Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
289
San Francisco Dental Office,
131 Steuart
St. (
&
415/777-5115;
www.thesmilepro.
com), offers emergency ser vice and com-
prehensive dental car e Monday and Tues-
day from 8am to 4:30pm, Wednesday and
Thursday from 10:30am to 6:30pm, and
Friday from 8am to 2:30pm.
DOCTORS
St. Francis Memorial Hos-
pital,
900 H yde S t., betw een B ush and
Pine str eets (
&
415/353-6000
), offers
24-hour emergency car e. Another emer-
gency r oom can be found at California
Pacific Medical Center at 2333 B uchanan
St. at S acramento S treet (
&
415/600-
6000).
San F rancisco O n C all M edical
Group
(
&
415/732-7029;
www.sfoncall.
com) offers 24-hour car e; same-day
appointments at its office at 490 P ost St.,
Ste. 710, at M ason St.; and visits to sick
patients at home and in hotels. Your hotel
can also contact on-call doctors who make
house calls.
DRINKING L AWS
No one under 21
can drink or pur chase alcohol legally in
California. All clubs, bars, supermar kets,
and liquor stor es check the identification
of anyone who appears y ounger than 30.
Alcohol is sold 7 days a week at supermar-
kets, corner stores, and wine shops between
the hours of 6am and 2am. B
buildings. I f y ou ar e in an ar ea with tall
buildings, find a door way in which to
stand. Above all, do not panic and frighten
your children. Earthquakes end quickly.
ELECTRICITY
Like Canada, the United
States uses 110 to 120 v olts A C (60
cycles), compared to 220 to 240 v olts AC
(50 cy cles) in most of E urope, A ustralia,
and New Zealand. Downward converters
that change 220-240 v olts to 110-120
volts ar e difficult to find in the U
nited
States, so bring one with y ou.
EMBASSIES & CONSULATES
All
embassies are located in the nation 's capi-
tal, Washington, D.C. S ome consulates
are located in major U.S. cities, and most
nations hav e a mission to the U nited
Nations in New York City. If your country
isn't listed belo w, call for dir ectory infor-
mation inWashington, D.C. (
&
202/555-
1212
) or log on to
www.embassy.org/
embassies
.
The embassy of
Australia
is at 1601
Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington, DC
20036 (
&
202/797-3000;
www.austemb.
org). There are consulates in Atlanta, Chi-
cago, Honolulu, Los Angeles, N ew York,
and S an Francisco. I n S an Francisco, the
consulate is at 575 M arket St., Ste. 1800
(
&
415/536-1970
).
The embassy of
Canada
is at 501 Penn-
sylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20001
(
&
202/682-1740;
www.canadianembassy.
org). There are 13 Canadian consulates in
the U.S., including locations in Los Ange-
les, N ew York, and S eattle. I n S an F ran-
cisco, the consulate is at 580 California St.,
14th floor (
&
415/834-3180
).
The embassy of
Ireland
is at 2234 Mas-
sachusetts A ve. NW , Washington, DC
20008 (
&
202/462-3939;
www.ireland
emb.org). I rish consulates ar e in Boston,
Chicago, New York, and San Francisco. In
San Francisco, the consulate is at 100 Pine
St., Ste. 3350 (
&
415/392-4214
).
The embassy of
New Zealand
is at 37
Observatory Circle NW, Washington, DC
ars do not
serve liquor past 2am.
EARTHQUAKES
California gets them,
but y ou most likely won 't experience the
real thing firsthand. J ust in case, y ou
should kno w a fe w basic pr ecautionary
measures. When you're inside a building,
seek co ver; do not r un outside. S tand
under a door way or against a wall, or get
under a stur dy table, and stay away fr om
windows. When you exit a building after a
substantial quake, use stair wells, not
elevators. If you are in a car , pull o ver to
the shoulder and stop—but not until y ou
are away fr om bridges, o verpasses, tele-
phone poles, and po wer lines. Stay in your
car. I f y ou ar e outside walking, stay away
from tr ees, po wer lines, and the sides of
