Whenever Mom and Dad took my brother and I to San Francisco, we always hit the touristy places, like Pier 39, Fisherman's Wharf, and other such places. Its only in more recent years that I've started exploring more of the "real" San Francisco, but I still have a great fondness for the tacky madness that is the Embarcadero.
San Francisco, like any self-respecting cosmopolitan city, has many different neighborhoods and many different "flavors." In this post, I will explore the "tourist traps" that draw millions of people from all over the world.
Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39
Fisherman's Wharf is home to San Francisco's fishing fleet, and has been since the 19th century, when Italian immigrants set up shop there, fishing for Dungeness crab. These days, the area is home to every cheesy souvenir shop you can imagine, endless restaurants claiming to have the best clam chowder or the original sourdough bread bowl, a wax museum, and enough street performers and artists to ensure that walking down the wide sidewalks is impossible as people crowd around to watch.
Fisherman's Wharf is also home to one of the main locations of Boudin bakery, creators of (in my humble opinion) the world's best sourdough bread. I'm convinced that the sea air of San Francisco (as opposed to say, the sea air of anywhere else in the world) is the magic ingredient that makes Boudin's sourdough amazing. But maybe I'm biased. What is endlessly fascinating to me is that they are still using the same starter that was created during the Gold Rush of 1849.
At the Boudin on Fisherman's Wharf, you can watch the bakers making bread, and they will proudly hold up their creations. They also make alligators and lobsters.
Just east of Fisherman's Wharf is Pier 39, home to more tacky souvenir shops, a gigantic NFL store, chock full of 49er gear, more high-scale shops, and restaurants ranging from cheap and cheerful to fancy. It is also home to San Francisco's part in the Bubba Gump and Hard Rock Cafe franchises, and an aquarium that I have yet to visit.
I promise that I do not own, never have owned, and never will own, any Alcatraz gear.
All the gear a 49er fan could possibly need.
Just down the Embarcadero from Pier 39 is the spectacularly tacky-looking Teatro ZinZanni. One of these days, I will experience this. Anything that advertises itself as Love, Chaos, & Dinner has got to be worth the money.
Pier 39's Famous Sea Lions
They smell terrible, but they are hysterically funny and endearingly cute. While always present in the San Francisco Bay, the sea lions didn't take over part of Pier 39's boat docks until after the Loma Prieta Earthquake of 1989. No one knows why they took up residence there, and after initial complaints about the noise and smell, no one is willing to make them go away. Instead, most of the boats have moved out, leaving the area clear for the sea lions to rest and sun themselves. They are a major tourist draw, and in the three times I have introduced friends to San Francisco on their first visit, I have always insisted on showing them the sea lions of Pier 39. No one is ever disappointed.
Last November, the sea lions up and left, leaving many disappointed tourists in their wake. I was happy, in May, to discover that some have returned, but according to the guy manning the Marine Mammal Center information kiosk nearby, they're not all back yet. The most popular theory is that they left following their food supply.
I was just happy to see their great slug-like bodies back in Pier 39, to hear their barking, and even to smell their horrible scent. I love the sea lions.
The Crookedest Street in the World -- Lombard Street
With its proximity to the Embarcadero and its famous status, it's surprising that I never actually experienced the twisting and turning part of Lombard Street until a few summers ago, when my friend Shae and I found ourselves there quite by happy accident.
The Haight
If you're going to San Francisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair...
The Haight (or Haight-Ashbury) isn't exactly the first place my parents ever thought to take us, so I didn't actually experience this part of San Francisco until a few years ago, when I took my friends Jamie and Tiff there.
Of course, this was the setting for the Summer of Love. Hippies flocked to this part of San Francisco to participate in free love, listen to psychedelic rock, and to score some good drugs.
I don't really identify with any of these things, but the Haight is still an interesting neighborhood in a city of several colorful neighborhoods.
Cable Cars
San Francisco is built on hills. Many hills. Big hills. Big, steep hills. I know. I've walked them.
I've also taken the famous cable cars on some of those hills, and my legs have thanked me for it.
In the last twenty years or so, San Francisco has revitalized the sagging cable cars--still, they're mostly used by tourists, as most San Franciscans use the regular Muni buses. The cable cars, like the Golden Gate Bridge, are a major icon of San Francisco.
My high school friends Katie, Leslie and Lisa and I rode the cable car through San Francisco on a trip there a couple of years ago.
At the end of one line is this little Cable Car Coffee shop.
A trolley reaches the top of a hill.
There are many, many "tourist traps" in San Francisco--I can't possibly cover them all, and to be honest, I haven't seen them all.
Stay tuned for more California Dreamin', as I visit the incredible architecture of San Francisco, the Asian influence, and Golden Gate Park.
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