Top 10 Things to do in San Francisco
I have been asked many times if I enjoy living in San Francisco and what are some of the things that I truly enjoy about San Francisco. I have always struggled to answer this question as I know this city is unique but could never point to one thing. This is a city that needs to be felt from inside versus watched from outside. There is a spirit that doesn’t want to be tied to the regular norms of a culture. It is sometimes at the forefront of discovering a new language which then becomes the precursor to what is spoken in the rest of the world. This city by the bay, of steep uphills and downhills is a city of romance, yoga, secularism, socialism, elegance, intellectualism and free spirit. Go experience it.
I have created a list of my own top 10 ways of exploring the energy and vibe of this city in a non conventional way. If you are a visitor to this city or a resident explorer in your own city, hopefully this blog will connect with you.
1. Farley’s cup of coffee on 18th street in Potrero Hill
San Francisco is home to some of the well known cafes in the world. The city is full of coffee lovers and they won’t have it any other way. Many of the now global chains started in and around San Francisco. Peet’s, Philz, Blue Bottle, Equator, Four Barrels, Sightglass, Ritual, Flywheel and quite a few other coffee roasters have a fair share of SF spirit brewed in their cup of coffee. These new coffee chains even pride themselves to be part of a “Third Wave Coffee” global movement that aims at providing high quality coffee to its lovers. Talk about coffee snobbishness! The city offers an eclectic mix of local neighborhood cafes trying hard to survive alongside global coffee players like Starbucks.
Farley’s is a small local cafe located in a beautiful Potrero neighborhood of the city. This neighborhood has tried hard to preserve the charm of the early 90's even though the rest of the city continues to evolve. The cafe is thirty years old, managed to survive in a tough cafe business and receives patronage from its local neighborhood. To feel this spirit of San Francisco cafe culture in a beautiful local neighborhood, pick a book you have been meaning to read and enjoy it with a cup of latte and chocolate coconut macaroons at Farley’s.
2. Grace Cathedral Tuesday 6 PM community yoga in Nob Hill
The spirit of San Francisco is secular and you get to feel it only after you have lived here for a long time. We live in an era of globalization when as a civil society our faiths, diverse religious backgrounds, ideologies come in contact with each other and often cause conflict. The human mind gets confused between choosing right versus wrong and one is faced with their own hypocrisies. These are the times when you get to appreciate the spirit of this city. It forces you to think in your own individualistic way. It is a rebel spirit constantly challenging the norm set in the past. The city is home to more than five hundred beautiful churches, but the churches in San Francisco don’t adhere to strict rules and boundaries of the past. People pick and choose the best of the global faiths and ideologies and follow them without labeling it with strict isolated boundaries or tags.
One such experience unique to San Francisco worth experiencing is a community Yoga practice at Grace Cathedral on California street every Tuesday at 6pm. The cathedral is one hundred fifty years old, majestic and designed similar to the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris. More than six hundred fellow yogis come together every Tuesday inside this cathedral to practice yoga and chant the sound of “Om”. The sound gets amplified by the acoustics of the majestic architectural design of this cathedral and reverberates in your body and thoughts much after you have left the place.
3. Lands End Sutro Baths hike in Golden Gate Recreational Area
San Francisco lives in the maternal shadows of Redwood forests. Redwoods are one of the tallest and the largest tree species in the world and this region is blessed to have them. Some of these trees are standing tall as mute spectators for more than 4000 years, taking care of the species that have inhabited this planet with unconditional love and affection and watching our civilization grow. These forests have their own spiritual energy and this energy can be felt all around the San Francisco bay area. People in San Francisco connect with this energy at a deeper level as it brings out their spiritual side. They love hiking in nature to feel the depth and peace it has to offer.
To celebrate this hiking culture and appreciate the immense natural beauty this region has to offer, do a four mile hike at Lands End Trail in the Sutro District of San Francisco. The hike is full of breathtaking views of the Golden Gate bridge and easily doable for all age groups. You may not get to see Redwood forests but no other place in San Francisco will make you fall in love more with Golden Gate Bridge views and the skyline of San Francisco.
4. Laughing Lotus studio yoga session in Mission neighborhood
Yoga started in India 6000 years back but it is amazing how San Francisco and neighboring cities have revived it and adopted it with full heart and soul. Yoga arrived in America in the late 1800's but truly became famous only in the 1960's post hippie movement when many of the students of a well renowned Indian teacher Sri Krishnamacharya came to California and started dissipating the Yoga philosophy and asana techniques to this part of the world. One can find a unique eclectic mix of eastern and western approach to spirituality in this region. Teachers play harmonium in morning yoga classes, chant Sanskrit shlokas in western melodies and cute accents. I have traveled to many cities around the world but never found the structure and the intensity of a yoga studio that can be experienced here in San Francisco. For a daily ritual social practice, SF easily qualifies to offer one of the best yoga scenes in the country which is authentic and deeply embedded in the philosophy. There are numerous studios spread out all around the bay area, many started in early 1980's and continue to still exist even though now struggling to make their ends meet with increasing rents.
To experience this unique free spirit hippie vibe of the city, go to a Saturday-10 AM session at Laughing Lotus located on 16th street in the Mission district. It’s a low key studio with some beautiful art work on its walls. Apparently the artwork is designed by an artist who also drew graffiti on the walls of Beatles ashram in Rishikesh, India. One way to bring the spirits of the two far off land together. The class is taught by the founder of the studio who gives most of the proceedings of that class to local charities. The class is jam packed with tattooed skins, quirky characters and the whole vibe is pretty hippie and exposes you to a different style of practicing Yoga.
5. Coit Tower Hidden Stairs hike in Telegraph Hill Neighborhood
San Francisco has been a city of earthquakes with a painful past. Many of these earthquakes led to fires as the houses are made of wood in California. One such devastating earthquake happened in 1906 when eighty percent of the city was destroyed in fires and roughly 3000 people died. Many firefighters died saving people during that time. The spirit of people rose in those tough times and reconstructed this beautiful city. Coit Tower is one such memorial built in the 1930's, designed in the shape of a fire hose nozzle to give tribute to all the firefighters of this city who gave up their lives saving others. This spirit of kindness and acts of service resonates well with San Franciscans and is promoted heavily. People volunteer and offer their time and money in whatever capacity they can as an act of service.
To feel this service before the self vibe of the city, explore reaching Coit Tower memorial by climbing hidden stairs located right across the Levi Strauss headquarters on Telegraph hill. Most people don’t know of these hidden stairs and take the main streets to drive up to see Coit tower. On the way up you will get to see some hidden San Francisco houses along with some gorgeous views of the city's landscape. As an additional perk, if you have time, consider exploring hanging out at the Levi Strauss Headquarters right across the street from where the stairs start. The area is hip and at the cusp of North Beach and Telegraph Hill district and has its own San Franciscan vibe. Apparently the campus (plaza) is built on top of a collapsed wharf and a buried ship. Walking on the ground underneath which has the remains of a ship itself brings out its charm. Levis like many other companies was founded in 1853 during the west coast gold rush and they launched their first Blue Jeans in 1873 in this beautiful city.
6. Clarion Alley mural walk in Mission neighborhood
San Francisco is a city full of murals, frescoes and wall graffiti with each neighborhood bringing out a different flavor of art based on its vibe and energy. Socialism is deeply ingrained in the state policies that run the city and the art on the walls in many neighborhoods of the city reflect that. The city is slowly gentrifying with the arrival of rich technology companies and the long-time city residents are losing their homes, being forced out of the city due to the increased housing rents. People are not happy and they are adopting all means to express their anger. One such manifestation is the increasing homelessness on the streets creating all sorts of hygiene and security issues for other residents. This confrontation between tech capitalism and the city's cultural socialism is evident and clear.
To experience the city of socialist tendencies, take a walk on Clarion street in the Mission district. It is a long street with private houses on both sides and the walls of the houses are painted with art work primarily depicting people’s anger to gentrification. Post this walk you will become more observant of the artwork on the walls of different neighborhoods in San Francisco. This observation, in future, will help you connect more with different neighborhood’s culture and spirit.
7. Four mile run on Embarcadero alongside bay waters in Financial district
Festivals are getting redefined in modern societies. We grew up in times when people used to come together around the religious festivals to socialize, celebrate and feel a sense of belonging with each other. As traditional religious identities slowly become redundant for the next generation, newer social identities are getting created, pivoted around the activities people do to experience life. These activities are the new anchors around which the society comes together to socialize, celebrate and feel connected with each other. One such new age festival is the running fitness culture which has caught up pretty much all around the world. Annual marathons are becoming famous in big cities. San Francisco picked on this culture quite early, and has been organizing an annual SF marathon for the last forty years. Roughly forty thousand people run together, cross the Golden Gate bridge and cover all the beautiful landmarks of this city. The whole city on that day geared up to cheer up these runners.
To come and experience the way new young energy socializes and celebrates in San Francisco, go for a 4 mile run on Embarcadero alongside the beautiful blue bay water. Start from the Ferry building market, hit Oracle base ball park and come back. Along the way you will also get to see the famous Cupid’s Span arrow designed by a famous couple artist to capture the mythological account of Eros shooting his arrow to make earth fertile. Post run you can also pamper yourself and make up for the lost calories by eating ice cream at Humphrey Slocombe, one of the famous ice creams native to San Francisco.
8. A cup of Cacao at Beloved Cafe in Mission neighborhood
The Hippie movement of the 1960's started in the Haight Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco and then further spread out in the world. The city thrives on experiential energy and is full of explorer personalities. People in San Francisco have this constant desire to feel high, transcend their bodies and dwell in out of body experiences. Whether it be going to Burning Man festival in Nevada deserts, smoking plant based drugs in deep in nature, reading the book “Autobiography of a Yogi”, going silent for 10 days in Vipassana meditation, or going full naked to experience night sky baths in Esalen — you name it and the people here may have already experienced it. Cacao ceremonies, Shamanic ceremonies, Kundalini yoga, Fire dance, Ecstasy dance, Sound meditations — the city and it’s people are crazy to go deeper in their body energy space and explore all the shades of the free spirited energy. Once a born hippie always a hippie and San Francisco is a perfect place to discover that.
To experience this hippie spirit of experimentation in a very mild form go enjoy a cup of Cacao at Beloved cafe on 24th street in Mission neighborhood. It is a small hole in the wall cafe designed on a bohemian beach wooden shack and serves fresh juices and organic vegetarian snacks. Cacao is a sacred plant in Latin culture with medicinal values and you will feel a sense of warmth for this city inside your body.
9. Glass of Wine at Hidden Vine on Merchant Street
If you are in San Francisco then how can you not be part of its wine culture? This is a city of subtle elegance and romance, not big in loud dancing clubs but loves its wine and lounge bars subculture. People like to talk about deep intellectual stuff and what better way to enjoy people and conversations than by sitting in a nice wine bar. Adjoining Napa Valley, famous for wineries, San Francisco is home to some of the beautiful wine bars. The wine culture and the sarcasm was captured well in the movie Sideways — so do watch it if you are planning to be in San Francisco.
To enjoy the elegant romantic wine culture this city has to offer, go out on a date at Hidden Vine on Merchant street in the financial district. It is a hidden wine bar in one of the small alleys of the financial district neighborhood. The atmosphere is mellow, not super loud, perfect for conversations and slowly picks up its buzz as the evening unfolds. The bar changes its wine menu once in a while and never disappoint with the quality of their wines.
10. Neighborhood walk and a movie at Marina Theater on Chestnut Street
San Francisco is famous for its British Victorian era architecture. Lots of well known movies have been shot in this city to capture the beauty of its neighborhoods, bridges and tunnels. Woody Allen shot his famous movie Blue Jasmine in San Francisco. The city is also home to many indie theaters that have preserved the old style of movie watching. Even though these theaters are in bad condition, their dilapidated state adds to the charm. More than fifty movie festivals happen in San Francisco itself.
To celebrate the spirit of beautiful neighborhoods, nice chilly San Francisco summers and romantic walks, take a twenty minute walk from Chestnut street, covering inner streets of this neighborhood to hit the waterfront with some amazing Golden Gate Bridge views. Enjoy the unique San Franciscan residential architecture along the way to explore this neighborhood. If you are an Indie movie lover, then there is a Marina theater right on Chestnut street. An old style charming theater that was built in 1928, still preserving its hundred years old style of movie going experience. The memories of that evening won’t fade away easily.
