San Francisco, Unscripted

Travel writers can agree that one of the boons of the industry is collabing with professional marketers to map and agendize an alluring destination article, complete with multi-star lodging, in-the-know dining, and front-of-the line adventures. This, however, is not that. 

Ever since my eldest decided to get a degree from San Francisco State University, our family trips to visit have ramped up. Recently I’ve noticed that our best explorations of the Golden State’s big city on the bay have been heavily freeform, devoid of the schedules and must-sees that can often feel more like work than vacation. In short order, our quick trips have felt like genuine travel — that feeling of an antenna opening to all kinds of transmissions happening all around, especially in a place like San Francisco. 

GET THERE

Nonstop flights between Santa Barbara Airport and SFO run about 80 minutes, with pricing – subject to change – starting in the low $200s. Buy a window seat for those birdseye views along the coast.

For an all-day journey via rail and water, Amtrak’s Coast Starlight runs directly to Jack London Square in Oakland. From there, a short walk leads to the ferry landing for a 20-minute boat ride across the bay to downtown San Francisco.  

Once in the city, public transportation aboard Muni and BART provides reliable access throughout San Francisco and beyond. For kicks, splurge on a Weymo. Better yet, strike up human conversation with your   cabbie or Uber driver.

We traveled the old-fashioned way, banking onto Highway 101 northbound for the halfday drive and ready to face San Francisco’s inevitable traffic and parking challenges with courage and open hearts of acceptance.  

STAY

Late last year, as my daughter hunted for off-campus housing, the Sunset Edwardian provided a central, clean, and comfortable homebase. It’s not so much a destination bed-and-breakfast as it is an affordable Inner Sunset crashpad with bathroom-down-the-hall basics and top-floor city views just a few blocks from famed Golden Gate Park. 

We found the Edwardian’s all-digital booking and check-in easy and efficient, plus the proprietor was quick to respond to texts and even answer a nighttime phone call with helpful guidance.

EAT

The Edwardian is also a quick walk to Phở Huỳnh Hiệp 2 (aka Kevin’s Noodle House), which we discovered spontaneously via end-of-day hunger rumblings. The place was packed. That’s usually a good sign. It was. Big bowls of Vietnamese noodles all around. 

For coffee and breakfast, we queued up at Tartine’s flagship bakery in the Mission. Egg sandos, almond-lemon poppyseed teacake, frangipane croissants, and a country sourdough loaf to go. The latest from Tartine is the imminent opening of its fourth SF location, in the Financial District. 

Elsewhere along the bakery front, we scored sourdough starter from Josey Baker Bread at the Mill, also home to Four Barrel Coffee. Unfortunately, a fire shut down the spot. Via GoFundMe they’re trying to reopen with some help from the community.     

For lunch and dinner, respectively, we landed at Park Chalet and its finer-dining upstairs counterpart, Beach Chalet, sandwiched between Golden Gate Park and Ocean Beach. While Park Chalet (where my kid’s a server) trends craft beers and burgers under a sunshade, Beach Chalet boasts views across the sand to the blue edge of the planet. Both feature live music on a steady basis. Upstairs, we enjoyed a family dinner as pianist Jennifer Murphy’s jazz trio swung, rolled, and riffed through a setlist of classics. Murphy plays Beach Chalet every Friday night. 

DO

Beyond Beach Chalet, Murphy recommends Mr. Tipple’s Jazz Club, Keys Jazz Bistro, DeLuxe, Dawn Club, and Local Edition. “SF has a vibrant scene,” she says. “A lot of Bay Area jazz players are experienced in other genres, such as R&B, funk, salsa, and Brazilian. I think that kind of crossover makes the Bay Area unique.” 

More ​melophilia: If you’re into “vinyls” — as the kids call them — Amoeba Music can’t be missed. San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury neighborhood is home to the independent music store’s second location — its first is across the bay in Berkeley — home to 24,000 square feet of records, CDs, cassettes, new and used, across a multiverse of genres.  

As you can tell, we shied away from the standard tourist traps. Besides, with magnetic destinations like Pier 39 drawing massive crowds, a trip inside the unassuming Green Apple Books, in the Richmond, feels like you’re in on a city secret. On that note, it’s right across the street from what many born-and-bred locals claim to be the city’s very best takeout dim sum. We also made it to the world-famous City Lights Bookstore, parking be damned.

Another big tip from those in the know: If you hit sunny warm weather, enjoy it while it lasts. That means coffee walks along Funston Bluffs, photo ops from the Marin Headlands, explorations of Golden Gate Park, and – again, taking queues from the locals – perhaps even an Ocean Beach bonfire.  

If smores on the sand in San Francisco sounds offbeat, it is. But as we’ve learned the fun way, there’s nothing quite like riffing.