Travel Questions: San Francisco Bay Area

[techniques1200s]

What areas did you go to exactly when you visited?

Originally Posted by Badgers77

San Francisco is an example of an absolute insane amount of gentrification.

It is, but there are several areas that have resisted that trend, and a few are actually quite violent. Two of them are within the "Tourist zone" as well (The Fillmore, and the Tenderloin), with another one being partly within it (the Mission). The rest of the working class neighborhoods and high crime areas in SF are in the South and Southeast parts of the city.

[Whiked918]

Originally Posted by Badgers77

It's funny (not really) that it's called the East Bay. I worked at Eastbay for over 3 years here in Wisconsin, never knew there was any other East Bay.

I think most bays have an eastbay area.

[EDBTZ]

Go to Hunter's Point.

[edsg25]

Originally Posted by bay_area

oh, no.

its all a tourist trap....I hear LA is better.

That way they can visit the Bay Area portion of Disney's California Adventure and see the real San Francisco (complete with GG Bridge and Palace of Fine Arts) and a pier area just like Fishermans Wharf without the obnoxious odor of the sea.

[edsg25]

If you want to see a San Francisco neighborhood that is a delight to shop and for dining....but for the locals and not the tourists...how about Noe Valley?

While SF attractions extend into city neighborhoods, the largest concentration are in the northeast portion of the city. If you leave that area, you are out of the main tourist area and the tourist attractons are separate and not part of an interconnected zone. I'm thinking of places like GG Pk, Palace of Fine Arts, view from Twin Peaks, Cliff House, painted ladies, Mission Dolores. They tend to be less touristy because tourists without cars don't always get to them (although touristy they are).

Personally I would suggest taking the 49 mile scenic drive around the city. It will take you to the above attractions but to so many places that are not tourist San Francisco as well.

BTW if Chinatown is too touristy for you and you want to be in an area authentically Asian with real Chinese food, try Clement in the Richmond district. You definitely won't feel you're on Grant Avenue.

[Silicon Francisco]

Originally Posted by edsg25

That way they can visit the Bay Area portion of Disney's California Adventure and see the real San Francisco (complete with GG Bridge and Palace of Fine Arts) and a pier area just like Fishermans Wharf without the obnoxious odor of the sea.

You know what would be even better than a San Francisco-themed area of a Disney park? A VIRTUAL San Francisco-themed area of a Disney park. That way we don't have to look at or smell a bunch of fat, pasty tourists/food/sea ect. or drive/walk long distances to see anything in San Francisco or Disneyland.

[edsg25]

Originally Posted by EDBTZ

Go to Hunter's Point.

good lord, man, I hope you are pointing him towards a Niners game!

[edsg25]

Originally Posted by Silicon Francisco

You know what would be even better than a San Francisco-themed area of a Disney park? A VIRTUAL San Francisco-themed area of a Disney park. That way we don't have to look at or smell a bunch of fat, pasty tourists/food/sea ect. or drive/walk long distances to see anything in San Francisco or Disneyland.

wouldn't it be easier to buy all the DVD's for every Dirty Harry movie and stay back in the family room in Omaha to watch them?

[Silicon Francisco]

Well you could hire somebody to navigate through the Virtual San Francisco section of Disneyland for you, for an extra fee. This person can tell you what the sights and sounds are so you don't even have to use your brain, all the while feeding you Ghirardelli chocolate and Napa Valley wine. That would be easier than sitting, watching and switching DVD's all day.

[StevenW]

Funny stuff. You guys are too much....

[bay_area]

Originally Posted by edsg25

That way they can visit the Bay Area portion of Disney's California Adventure and see the real San Francisco (complete with GG Bridge and Palace of Fine Arts) and a pier area just like Fishermans Wharf without the obnoxious odor of the sea.

exactly..that sea air is soooo evil

Or better yet, buy a DVD set of Full House....bam-SF in a nutshell.

no,even better, too close for comfort...SF in the 80s perfection

[CarsonCaliBrotha]

What are some spots I should check out? Whats the best way to get there and to get around? My moms thinking about driving up there or taking Amtrak. I'd rather take the train, as I can't stand being stuck in a car for too long, let alone 8+ hours. Also, where are some good places to shop? Like get some botique type Streetwear clothes like Scifen? Or some good Indie stores that are rather cheap? Thanks for any help.

[StevenW]

check out the neighborhoods. chinatown is a must. north beach, mission district, the Haight, marina District, golden gate bridge and golden gate park,
yurba buena, Union square, the touristy Fisherman's warf, to name some.

take the train. when you get to the city, buy a muni pass and ride all the public transportation. it's great, imo.

not sure about the, "good places to shop", but i like union square and ferry building/market, (tuesdays and Saturdays). the other guys that live in San Francisco would have to tell you the "real" good places to shop.

hope i helped you some.

[Rainier Meadows]

Hey everyone,

I'm making a road trip to San Francisco on the July 4th week.

I am looking at hotel prices and find that there are affordable rates in the Union Square section of the city.

Can anyone offer some input about the area, is it bad and or run down, or is it a reasonable place to stay?

If anyone else has input on affordable rates of hotels in the area please advise.....even the close suburbs would be allright as long as rates for hotels aren't like $200.00 a night.

Please advise.

Thanks everyone,

[kurklk]

Th Union square area is very very upmarket and is a wonderful place to stay. In addition because of the density and smallness of San Francisco Union Sq is located in a very good section of the city. Chinatown, Downtown, Financial places, SOMA(clubbing dictrict) are all within a reasonable walking distance. As parking is a major headache in SF this location is great.
Might I suggest this link so that you can see the general location of Union Square
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=e...8067&z=15&om=1

[Wizewun]

Hi, I found that priceline.com is very useful for SF. My girlfriend put in a price of $100.00 a night in the union square / Nob Hill area and our offer was accepted. We stayed at the 4 star Renaissance Stanford Court on Nob Hill which was incredible.

The one thing that no hotel includes in their prices is the cost to park. The range I've found for the area is between $30 and $50 a night so take that into consideration when planning you trip. Many of the smaller hotels around Union Square also do not offer parking so make sure the place you stay at fits your needs

finally, if you go a couple of blocks west from Union Square the area starts to get pretty bad so when looking for a hotel, try to stay north towards Nob Hill or east toward Downtown

[Inkdaub]

Last few times I went to SF I stayed in motels across the Bay in Berkeley. I paid under a hundred bucks for my dinky room and BART(Shattuck) will take you to SF easily enough.

[seapug]

i just spent last weekend in san fran, in the maxwell hotel. it's right next to the westin. it's pretty loud on friday and saturday nights because of all the partiers. also not quitte as modern as i'd like, but hey. they have a garage you can self park in for $30 a night. yeah don't wander into the tenderloin district, makes our ghetto areas of downtown look like heaven. also their business district is dead at night, no crazies or anything. the people you do see are business men getting off really late. so i enjoyed taking a walk through the business district at like 1 am because all the buildings look so cool at night

[ChrisLA]

There is some nice hotels in Emeryville, I stayed at the Holiday Inn and it was reasonable and very nice. We had a nice view looking out at the bay, and there were manys shops and movie complex, and dinning options within walking distance. Also parking was free at the hotel. I also believe a BART station is near by, but don't quote me on that. For sure I know there is a fairly new amtrak station by the hotel as we could see the station from where we were at the hotel. Emeryville is also very close to San Francisco by BART or car. Plus you real close to Oakland trendy hoods, and Berkeley is also just mins away. Emeryville is a cool little city, and it has this sort of funky vibe (not too funky, and more yuppie like) and it sort of remind me of a very small version of Santa Monica and Venice mixed together.

Oh btw I would be careful about the cheaper hotels that claim they're in Union Square. As someone else mentioned, just behind all of the glitz of this area its rather sketchy. For years I didn't even realize these areas was so close, its like night and day.

[Westsidelife]

^The Holiday Inn has been transformed into a Hilton.