Table of Contents

List of Maps. About the Author.

Introduction.

The City by the Bay: A Metropolitan Mecca.

About This Guide.

PART ONE: Planning Your Visit.

Understanding the City: A Brief History of San Francisco.

When to Go: The Sweater Season and the . . . Well, Sweater (Wetter) Season.

How to Get More Information before You Visit.

Gays and Lesbians.

A Calendar of Festivals and Events.

PART TWO: Accommodations.

Deciding Where to Stay.

Getting a Good Deal on a Room.

Hotels and Motels: Rated and Ranked.

Hotel Information Chart.

PART THREE: Visiting on Business.

Not All Visitors Are Headed for Fisherman's Wharf.

PART FOUR: Arriving and Getting Oriented.

Coming into the City.

A Geographic Overview of San Francisco and the Bay Area.

Things the Natives Already Know.

How to Avoid Crime and Keep Safe in Public Places.

PART FIVE: Getting Around.

Driving Your Car.

Public Transportation.

PART SIX: Sightseeing, Tours, and Attractions.

Touring San Francisco.

San Francisco for Children.

Helpful Tips for Tourists.

San Francisco on Film.

The Wine Country.

Napa Valley.

Sonoma Valley.

Russian River Valley.

Day Trips in and around the Bay Area.

Beyond the Bay Area.

Attraction Profiles.

PART SEVEN: Dining and Restaurants.

The Restaurants.

Restaurant Profiles.

PART EIGHT: Entertainment and Nightlife.

Performing Art.

San Francisco Nightlife.

Nightclub Profiles.

PART NINE: Shopping.

Top Shopping Neighborhoods.

The Malls.

Specialty Shops.

PART TEN: Exercise and Recreation.

The Great Indoors.

Outdoors, Naturally!

Spectator Sports.

Accommodations Index.

Restaurant Index.

Subject Index.

Unofficial Guide Reader Survey.

About the Author

RICHARD STERLING IS THE AUTHOR OF AND CONTRIBUTOR to numerous cookbooks and guidebooks covering California, Latin America, and Asia. Richard is well known in the Bay Area for his varied and eclectic accomplishments. Elgy Gillespie, who revised this edition, is an author of several guidebooks and cookbooks and has lived in San Francisco's Mission District since the Big One of 1989 with her roommates and cat. She teaches at a community college and also writes for several magazines and newspapers about history, the outdoors, food, and movies in California and elsewhere—often all of the above together. Thanks also go to Regina Comaich and Catherine Barry, who contributed to this edition.