SAN FRANCISCO:The defining and sometimes obsessive pursuit of residents in San Francisco is the perfect lifestyle - what you do when you're not working. And that's infectious, writes
JOHN BUTLER
THEY SAY THE best cure for jet lag is to walk barefoot in your new land; that removing your shoes upon arrival and feeling soft earth beneath you grounds you to the circadian rhythms of your destination.
But with San Francisco, all it takes is the order of your first burrito. If this city were a food it would be the Cal-Mex tortilla wrap; harmoniously blending local cultural elements to make something cheap and casual, something beloved of young, rich, old and broke; hipsters, cheerleaders and cholos. And call me a snob, but they don't make them as good anywhere else.
More than a decade since I wandered these streets as a resident I've come back to the land of the burrito to finish my first novel, The Tenderloin, named after one of the less-salubrious pockets of this town. But San Francisco is already storied, known to us as the birthplace of two gold rushes - first in 1849 and latterly with the dot com explosion of the mid-1990s. The Castro district is celebrated as the global headquarters of the gay community, and Haight-Ashbury is the final resting place of the 1960s counterculture.
And the hills of this small, accessible city contain many wild contrasts - bleached Californian sunshine and heavy blankets of fog, hilltop mansions in Pacific Heights and downmarket barrios in the flatlands, coastal scenery and beautiful beaches a matter of miles from the skyscrapers of downtown.
In some of its more famous quarters, San Francisco resembles a tastefully-assembled amusement park - cable cars rattling up and down hills, garishly painted Victorian houses, parks on hilltops and multifarious cultures drinking organic "third wave" coffee and skating, surfing, cycling around in the shadow of a golden bridge.
As with any city, downtown San Francisco has most of the hotels and much to recommend it. SF MOMA and the Jewish museum are here, along with the undeniable fun of riding a cable car, and a dizzying array of shopping options near Union Square, notably that strip of stores along the TenderNob area at Bush and Jones Street.
Just above, hotels atop Nob Hill offer devastating views, while immediately adjacent is one of the largest expatriate Chinese communities and the Italian neighbourhood of North Beach (home to the nexus of beat poetry, the legendary City Lights book store).
But "downtown" in a good many American cities has shopping, a Chinatown and a bunch of great museums, and running through the heart of California's more leisurely northern counterpoint to Los Angeles is a profound Mexican influence. The Mission District is a short hop south of downtown, and where the best galleries, bars and taquerias can be found.
I'm not much of a one for tours, but the Mission Dolores is certainly worth visiting. Founded in 1776, it's the oldest building of any kind in San Francisco, and a good place to trace the origins of this historic city. After, check out the street murals as you wander around, before stopping by 826 Valencia, the McSweeneys' trove of books and ephemera.
Leaving aside Mexican food, there's a multitude of food options down here, from pulled pork sandwiches sans pareil at Local Mission Eatery to boutique doughnuts and ice cream. Thrift stores and local galleries abound in the Mission, so it's worth spending a day here. If it's hot you can take lunch to the picturesque slopes of Dolores Park and by night, local bars such as the Make-Out Room and the Lone Palm have earned their great reputations.
WHETHER YOU'RE a tourist, a friend of Dorothy or even just a friend-of-a-friend, a canter through the Castro neighbourhood next door is worthwhile. Along with historical significance and the vibrant street life, there's great shopping here, most notably at Unionmade on Sanchez Street. Take an outside table at Cafe Flore for lunch, drinks and people watching.
In the evening, you can watch a movie at the terrific independent Castro cinema (with live organ player), take a drink in the Twin Peaks Tavern, or head on over to the Haight, one valley away. Haight-Ashbury is much diminished but still worth a visit for the bars and for access to the beauty of Golden Gate Park. Like most of the best neighbourhoods, it is directly linked to downtown by a network of buses, cable cars and subway trains.
Quite apart from all the attractions contained within the city limits, San Francisco is a terrific base for exploration of surrounding areas. A €3, 30-minute train ride deposits you at the liberal hub of Berkeley's campus town, but if you rent a car, a short spin north over the iconic Golden Gate Bridge lands you in Sausalito, or Muir Woods and its centuries-old Redwood trees, and the beaches and towns on the Northwest Marin county coast.
Continue on north and within hours you can reach the hot springs of Calistoga, the Ansel Adams splendour of Yosemite National Park and the Napa Valley vineyards. In winter Lake Tahoe has terrific slopes for snowboarding (you could ski, but for once you'll be in a minority), and year-round gambling, either on the lake side or in Reno, "the biggest little city in the world".
SOME OF THE things that most vex locals make San Francisco the best place to visit, particularly at this time of year. Take the fog. Even in summer, days of dawn-to-dusk Californian sunshine are irregular in the city, but that's okay. Not for me tramping around hot streets slathered in suncream, dutifully ticking off sights and secretly wishing I was basting by the hotel pool.
And the fog is atmospheric, shrouding the city in a gauze that calls to mind Hitchcock's Vertigo and the Marlowe stories of Raymond Chandler. And if you need some degree of sun, head south of the city an hour or two and you'll reach the laid-back surf Mecca of Santa Cruz and its famous boardwalk, after which lies a memorable drive through Big Sur, Monterey, Pebble Beach and Carmel.
Perhaps the highest compliment I can pay it is to say that San Francisco is not serious. It's not at all like London, New York or Paris, serious cities which run on the oxygen of money-making. There's a financial district here, of course there is, and as in Ireland the grim reality of a sharp economic downturn is present, but like Sydney, Berlin and Barcelona, the defining and sometimes obsessive pursuit of residents here is the perfect lifestyle - what you do when you're not working - and that's infectious.
On my first day, re-acquainting myself with Market Street and thinking about how another former boomtown is coming to terms with a new age of austerity, I was jolted back to the present by the sight of a guy with coke-bottle glasses and skinny jeans plummeting down one of the steepest streets on a long skateboard, with a box of Mexican beer under one arm and a snake around his shoulders.
It's easy to cast aside banking, politicking and throat-slitting work concerns here because the guy on the skateboard isn't remotely worried about the recession. He's not even bothered about how he's going to stop at the intersection.
Where to stay, where to eat and where to go
5 places to stay
Noe Valley. Controversial this, but for city breaks you just can't beat renting an apartment, and in this city, I would suggest this trumps the options below. Websites such as airbnb.com or craigslist.org allow you to browse by neighbourhood, dates, and price, and deal directly with the owner. I stayed in a central, residential street in Noe Valley for $90 (€68) a night, with free Wi-Fi and a raft of great breakfast options.
The Mark Hopkins. 999 California Street, 00-1-415-392-3434, ichotels group.com/intercontinental. Boasting such a salubrious address, it's no surprise to learn that whether you stay here or not, the Mark Hopkins is still worth a visit, so kill two birds with one stone and book a room. Cable cars trundle right by the front door, and the Top of the Mark bar/restaurant has a devastating view of both bridges and the bay. Prices run from a downright decent $230 (€175) per night.
The W. 181 3rd Street, 00-1-415-777-5300, starwood hotels.com/whotels. Conveniently located in SOMA (South of Market) near the Jewish Museum, Yerba Buena and Westfield Center it couldn't be more central. And as far as hotel brands go, this is one of the more recognisable - the letter "W" being synonymous with high-budget, achingly hip "spaces". But if you like your hotels like nightclubs, this is most assuredly the one for you. Rooms from $350 (€266) per night.
Hotel Triton. 342 Grant Avenue, 00-1-415-394-0500, hoteltriton.com. Although the design is by Philippe Starck, the haughty attitude you might expect from a hotel with chairs that resemble orange juicers is surprisingly absent. This hotel is small and located right at the gates to Chinatown, a stone's throw from Union Square. Rooms from $240 (€182) a night.
Hayes Valley Inn. 417 Gough Street, 00-1-415-431-9131, hayesvalleyinn.com. Newly gentrified Hayes Valley is an unbeatable location for tourists, a short hop from downtown - Haight Street and the famous view of Alamo Square are just up the hill - and in the heart of a micro-hood that's brimming with restaurants and shops. Rooms here are basic but comfortable, and start at $75 (€57).
5 places to eat
Press Club. 20 Yerba Buena Lane, 00-1-415-744-5000, pressclubsf.com. Billed as a wine country experience in the city, this subterranean, oak-lined bar-restaurant right next door to the Jewish Museum offers tasting menus from all the best regional wineries along with complementary (as opposed to free) food. This is an oasis from the bustle of downtown SF, and quite perfect for a pre-dinner drink if you're staying in a hotel nearby, or if you can't make the drive up to Napa.
Burma Superstar. 309 Clement Street, 00-1-415-387-214, burmasuperstar.com. Burmese cuisine was quite unknown to me until I took a trip to this restaurant out in the Avenues. Apart from staples of Thailand such as the mango salad and Chinese mu shu chicken, the Burmese chicken casserole and the curry with puri breads are both quite incredible.
Papalote. 3409 24th Street, 00-1-415-970-8815, papalote-sf.com. Bit of a Sophie's Choice this, but if I had to choose one burrito over all of them, it would be the chili verde pork from this justly lauded taqueria, which has a less-busy sister branch in the Western Addition. House salsa is made with roasted tomatoes, chicken mole or fish tacos are divine, service is quick and friendly, and you can be seated and sated for $10 (€7.50).
House of Nanking. 919 Kearny Street, 00-1-415-421-1429. I can already hear locals sneering at the inclusion of this best-known of Chinese restaurants, across from Francis Coppola's historic Zoetrope building. But it's still worth braving the queues, or going a little early. For goodness sake, though, state your allergies and allow the legendary proprietor to order for you, as he likes to do.
Red's Java House. Pier 30, Bryant and Embarcadero, 00-1-415-777-5626. A distinctly downmarket recommendation, but there's more to eating than poking at elegantly stacked towers of julienned fennel. This shack in the shadow of the Bay Bridge offers hot dogs, burgers in fresh sourdough rolls, onion rings and beers, and a good many combinations thereof. Everything is flame-grilled, the beer is Bud, fries are pre-salted and come in paper cups, and you eat on lawn chairs in the backyard, right on the water, where the smell of brine and gulls wheeling overhead only add to the atmosphere.
5 places to go
Alcatraz. 00-1-800-410-8233, alcatraz.us. Like a ride on the cable cars, Alcatraz is on the best-known and most popular attractions in this town that also happen to be well worth experiencing. Because of its enduring popularity, you should book well in advance. The tour takes two hours and costs about $20 (€15), and it's well worth renting the audio guide.
Westfield. 865 Market Street, 00-1-415-512-6776, westfield.com/sanfrancisco. Is it bad to recommend a global behemoth in a local destination review? It would be un-Irish of me not to acknowledge the importance of a shopping mall with brands, because we do like a name and a bargain, and this place in the heat of downtown has every store under the sun.
SF MOMA. 151 3rd Street, 00-1-415-357-4000, sfmoma.org. Like others in other cities, MOMA is a bright new-build, housing a great permanent collection of visual art and some interesting travelling collections. Admission is about $20 (€15), there's a great rooftop garden and a number of eating options, including a justly-celebrated Blue Bottle coffee outlet.
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. 701 Mission Street, 00-1-415-978-2787, ybca.org. A near-neighbour to MOMA, the celebrated Yerba Buena is a more touchy-feely affair, a gallery and performance space favouring bay area artists, and a screening room for curated film and video events. The building itself is worth visiting, and it's an idea to check local listings to see what - in a wildly eclectic programme - tickles your fancy while you're there.
Fisherman's Wharf. I tried, I really did, but you cannot get through a review of this city without mentioning the Wharf and Pier 39, and seeing how you have to go here to catch the ferry to Alcatraz, then I should mention that as tourist ghettoes go it's not particularly gaudy and many of the old cannery buildings have been re-fitted to accommodate the tat.
Hot spot
24th Street. Allow me to nominate a whole street as hot spot, because a slalom down the stretch from Mission to Potrero offers a whole day's worth of terrific food and street life. San Francisco gives good breakfast, but nowhere better than St Francis Fountain, serving all manner of scrambles, omelettes and vegan favourites, all for under $10 (€7.50). For lunch, Mission Local Eatery serves the best pulled pork sandwiches for $9 (€6.85) and terrific homemade melon aqua fresca. Across the street, Humphry Slocombe is a local treasure offering exotic flavour ice cream, while Dynamo Donuts make boutique doughnuts (including Earl Grey flavour). Between snacks, there are Mexican stores, a few crazy bars and a riot of street life.
Shop spot
Hayes Valley. hayesvalley shop.com. A few years ago, this was a less-than-savoury, somewhat desolate strip of housing projects and a freeway on-ramp. It's now been remodelled and converted into a shopping hub for local brand names, and a beautiful open-air park which runs through the centre. Galleries, clothes in Azalea, Backspace and Thread Lounge, Zonal for antiques, Bulo for shoes and Bibliohead for books. Noe Valley
Go there
Aer Lingus (aerlingus. com) flies to San Francisco from Dublin via New York. British Airways (ba. com) and Virgin Atlantic (virgin-atlantic.com) fly via London Heathrow.