This is an absolutely gorgeous parklet. While there are two rivaling parklets just footsteps away,…read morethis one by far has the most amazing aesthetic. It almost looks like a wooden ship, cruising down Judah Street. The parklet is all made of beautifully finished wood, with built-in planters, a platform for bike parking and plenty of seating. There are a handful of wooden benches to sit on and a couple of longer table-like features. This is a great place to people-watch, or enjoy your coffee and a snack. Make sure to check out the local shops that help maintain this space!

Some great chefs got their start with their first restaurants on Polk Street. Other spots are so…read moregood they're delicious mainstays: Victor's Pizza with its Veal Marsala, Ben Thai Cafe and Bob's Donuts, the latter that'll reopen in its new location, its first new iteration since 1952. A few years after I moved to San Francisco, I learned from my queer neighbors that Polk Gulch was where it all started before the Castro became the hub of the LGBTQ community. Comedian Margaret Cho, a native San Franciscan whose family had a store on Polk Street, did a great standup about Polk Gulch in "I'm the One That I Want." It's damn funny and a bit of a time capsule if you want to know the history of the neighborhood. I recommend Polk Gulch for its many good restaurants, bars, local businesses including Brownie's Hardware and small town feel with businesses that deserve your dollars.

Polk Street is a long stretch running north & south. The…read morevariety of neighborhoods along the route include Civic Center, Tenderloin, Nob Hill & Russian Hill. Technically Polk Gulch would be consider the first two and half of the 3rd 'hoods. Diverse in culture. Also, accepting of all religions, ethnic origin & income levels. Surprise me this morning when a Gay Pride float was being built on the corner of Polk as I walked up! People poured off a "wool" named school bus ready to march on to City Hall. Hooray for freedom in the City!

I read a cute magazine review that made me want to visit. The shops in the review existed but they…read morearen't clustered together so either prepare for long walk or drive down this street.

Shopping and parking on Clement Street can be stressful, akin to playing an adult version of…read moremusical chairs. Will you effortlessly cruise into an open parking spot or circle multiple times? Will you blink in disbelief there isn't a long line at the register on Market Day or groan when you see it? The sidewalks, stores and restaurants aren't overly crowded- this isn't Manhattan- but expect to be jostled, pushed, elbowed, ignored and sometimes helped and given a smile. Clement Street is one of my favorite destinations but the owners make you work for it like you're a suitor and they're Scarlett O'Hara at the barbecue at Twelve Oaks. I love a challenge; I will be liked! I'll smile sweetly and whisper "thank you" when they secret free shrimp eggrolls and sesame balls into my bag. But for my very favorite shopping, Clement Street is worth a trip to buy fresh and inexpensive produce. I secretly pump my fist when 3 stalks of lemongrass cost $0.59 (versus $6 at Whole Foods) at Yin Xing. The sight of deeply hued bok choy and brightly gleaming clementines makes me giddy. I marvel at the open bins of bean sprouts that cost next-to-nothin' and begin mentally shredding my menu plan as I strategize where I can fit a Viet soup recipe into the rotation. Restaurants range from strictly take-out, good and ridiculously inexpensive (Clement BBQ, Good Luck Dim Sum) to moderately priced and worth standing in line for 30 minutes (Burma SuperStar, talkin' to you). I've burned a few brain cells and flirted up a storm with soccer players from a random UK team at the Plough and the Stars (and made out with a good-like lookin' guy from Ogilvy & Mather/Japan after too many Black & Tans but that was a dozen or more years ago, sssh). Every bank has a branch so you can shop, dine, drink and grab cash to satisfy the many cash-only mom 'n' pops dotted along Clement. With prices so low, you respect merchants can't pay to process credit cards- they're passing the savings along to you. Stop grumbling. The sidewalks are dirty, they're always unloading produce, you can watch a fresh fish go from swimming in the tank to gutted and wrapped up in 90 seconds. Farm-to-table has nothin' on that spectacle. Clement Street is a slice of San Francisco you really shouldn't miss if you're a local or tourist. Just go!

I visited the unique sculpture, by Martin Webb, located near the entrance to the Regional Water…read moreQuality Control Plant and Household Hazardous Waste Station in Palo Alto. The eight wooden poles represent different aspects of the marshland in the SF bay (trees, grass, water, birds), the birds made of steel plates. Lovely detail in the artwork, slightly dusty and worn, but seemingly immune to changing weather conditions. Surrounded by pretty flowers and greenery. Easy street parking in a quiet area, pretty isolated on a Sunday. There's nothing much around and hardly anything to do here, except for a storage facility and what looks like abandoned buildings along the dead end street, as well as the Palo Alto Airport a few minutes away. Riding the Currents is good for a quick stop if you're curious about or into obscure public art displays, like I am.

So lets face it. Palo Alto has become such a wealthy city that even the waste treatment plant gets…read morequality art installations :o Nope I'm not kidding and its a pretty cool one to boot. Riding the Current is a two part art installation by artist Martin Webb. Educated both here and int he UK. Webb's art and outdoor installations reflects as he states on his website "I'm always fascinated by people's relationship with the land and time, how the natural and man-made landscape records people's movements and stories, and in particular the way that things we regard as solid and permanent are actually temporary, in flux, and part of a continuum much larger than ourselves." The first part of the installation is visible at the entrance of the Regional Water Quality Control Plant. It uses 8 large pieces of wood that were reclaimed form highway gateposts. The art shows many facets of the Baylands and gives the impression of the channels, moving water, birds,and trees. It is accessible 24/7. It is a bit abstract and IMHO almost looks like a modern take on a petroglyph The second part of the installations consists of a 25 by 11 foot mural painted on one of the concrete treatment tanks and is located Inside the facility. It is very similar in theme to the first installation but includes a human element fittingly on a man made part fo the Baylands. It has a surrounding Gazebo like area with benches and one could almost forget they were at a waste treatment plant LOL. Because of its location inside the facility, it is not always accessible. Usually business hours and on Saturdays when they are collecting hazardous waste. As with most activities this one is best paired with something else going on in the area. There is tons do including the Duck Pond, nearby Byxbe park, The Bay Trail etc, but its not really a destination.

For fans of Tales of the City, it's definitely worth stopping by for a pic of the sign and the view…read moreof the bay in back of it. Otherwise, it is nothing else like the show, there is no apartment complex nestled in the hill, that was filmed on a soundstage. Technically there are some apartments along the path but nothing really to see. It's nice go this way if going from North Beach to the Marina/Cow Hollow or Russian Hill. Vallejo, Lombard, Green, and Greenwich pathway stairs are nearby so best to make a stair walk out of it.

If you've been wondering where the steps of 28 Barbary Lane are in the city, here they be. That's…read morebecause the cloistered walkway that is Macondray Lane served as the inspiration for Anna Madrigal's compound in Armistead Maupin's "Tales of the City", the classic series of books about the liberating life in San Francisco primarily during the '70's and '80's. The residential path is in front of a series of charming homes that are understandably well ensconced in the seven-figure range. On the other side is a steep embankment covered with greenery and freckled with nice touches like a tranquil little waterfall and a trio of trousers doubling as planters. Just be quiet and respectful because people live here but enjoy the atmosphere. RELATED - Exploring Russian Hill? Here's a collection of places I've visited and reviewed: http://bit.ly/2IfTVOB

I enjoy inner Richmond ..we moved to retire ..I like being retired haha who wouldn't ..USa is for…read moreretired people haha ..from Washington dc

The Inner Richmond is one of my favorite for so many reasons. Mostly because it is a family and pet…read morefriendly neighborhood. And very walkable, with parts of the neighborhood bordering mountain lake park, the Presidio, and also bordering Golden Gate Park. Love all the amazing restaurants and walkable mom and pop shops as well.

I always think of the Western Addition as this huge part of San Francisco west of Van Ness Avenue…read more In my head, where I live (the Panhandle), Hayes Valley, Anza Vista, Alamo Square, Cathedral Hill, and even Japantown are sub-neighborhoods of the larger Western Addition, kind of like South Beach seems like a part of SOMA, rather than a distinct neighborhood. I know I'm not right, but it is interesting and telling that what used to be the larger Western Addition got carved into these smaller neighborhoods, probably for real-estate purposes--and by "real-estate purposes," I mean racism, because the Western Addition has long had a reputation as a Black neighborhood, and one of the things that the real-estate industry has traditionally done is segregate potential homebuyers by race. You probably know the story. Through the 1950s, the Western Addition was home to many of San Francisco's jazz clubs and to a larger Black community of business- and homeowners. This Black neighborhood was destroyed, like many Black and minority neighborhoods across the country in the mid-twentieth century, by redevelopment. The Central Freeway was rammed through the middle of the neighborhood, and by 1970, more than 10,000 people had been displaced, 60 entire city blocks of homes and businesses having been razed. What replaced those homes were the widened Geary Street (now Geary Boulevard) and the collection of mostly shoddily constructed housing projects that dot the Western Addition today. It's still an interesting neighborhood with a slightly higher Black population than most of the rest of the city (excluding Bayview and Hunters Point, which are losing their Black populations as well), but it is a shell of its former self, especially when it comes to nightlife. It recently lost is Safeway, but there is a new Trader Joe's. The city is also redoing the Buchanan Street Mall, which is the no-cars greenway, including multiple playgrounds, that replaced Buchanan Street between roughly Page and Eddy Streets in the heart of the Western Addition. The blocks and blocks of fenced-in housing projects can feel scary to walk by, especially at night, when the east-west streets in the neighborhood are desolate except for people waiting for the 5-Fulton or 31-Balboa at bus stops. Sadly, there's still more crime here than in surrounding neighborhoods, including drive-by shootings near Jefferson Square Park that killed a child at a sleepover party. The Western Addition is also home to The Fillmore, Kimbell Park, the the Ella Hill Hutch Community Center, and quite a few churches. I also think it's funny that it's called the Western Addition even though it's on the eastern side of San Francisco. And its police station, in front of which cars are broken into regularly, is called Northern Station, even though three other police stations are farther north than it, including, again hilariously, Central Station.

I can't even tell you. You've gotta live here to understand…read more update: and goddamnit stop calling it NOPA. NOPA is a restaurant that used to be a laundromat, that's all.

Just this past weekend the Studio for Urban Projects had a kimchi contest. It was a blast!…read moreOrganization and layout was very well done, although the space was a bit packed with people. The woman at the front door is super friendly. Live music as well. Kimchi was great. The better ones really stood out from the overly garlic ones.

Workshops, talks, film screenings and food... to foster civic dialog. Its always fun and thought…read moreprovoking at the the Studio for Urban Projects. Near Dolores park and Birite creamery/grocery.