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Green valleys, Blue bay
By Anne Bayin
Even for those who have never visited, San Francisco, star of TV, movies and popular song, can seem like a been-there, done-that kind of place. Here are 10 things to help you see it with new eyes
San Francisco was more than just a pretty bridge and I was determined to find it.
Travel hint: Inadvertently stay in a dump the first night. Everything else, if you follow my road map, will be uphill. Easy to say about delightful San Francisco, where little cable cars climb halfway to the stars, but I refer to the yin-yang of life. You need to experience the bad in order to appreciate the good. And if that sounds like a line out of a fortune cookie, well, I've been to the source.
I arrived in San Francisco during Fleet Week, along with thousands of sailors and assorted conventioneers who were occupying the good hotel rooms. I had to wait until the next day to check into my hotel of choice, so I booked interim lodging with a great location right downtown near Union Square but a foyer redolent of body odour and corned beef. Let's say it beat Alcatraz.
I had concocted a must-do list with the help of my friend Maxine, a former resident and travel goddess, wise beyond borders about all things sybaritic and consumable. Since I would be in the San Francisco Bay area for a mere five days, I wanted to cram in as much pleasure as humanly possible. I had already consulted an oenophile friend about a side trip to the Napa Valley, and been enchanted by visions of a highway turned purple from spilled wine in crush season. Maxine had a lot to live up to.
"I'm not eschewing cable cars," I said, "but spare me the touristy stuff. I want a San Francisco with depth and surprise."
Maxine is a foodie. Her list began and ended with the sinful sacripantina at a pastry place in North Beach. To be fair, she also included museums, shops and a few hand-picked landmarks. Haight-Ashbury was a drive-by, Pier 39 a pass.
What follows is a distillation of her list, my list and serendipity. Blue skies and warm weather were on the house.
1. STAY AT HOTEL Diva
This sexy boutique hotel defines high style. It's one of a family of five "Personality Hotels" near Union Square, modern, individual, affordable and fun. While some may find the lighting dim, I found it Zen-like and soothing. The sculpted-steel headboards are gorgeous, and orange is a favoured accent. A saucy touch is the "package for your package" condom in the hotel "safe." The Diva is dog-friendly, the staff cheery. A New Zealand visitor who had a dizzy spell in the lobby told me the staff "adopted her," checking on her every hour. There's a sleek fitness room, beautifully designed lounges and a celebrity Walk of Fame out front. Best new feature: the Little Divas Suite, where mini-travellers have an adjoining room, with modern bunk beds, doughnut cushions, a treasure chest of toys and a drawing table. Your kids will never want to leave.
- 440 Geary St., hoteldiva.com.
2. MEET A THIRD-GENERATION WINEMAKER IN SONOMA
At Schug Carneros Estate, about an hour's drive north of San Francisco, I met owner Walter Schug. Fifty years in the business, he blends the old-fashioned way, by taste. ("Hmm ... this needs more new oak.") He's famous for Pinot Noir, the fussiest grape to grow. Schug considers himself a "caretaker" of the earth, and his vineyards are rimmed with roses. He talks about grapes as "the last barrier before blacktop" and knows which direction the wind will blow in the afternoon. In his cellars he introduced me to the burbling sound of fermentation, which he calls "the symphony of wine being born."
Though Schug produces 35,000 cases of wine a year, he still loves a good beer.
Getting there: Try to rent a white convertible and drive the Golden Gate Bridge on a sunny day with the top down. Stroll through little towns in Sonoma and Napa, stop at vineyards, look for the above-mentioned purple stains on the highway. (I'm sure they exist, I just couldn't find them.) This can be a day trip from San Francisco, but far better to overnight somewhere nice in Calistoga, at the foot of Mount St. Helena. I did not have the mud bath.
- schugwinery.com.
3. DINE AT MICHELIN-RATED RESTAURANTS OR AT LEAST
SAMPLE THE HORS D'OEUVRE
The breathlessly anticipated 2007 Michelin Guide to the city has just been published. The French Laundry in Yountville, in wine country, tops the list at three stars (frenchlaundry.com). I visited the adjacent herb garden; the restaurant (pricey, world famous) is booked a month in advance. Chef Thomas Keller also owns two-star Bouchon, down the street.
Charming Auberge du Soleil in St. Helena, where breakfast omelettes come with a sweeping view of the valley, made the list at one star (aubergedusoleil.com). Michael Mina, in San Francisco's Westin St. Francis Hotel, got two stars (335 Powell St., westinstfrancis.com). Maxine suggested going after the theatre and sampling the hors d'oeuvre menu, which featured ahi tuna, lobster rolls and sumptuous prawns. Delicious. I took a friend for drinks and escaped at under US$80.
Other one-star restaurants in the city include Gary Danko (800 N. Point St., garydanko.com), but my favourite meal was at the no-star Kuleto's, an Italian restaurant (221 Powell St., kuletos.com), where I ordered the angel-hair pasta with tomatoes and basil, a side of sauteed spinach and a glass of Zinfandel. I sat at the chef's table and watched the culinary Olympics. Pure theatre.
4. TAKE IN A PLAY AT ACT (AMERICAN CONSERVATORY THEATRE)
I saw a great production of Tom Stoppard's Travesties at this plush downtown theatre, formerly known as the Geary. After suffering earthquake damage in 1989, it was restored to former glory and reopened in 1996. It's a cultural landmark, home to the city's famous repertory company. Isadora Duncan, Sarah Bernhardt and Ethel Barrymore all played here.
- 415 Geary St., act-sfbay.org.
5. GO TO THE DE YOUNG, THE FINE ART MUSEUM IN GOLDEN GATE PARK
Opened in October, 2005, the de Young just held its first-anniversary bash. Go for the art (25,000 works) but definitely go for the architecture. The design of this copper-clad building with the twisting tower is the talk of the town. Love it or hate it, the glass observation room has the best 360-view in the city. And it's in the park! Just avoid foggy days.
50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Dr., thinker.org/deyoung.
6. WALK UP COLUMBUS AVENUE TO BEAT COUNTRY
First go to Stella Pastry and Cafe in North Beach, famous for sacripantina, a sponge cake concoction of cream, air and rum (446 Columbus Ave., stellapastry.com). There are many other temptations and it's good people-watching.
Down the street at 261 Columbus is City Lights bookstore, mythic hangout of the Beat poets. Founded by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, it not only welcomes browsers, it provides benches. The place feels like an old boarding house and reeks of history -- or was that something else I sniffed? The Poetry Room is up top. I picked up a funky postcard featuring a row of cadets intently reading Howl by Allen Ginsberg.
If you're a garlic lover, go to the nearby Stinking Rose for dinner (325 Columbus, thestinkingrose.com). Walk briskly home.
7. CHECK OUT THE MUSEE MECHANIQUE AND THE SEALS
I discovered this hidden treasure by accident and it's practically free. Temporarily located on Pier 45 at Fisherman's Wharf, it's the perfect hangout for kids of all ages. There are more than 400 antique machines in the collection, and most of them cost a quarter to play: miniature carousels, a mechanical farm, fortune-telling machines, pinball and baseball games. Slip in a coin and try to resist laughing along with Jolly Jack. For adults there are peep shows of the vintage variety, as well as old slides of the 1906 earthquake. Afterward, go visit the seals flouncing about on the wooden piers, much like the madams in the aforementioned peep shows.
museemechanique.org
8. STROLL THROUGH CHINATOWN IN SEARCH OF THE GOLDEN GATE FORTUNE COOKIES COMPANY
Chinatown has everything from silk purses to sow's ears. I wanted to see the original fortune cookie factory, established in 1962. I found it at 56 Ross Alley. There's no English spoken, so my question "Who writes those corny fortunes?" was never answered. A meeting with Franklin Lee, the elderly owner, left me even more in the dark. His business card boasts: "Famous in French adult cookies." I pocketed a sample: "Fu Ling Yu says: It's hard to keep a good girl down -- but lots of fun trying." Ouch.
I asked the hip young proprietor of a nearby shop if he knew who wrote this stuff. "Maybe Confucius?" he guessed.
GGFC ships gazillions of cookies all over the world. I saw only three workers in the tiny shop, all wearing Band-Aids on their fingers: protection from the hot pancakes as they insert the slips of paper and make the fold.
9. EXPLORE THE NEW FERRY BUILDING
This place is organic foodie heaven. Take the Muni (public transit) from Market and Powell and get off at Embarcadero. Head for the building by the water. Find the Hog Island Oyster Company and order the grilled-cheese sandwich. At Far West Funghi you'll find mushrooms you never knew existed. There's Cowgirl Creamery for specialty cheeses, and shops for olive oil and baskets of alluring tomatoes. Don't attempt to bring these home. The Ferry Building also houses the Slanted Door, a popular Vietnamese restaurant.
- ferrybuildingmarketplace.com
10. BE SERENDIPITOUS
Walk around, breathe in the sea air, grab an espresso at Cafe de la Presse on Grant Avenue. Visit art galleries at 49 Geary, splurge on a camellia corsage from a street vendor for a couple of dollars, enjoy a glass of Chardonnay in Ghirardelli Square. If you're female, check out the women's "powder room" in the new Bloomingdale's; look at the reflections of Union Square in the Macy's windows.
OK, it had to end. I flew home to discover my furnace had conked out. The house was freezing. Had I not that same morning been lounging around my cozy room at the Diva, drinking java, listening to classical 102.1?
Yin and yang. Morning thrill, evening chill. Balance restored.
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