’t look for them. You can tell either of the two workers on the cable car, and they’ll be happy to stop. Wait for the cable car to come all the way to its stop, then hop off and let it keep going so everyone else can be on their merry way.

The cable cars are fun. Sometimes the drivers will tell you interesting facts about the city. Frequently, they’ll play something songlike with the tune of their bells. Sometimes you’ll just quietly get to feel the wind on your face as you ride up and down those San Francisco hills in the open air. But once you’ve done it, you’ll know the right way to do it. You’re ready to ride.