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"Oh, we know each other already.
It's just that we haven't spoken
since her daddy shot my daddy."
       --- The heiress to the De Young
fortune responding to Herb Caen's
attempt to introduce her to the
heiress of the Spreckels fortune.

CityNews

S F Station

Emphasis is on entertainment and night life.

Meet Up.com

Find groups of people with specified interests.

Circuit Breaker Electronic Magazine (San Francisco events)

Gay Pride Parade

The parade itself has become just another commercial event. But there's a good calendar and other stuff on the web page.

 

Newspapers

The San Francisco Chronicle

Bay Guardian

SFBG.Com

Bay Guardian Superlists

San Francisco Weekly

 

Movies

San Francisco Weekly: Movies

CitySearch7 Movies

Roxie Theater

Castro Theater

Bay Area Film Events

Bay Area Film Events screens the classic and cult films from yesterday and the limited release, independent and hard to see films of today. Anyone can screen a film, but BAFE makes it an event! Through the use of guests, displays, on-stage talent and multi-media support, BAFE presents movies as a complete show and not just a movie screening.

The Red Vic Theater

Landmark Theatres

Foreign and independent films.

The Dark Room

2263 Mission Street.
Theatre   Performance   Art   Music   Comedy

Films in the Park

Summer weekends, free. Washington Square Park, Dolores Park, and Union Square. Films begin at dusk.

Chronicle Movie Page

Alliance Francaise

1345 Bush Street between Polk and Larkin.

Goethe Institute.

530 Bush/Grant (2nd Floor).

Institute for Italian Culture

425 Washington St near Battery,  Room 200.

San Francisco Russian Center

2450 Sutter St west of Divisadero.

ABC Language School

Mechanics Institute Library

57 Post near Market.
Many interesting lectures and other events. Membership is $95/year, $35/year for students.

 

Arts and Literature

Intersection for the Arts

Tarin Towers's Bay Area Guide

Primary emphasis on literature, especially poetry.

San Francisco Grotto

Writers and Filmmakers Group

826 Valencia

A writing center for students aged 8 to 18.

Artist Resource

Writers and Poets Events

Spanganga

A gallery and performance space in the Mission.

Jon Sims Center for the Arts

Literary, Performance, and Visual Arts.

Pan Theater

Classes in improvisational theater.

Litquake

San Francisco's Fall Literary Festival

San Francisco Film Society

Organizers of the San Franciso International Film Festival

FilmArts

LilyCat

Literature, art, film, etc.

The Beat Museum

Poetry Readings in San Francisco

West Coast Poetry Slams

National Poetry Association

Edinburgh Castle

The Laughing Squid

Underground art and culture in San Francisco and beyond.

 

Alternative Culture

One Taste

An "urban retreat." Yoga center plus sex (tantra). Featuring classes on Connected Living. They have a cafe and offer massages. Some people find it a bit of a cult.

American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine

459 Connecticut St, (415) 282-9603. Chinese herbs, accupuncture, shiatsu. Classes.

Center for Sex and Culture

Founded by Carol Queen and Robert Lawrence.

 

The Well

The Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link.  Discussion Forums.

 

Classes

San Francisco State

UC Berkeley Extension Catalog

The New College

The Learning Annex

The Writing Salon

Harvey Milk Institute

Not just gay oriented. Writing classes, for example.

The French Class

500 Sutter St #310 at Powell.
Courses and events for those who want to improve their knowledge of French.

French Conversations Groups Around the Bay

Bay Area Francophile List

 

Transit

San Francisco Muni

BART

AC Transit

 

 

North Beach

Vesuvio

15 Romolo Place

A hidden trendy bar in an alley off Broadway. Note the jukebox selection.

Hotel Boheme

A good selection of links here. And check out the tour of historical North Beach places.

Rodger Jacobs Blog and Website

Once you could have found him hanging out at Vesuvio. Now he lives in Las Vegas and the blog is mostly centered around LA.

Black Horse London Deli

Tiny, crowded. "As close as it gets to a real London pub."
1514 Union St at Van Ness. (Certainly not in North Beach.)

 

Lodging

CitySearch Budget Hotels Listing

San-Francisco.US

By Advanced Reservation System. Several hotels, none really cheap.

Rental Guide

SF Renter

Craigs List

San Francisco's biggest classified section on the web.

U.C. San Francisco housing office

Guest Houses category looks most promising.

San Francisco.Com

Hotels, restaurants, tours. A commercial site.

Vantaggio Suites

580 O'Farrell St and 835 Turk St and 761 Post St (between Leavenworth & Jones).
O'Farrell and Turk: $975/month for private room with bath.
Post St is $1250/month. (Out of date.)
The Vantaggio Suites hotels serve as student housing, so one is living among students from many countries. This can be either a plus or a minus.

Post Street Towers

737 Post Street. Looks like it may be pricey.

The Gaylord Suites

(415) 673-8445, 620 Jones/Geary, 94102.   Prices no longer available on their website or in their ads.
It's been years since I stayed there. It always seemed to be a pretty nice place. But new management has taken over and done extensive remodeling and tried to turn it into a place attracting a much more upscale clientele. Check out the comments at TripAdvisor.

Spaulding Hotel

Weekly rate, less than $200, list under Student Housing on the web site. $50 - $65/day, 5240 O'Farrell St 415-397-4924, 1-800-459-6347.

Post Hotel

Weekly rate, less than $200, listed under Student Housing on the web site. $50 - $65/day, 589 Post St (415) 749-1285, 1-800-459-6347.

Park Hotel

Weekly rate, less than $200, listed under Student Housing on the web site. $50 - $65/day, 325 Sutter St (415) 956-0445, 1-800-459-6347.

Shawmut Hotel

$210/week and up with bath, 516 O'Farrell/Jones (415) 885-9566

Taylor Hotel

Taylor and Post. Daily, weekly, and extended stay.

America's Best Value Inn & Suites Union Square

505 O'Farrell/Jones, 771-0525. Formerly the totally unsavory Hotel Garland. Now completely remodeled. (Too bad they couldn't remodel the surrounding neighborhood as well!)

Emperor Norton

$225/week no bath, $325/week with bath, 615 Post/Sutter, (415) 673-6718.

Hotel Tropicana

663 Valencia/18th, 701-7666, $350/week with bath,
mention Rental Guide
Small budget hotel run by a family from India.
Fairly nice, except that my room had some Indian odor (curry?), which I adjusted to fairly easily. Also the rooms are very cold, which I did not adjust to easily. The owners' solution was to offer more blankets, but this didn't help with the problem of getting up in the cold in the mornings.

Carl Hotel

198 Carl Street at Stanyan. $59 -- $155 per night, weekly rates available.
(These rates are undoubtedly out of date. The website currently shows no rates.)
The N Judah streetcar line runs right by your window if you have a street side room, but it's not that disturbing.

Metro Hotel

319 Divisadero St at Page. $66/night.  (415) 861-5364

Affordable Hotels

Kenmore, Monroe, Broadmoor, Grenada, These are residence hotels (weekly and monthly rates). Meals are included in the price.
The Broadmoor and Granada are specifically retirement hotels. The Kenmore and Monroe also cater to travelers and students.

Albion House Inn

A beautiful and historic bed & breakfast in the Hayes Street district, fast becoming a very hip little neighborhood.

Sublet.Com

Not a whole lot of listings. Requires subscription to make contact, and then it turns out that there are even fewer listings actually available than are shown to non-subscribers.
Still, it's one thing to check out, especially if you're looking for something long term.

SF Travel SF Underground Travel Hotel Listing

Comments from people who have stayed at these hotels. Mostly fairly pricey, though.

SF OnLine

 

Comment: The Tenderloin area, say north of O'Farrell St, is a lot safer than it used to be, a lot safer than it looks. There are a lot of middle-class students in their twenties living there now. There are still panhandlers and winos, but their number is diminishing.

 

October, 2002 From the Rental Guide

(Lightly revised Feb, 2006)

 

Gateway Inn

438 O'Farrell 749-1888, $270/week and up. Mention Rental Guide.

Villa Soma

1554 Howard St between 11th and 12th 939-1315, 203-2730. Unlimited local calls. Nice ad in the Rental Guide, but it looks like just a very small apartment building that has been minimally converted.

Nazareth Hotel

556 Jones St / Geary, 771-2006, $185/wk up

Elk Hotel

670 Eddy/Polk.  (415) 474-7939   Mention Rental Guide

Graystone Hotel

$200/week and up, 66 Geary between Grant and Kearny, (415) 956-9363 or 393-7321 Mention Rental Guide

Church Street B & B

325 Church St near Market. (415) 621-7600. $75/night. Washbowl, hall bath.

Inn 1890

1890 Page St, near Stanyan. $89, $99 per night. Private bath for some rooms. (415) 386-0486.

Halcyon Hotel (formerly Brady Acres).

$375/week. 649 Jones/Post, 627-2396.

Union Square Plaza Hotel

432 Geary/Mason. 776-7585, 1-800-841-3135 $300/week, $900/month.

Nob Hill Place

1155 Jones St, 505-5568

Normandie Hotel

251 9th St. 621-5386. $120 -- $160 weekly. $500 and up monthly.

Casa Melissa

615 Union/Stockton North Beach, $175/week and up, only one bathroom for the whole hotel. (415) 391-8365 Mention Rental Guide

Gateway Inn

$285/week with bath, 438 O'Farrell St 749-1888 Ask for Rental Guide discount.

Alissa Hotel, 447 Bush, 415-956-3232

$175 week up.

Bridge Motel

$150/week and up, no bath, 2524 Lombard St/Divisadero (415) 292-6625

Hotel Union

$300/week and up with bath, 811 Geary/Hyde 673-5690 Mention Rental Guide

Harcourt Hotel

(415) 673-7721. $250 + tax with bath, $200 + tax for hall bath. They take reservations. Larkin Street.

St. Paul Hotel near North Beach

$180, $190 week with fridge & microwave. No bath. (415) 986-9911. A real cheapo.

Twin Peaks Hotel

(415) 863-2909. $175/week no bath.

President Hotel

Tenderloin, (415) 885-0123. $275/week, but not many rooms at weekly rate available now.

Grant Plaza Hotel

Two stars. Fall special (Orbitz, 2003) $60/night.
465 Grant Ave at Pine St.
Nice lobby, but otherwise a dump when I was last there. As of spring 2006, claiming to be newly furnished. With a rate of $79/night (Orbitz, 2006).

Hotel Britton

Two stars. Fall special (Orbitz, 2003) $70/night.
112 7th Street at Mission.

Furnished Rentals

201 Harrison (South Beach) 474-5797. Weekly rates.

Baldwin Hotel

$400/week and up, 321 Grant/Bush Mention Rental Guide.

Mathilda Hotel

972 Sutter/Hyde, (415) 441-9236.
$400/week up. Mention Rental Guide.

Herbert Hotel

161 Powell $175/week and up (no bath), (415) 362-1600 Mention Rental Guide.

Balmoral Hotels

$250/week no bath,
1010 Bush, 673-5070
706 Kearny, 956-8858
93 Sixth St (415) 543-3304

Some hotels with daily rates, recommended on rec.travel.usa-canada

(Considerably out of date.)

 

Zeitgast 1-415-431-6891

A biker bar on Valencia at Duboce. 20 guest rooms, minimal but cheap.

GayGlobal Accomodations List

Many of these are gay managed, but you don't have to be gay to stay there.
They are not super cheap.

HI Northern California Hostels

 

Miscellaneous

Daphne Miller, MD. 1448 Church Street at Cesar Chavez, 415-642-0333    (C.f. Yelp).

Author of The Jungle Effect: A Doctor Discovers the Healthiest Diets from Around the World --- Why they work and how to bring them home.
Nutritionally Oriented. Doesn't take insurance.

Diamond Wellness Center

1841 Lombard St/Laguna, 94123  415-921-1290. Massage, pain management.

Holistic Bodywork

Massage and energetic healing. Accupressure, Qi Gong, etc.
2333 Market St/16th St.   415-793-2110.

France in San Francisco

Shops, restaurants, etc.

Walzwerk

East German restaurant.
381 S. van Ness at 15th.

Tartine Bakery

600 Guerrero at 18th St.

Momi Tobys Revolution Café and Art Bar

528 Laguna St (near Fell St & Hayes St)
Tiny place with sandwiches, beer, wine.

Samovar Tea Lounge

297 Page Street at Laguna in Hayes Valley.
497 Sanchez Street near 18th, a block from the J-Church Line stop.
Nice inexpensive lunch from 10 AM to 1 PM.

The Butler and the Chef

155A S. Park St, near Bryant and Third St.   Afternoons, closed Mondays.
Claims to be the only authentic French bistro in San Francisco.

Mamá Art Café

4754 Mission St (between Leo St & Russia Ave)
Small Latin internet café with local art displayed on the wall.

Café Claude

7 Claude Lane (off Sutter St near Kearny)

L'Ardoise

151 Noe St (between 15th St & Henry St, just north of Market)
People seem to like it quite a bit, and although not cheap, it's not as pricey as Café Claude.

Schroder's Restaurant

240 Front St between California and Sacramento in the Financial District.
San Francisco's oldest German restaurant.

 

A Few Choice Dive Bars

(Mostly thanks to Yelp.)
(See also the San Francisco Chronicle Datebook.)
 
So many bars, so little time.

 

Grassland

905 Kearny Street

Murphy's Pub

217 Kearny Street at Sutter
"Warm Beer --- Cold Food"
"Slutty Women Welcome"

Mr. Bing's

201 Columbus Avenue near Kearny in North Beach.

The Saloon

1232 Grant Avenue.
San Francisco's oldest bar.
Blues at night, Saloonatics in the daytime.
In the 19th Century, it existed as Wagner's Beer Hall. With a trough running down alongside the bar so that....  Well, you can probably figure it out. (Hint: No women allowed back in those days.)

The Grant and Green

1371 Grant Ave on the corner with Green Street.
Blues every night and never a cover charge.

Gino and Carlo's

548 Green St, North Beach.
Sports bar.   Pool tables.

Vieni Vieni

1431 Stockton St just down from Columbus.
If you've never been here, then don't go, because you don't belong. Especially if you don't have your Medicare card.

Gold Dust Lounge

247 Powell St
A tourist bar.  (On Powell St.  Case closed.)
Cheap margaritas and a small band. The margaritas are good and the band is enthusiastic.

Sutter Station

224 Market St at Sansome.
Weekly lingerie shows. (Legally, if she's wearing lingerie then she's not naked. That eliminates lots of legal problems.)

Aub Zam Zam

1633 Haight Street near Clayton.
Small ("intimate") place with a circular bar and two or three tables. An excellent jazz selection on the jukebox. Many years ago, the name was the Persian Aub Zam Zam. Obviously there's a story there, which I don't know, but it's reflected in the decor.
Many years ago, the owner and main bartender was a surly elder gentleman named Bruno. He'd refuse to serve you if he didn't like your looks or you tried to tell him how you wanted your martini made. Now they even serve vodka martinis. (Gasp!)
A very nice crowd comes here. Not conspicuously upscale, but no riff-raff.

Finnegan's Wake

937 Cole St, just off the N Judah streetcar line.
A fairly small neighborhood bar, unpretentious (to say the least!) despite the yuppie neighborhood, with English ales on tap.

Noe's

1199 Church St at 24th.
Friendly. Good bartenders and cheap drinks. A sports bar, depending on the bartender's mood.

Place Pigalle

520 Hayes St between Laguna and Octavia.
Beer and wine only. Small (but with a large back room), friendly, not at all trendy despite the name and the neighborhood. It would actually not be out of place in a non-touristy section of Paris.
A DJ in the evening. Single-occupant restroom can generate a fairly long line.

Cresta's 2211 Club

2211 Polk Street near Vallejo.

Ha-Ra Club

And you used to think you knew what a dive bar was!
Why do so many people love Carl the bartender, despite his efforts to drive his customers away?
875 Geary at Larkin in the Tenderloin.

Edinburgh Castle

More or less across the street from the Ha-Ra Club.
A fairly hip young crowd.
According to Irvine Welsh (Trainspotting), "The Edinburgh Castle Pub has become a San Francisco underground literary institution, now having much the same status as that erstwhile unofficial home to the Beat Generation, Ferlinghetti's City Lights Bookstore."

The 21 Club

98 Turk St. In the darkest Tenderloin.

Pop's

2800 24th Street near York, in the Mission.

3300 Club

3300 Mission, near 29th.
A real Irish bar, not for tourists and young drinkers.

The Make-out Room

3225 22nd St near Mission
Poetry and fiction readings sometimes. Otherwise, a loud Mission District bar with strong drinks and loud music (DJ).

Biscuits and Blues

Not a dive bar, but a restaurant with great music.

 

 

Fine Arts Museum

Over 62,000 images.

San Francisco Public Library

San Francisco Great Books Council

Reading group.

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

San Francisco Sex Information

 

Bookstores

 

City Lights Bookstore

Lawrence Ferlinghetti's store, founded in the Beat Era. Now, a lot of the selection is fairly conventional, but extensive. Good place for small press literary books. Check out the poetry room upstairs.

A Clean Well Lighted Place for Books. RIP

Used to be one of San Francisco's best stores for new books. Now replaced on Van Ness Ave by a branch of Books Inc., which is in many respects identical to what the Clean Well Lighted Place used to be.

 

Stacey's Bookstore   RIP

A fairly conventional bookstore, but a wide selection.
Now deceased.

 

A Different Light Bookstore.

On Castro Street. Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered, kinky. A great little store.

The Booksmith

1644 Haight Street in the Haight-Ashbury district. A fairly large selection, but lack of space prevents them from displaying it well.

Books Incorporated

2275 Market Street in the Castro District. This store has ``chain'' written all over it, but right inside the door I often find really interesting remaindered books.

Browser Books

On Fillmore Street near Sacramento. Small store with a fairly standard selection, but I find it very nice and always make a point of going in if I'm in the neighborhood.

 

Book Passage

A very good large independent bookstore in Corte Madera (Marin County).
A small store also in San Francisco, at the Ferry Building.
1 Ferry Plaza, #46, San Francisco, CA 94111

 

Bird & Beckett Books

653 Chenery St between Diamond and Castro Streets.
A small friendly place only a couple blocks from the Glenn Park BART station. Selling books and records (vinyl). Also a great selection of newspapers and magazines.

 

Alexander Book Company

20 2nd Street, off Market. Three floors.
Good selection, but I don't usually find anything unusual here.

Aardvark Books

Mostly worthwhile for the used selection. Look in the window for very recent notable reviewer's copies at half price. Good for when you've heard a lot about a new book and don't want to wait for the paperback edition but are not willing to pay full price for the hardback.

 

Cover to Cover Books

On Castro Street off 24th in Noe Valley. New books. This is a very small store, but they're friendly and they have some really interesting books.

 

European Book Company

925 Larkin Street near Geary. This is the place to go if you want books in European languages, especially French, Spanish, and German.

Forest Books

3080 16th Street at Valencia. Small, mostly used. A very pleasant store where I often find something unusual I want.

Marcus Bookstore

1712 Fillmore Street not far from Geary. Named after Marcus Garvey, this store is devoted to African-American history and politics.

Borderland Books (science fiction)

534 Laguna Street near Hayes Very small science fiction and fantasy store. Worth checking out.

Modern Times

Mission District. Good store for avant garde literature and politics.

Green Apple Books

506 Clement Street. Both new and used books. One of the city's best bookstores and parking in the neighborhood is not too difficult.

Carrol's Books

Moved from Church Street to North Beach, but now no longer exists in San Francisco.
Find them in Paris in the Latin Quarter as San Francisco Books. .

Acorn Books.   RIP

1436 Polk Street near California. Huge selection of used and rare books. Now gone. The owner retired.

Good Vibrations

1210 Valencia Street at 23rd in the Mission District, also 1620 Polk Street at Sacramento, also in Berkeley. A store for vibrators and other sex toys, especially catering to women. They also have a good but small selection of sexually oriented books. Check them out if you don't find what you're looking for at A Different Light.

Phoenix Books, 3840 24th Street (Noe Valley) and Dog Eared Books, 900 Valencia Street.

Essential shopping places for used-book addicts. Not as extensive as Green Apple, but I usually find a few interesting things there.

 

McDonald's Books

"A poorly lit dirty place for books."
In the Tenderloin.
Huge collection of used books. Totally disorganized.

Blue Books

The new Small Press Bookstore at New College.
766 VALENCIA AND 19th       415 - 437 - 3494

Books Revisited.

San Rafael

Cody's Books.    RIP

Formerly the best store for new books in Berkeley. Now gone forever.

 

Moe's Books

Berkeley, Telegraph Avenue near Dwight Way. Four floors. New, used, and remaindered. I often find very nice remaindered books at Moe's. A wonderful collection of expensive art books on the fourth floor.

Dark Carnival Bookstore.

Berkeley. Science fiction, fantasy, and also mystery. Extensive selection.

 

Future Fantasy Bookstore.

Palo Alto. I've never been there.

Printers Inc.

Palo Alto & Mountain View Highly recommended, but I've never been there.

Secret Staircase Bookshop.


Kepler's Books & Magazines

Palo Alto & Menlo Park. It's been thirty years since I was there, but I have wonderful memories of it.

Northern Independent Council of Bookstores: San Francisco Independent Bookstore List

Rec-Arts-Books Bookstore List for San Francisco

 

Yahoo Guide to San Francisco Bookstores