Living - Places - San Francisco, California, USA

The San Francisco area has many sites, entertainment venues, museums, and other places with Web sites

• Sites: Places such as parks, buildings, public gardens and zoos, notable buildings, libraries, and neighborhoods
  • Alcatraz: Alcatraz Island; visit "The Rock" and see how prisoners were once held here; part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area; National Parks Service
  • Angel Island: Angel Island State Park; 300 hectare island in San Francisco Bay; hiking, biking, camping, boating
  • Botanical: San Francisco Botanical Gardens; 22 hectares of landscaped gardens; 7500 varieties of plants from around the world
  • Buildings Emporis: Skyscrapers of San Francisco; shows information about SF's office and other buildings
  • Castro: The Castro; neighborhood west of downtown known for its gay and lesbian community; bordered by the Haight, Fillmore, Noe Valley, the Mission, and Diamond Heights
  • Chinatown: San Francisco Chinatown
  • City Hall: San Francisco City Hall; information about visiting as well as government information
  • City Lights: famous bookstore in the North Beach area; co-founded by poet/painter Lawrence Ferlinghetti; see photo
  • Cliff House: Restaurants, shopping; on the west end of San Francisco on Point Lobos
  • Cole Valley: Neighborhood in SF
  • Embarcadero Ctr: Multi-use retail and office complex
  • Fillmore St: Information about the Fillmore neighborhood
  • Fisherman's Wharf: Fisherman's Wharf Merchant's Association; popular tourist spot for restaurants, attractions, and the historic waterfront
  • Fisherman's Wharf Visit: Fisherman's Wharf Community Benefit District
  • Flower Mart: San Francisco Wholesale Flower Mart
  • Fort Mason: Fort Mason Center; in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, in the piers and buildings of Lower Fort Mason; offers activities in visual and performing arts, humanities, education, ecology, and recreation; houses nonprofit organizations
  • Fort Point NHS: Fort Point National Historic Site; in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, located in Presidio of San Francisco; National Parks Service
  • Geary Blvd: Geary Boulevard Merchants Association
  • Ghirardelli Sq: Historic San Francisco shopping area; waterfront dining; near Fisherman's Wharf; art galleries
  • Golden Gate Bridge: Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District
  • Golden Gate NRA: Golden Gate National Recreation Area; 30,500 hectare park--about two and one-half times the land area of San Francisco itself; park includes Alcatraz, Marin Headlands, Fort Funston, Fort Mason, Muir Woods National Monument, Fort Point National Historic Site, and the Presidio of San Francisco; National Parks Service
  • Gulf of Farallones: Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary; 3,250 square kilometers of water area off the northern and central California coast; National Ocean Service, National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration
  • Haight St: Haight Street; the legendary street that played a role in counterculture of the 1960's, now frequented by tourists, yuppies, and panhandlers
  • Japan Town: Nihonmachi; west of Union Square; part of Western Addition; established 1855
  • Liberty Ship: National Liberty Ship Memorial S. S. Jeremiah O'Brien; US ship used in the liberation of Europe in 1944; Pier 45 at Fisherman's Wharf
  • Library: San Francisco Public Library
  • Maritime NHP: San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park; park includes the fleet of national historic landmark vessels at Hyde Street Pier, a maritime museum, and a maritime library; National Park Service
  • Metreon: Downtown entertainment complex; shopping, dining, theaters, events; Sony
  • Mission: Mission District guide; events, galleries, theaters, housing
  • Mission Dolores: Basilica; founded 1776 as La Misión de Nuestro Padre San Francisco de Asís; National Historic Landmark
  • Neighborhood Guides: City Guides; trained volunteers who share the fun of discovering San Francisco and its neighborhoods
  • Neighborhood Link: Neighborhood Link; neighborhood and nonprofit group information
  • North Beach: Little Italy; neighborhood north of downtown, historically settled by Italian-Americans and populated by the Beats (1950's writers); now supporting a wide range of people, businesses, cafes and restaurants
  • Parking-USA: USA Parking; links to information about automobile parking and services that serve a national audience
  • Pier 39: Entertainment complex; dining, shopping, entertainment at Fisherman's Wharf
  • Presido: Presidio of San Francisco; in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area; former military post under Spain, Mexico, and the United States; National Parks Service
  • Sports Hall: Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame
  • Transamerica Pyramid: Financial District skyscraper
  • Union Sq: Union Square Shopping District
  • Union St: Union Street; shops, restaurants and points of interest near the entrance to the Golden Gate Bridge
  • Visitors: San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau; guides and tourist information
  • Zoo: San Francisco Zoo
• Venues: Places for performances, concerts, athletics, conventions, tradeshows, gatherings
  • ACT Th: American Conservatory Theater; opened in 1910 as the Columbia Theatre; called the Geary Theater until 2006
  • Ballpark: 41,503 seat baseball stadium; home of the Giants; formerly SBC Park and Pacific Bell Park; formerly AT&T Park; formerly Oracle Park; check Web site for current name
  • Bill G Civic: Bill Graham Civic Auditorium; 7,000 seats; at historic Civic Center Plaza
  • Bimbo's 365: Bimbo's 356 Club
  • Boom Boom Rm: Blues & Boogie
  • Cow Palace: Multi-event showplace; regular shows include Grand National Rodeo, Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus, the San Francisco Sport & Boat Show, the Golden Gate Kennel Club Dog Show, and Disney on Ice; the Cow Palace is a State agency of the California Department of Food and Agriculture's Division of Fairs and Expositions
  • Fillmore: Historic music performance theater
  • Fort Mason: Various venues for rent; Festival Pavilion, Herbst Pavilion, Cowell Theater, Southside Theater, Conference Center, Firehouse, Gatehouse, Meeting and Activity Spaces, Fleet Room, SFMoMA Artist's Gallery
  • GreatAMH: Great American Music Hall
  • Levi's Stadium: New football stadium in Santa Clara for the San Francisco 49ers
  • Masonic Ctr Nob Hill: Nob Hill Masonic Center for Events; auditorium, exhibit hall
  • Masonic Ctr Scottish: San Francisco Scottish Rite Masonic Center; auditorium, banquet hall
  • Moscone Ctr: Meeting and exhibition facility; in the downtown district; 18.5 hectares of building area
  • SFWMPAC: San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center; includes War Memorial Opera House 3,146 seats; site covers 3 hectares in San Francisco's Civic Center Historic District; opera, symphony, modern and classical dance, theatre, recitals, plays, lectures, meetings, receptions, special screenings, and galas; facilities include Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall, War Memorial Opera House, War Memorial Veterans Building, Herbst Theatre, Green Room, Harold L. Zellerbach Rehearsal Hall
  • Shoreline Amp: Shoreline Ampitheatre; 25,000 capacity; Mountain View
  • Slim's: Live music nightclub
  • Warfield: The Warfield Theatre; 2,300-seat theater; opened in 1922 2,300-seat theater; opened in 1922
• Museums: Displays of objects; includes planned educational activities related to art, history, culture, or science
  • Art Asian: Asian Art Museum; devoted exclusively to Asian art
  • Art Camerawork: San Francisco Camerawork; photography and related media
  • Art Cartoon: Cartoon Art Museum of San Francisco
  • Art DeYoung: de Young Museum;
  • Art Legion: Legion of Honor; a three-quarter-scale adaptation of the 18th-century Palais de la Légion d’Honneur in Paris
  • Art Mexican: Latino art throughout the Americas
  • Art SFMoMA: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
  • Art SFO: San Francisco International Airport Museums
  • Art YB: Yerba Buena Center for the Arts; confusing, difficult to use Web site
  • Bay Model: Bay Model Visitor Center; 6,000-square meter operational model of San Francisco Bay and Delta; San Fransisco Bay ecology, history and culture
  • Cable Car: San Francisco Cable Car Museum; shows off the history of the cable car and an operating power house
  • Cal Academy: California Academy of Sciences; natural history museum
  • Children's BADM: Bay Area Discovery Museum; just north of the Golden Gate Bridge
  • City: Museum of the City of San Francisco
  • Craft and Design: San Francisco Craft and Design Museum
  • Exploratorium: museum of science, art and human perception
  • Fire: San Francisco Fire Museum; displays of equipment and articles that tell the story of fire fighting in San Francisco
  • History: San Francisco Museum and Historical Society; presents the natural and human history of San Francisco; formed in February 2002 following the merger of the San Francisco Historical Society and the Museum of the City of San Francisco
  • Italian American: Museo ItaloAmericano; Italian and Italian-American art and culture
  • Jewish/CJM: Contemporary Jewish Museum; a non-collecting institution that partners with national and international cultural institutions to present artistic exhibitions
  • Magnes: Judah L. Magnes Museum; art reflecting the Jewish experience throughout history
  • Maritime: San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park Association; USS Pampanito submarine museum & memorial at Fisherman's Wharf
  • MoAD: Museum of the African Diaspora; African Diaspora is "the scattering of people from Africa and the sowing of their cultures globally;" museum presents exhibits on the themes of origins, movement, adaptation, and transformation
  • Performing Arts: San Francisco Performing Arts Library & Museum
  • Pez: Burlingame Museum of Pez Memorabilia; Pez dispensers and memorabilia
  • Pioneer: Society of California Pioneers and the Seymour Pioneer Museum
  • Railroad: Golden Gate Railroad Museum
  • Railway: Market Street Railway; a "museum in motion"; supports the San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni) in its daily operation of vintage transit vehicles including the famous cable cars (which are National Historic Landmarks) as well as the F-line vintage streetcar, tram, and trolley service
  • Randall: Arts, sciences, cultures, and environment
  • Ripley's: Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum; the strange and amazing
  • Wax: The Wax Museum at Fisherman's Wharf; celebrities in wax
  • Wells Fargo History: Museum of Wells Fargo; San Francisco museum includes displays of a stage coach and gold dust
  • Zeum Art & Tech: Hands-on art and technology center; difficult to use Web site

Is something missing or incorrect? Please send a correction to johndecember@gmail.com with the subject places-sf.