Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
44
recalcitrant traveler in the jewel of the left
coast, although y ou pr obably won 't find
much r esistance to begin with for this
trip.
For y ounger childr en, r ent the 1998
version of
The Parent Trap.
This remake,
no longer starring H ayley M ills, darn it,
has a fabulous scene at the famous F air-
mont Hotel atop Nob Hill. Another clas-
sic is
Mrs. Doubtfire,
starring the city's own
Robin Williams, who passes himself off as
a B ritish nanny in or der to spend time
with his childr en after separating fr om
their mother , play ed b y S ally F ield. The
family lives on Steiner Street, and there are
several great shots of the city in the film.
For older kids, there is an endless supply of
great material, from
Star Trek IV: The Voy-
age H ome,
wher e the E nterprise and its
crew set do wn in S an F rancisco to seek
“nuclear wessels” across San Francisco Bay
to
X-Men III: The Last S tand,
which
includes a scene featuring Yerba B uena
Gardens and M etreon. R eese Wither-
spoon's apartment in
Just Like Heaven
had
San F rancisco vie ws, and J ennifer Lopez
plays a San Francisco local in
The Wedding
Planner.
The zany B arbra S treisand and R yan
O'Neill scr ewball comedy
What's U p,
Doc?
takes viewers down Lombard Street,
through the Chinese N ew Year P arade,
and down the Alta P laza steps in P acific
Heights to the B ay. Another must-see
film is
Foul P lay
with Chevy Chase and
Goldie H awn racing frantically up and
down just about every hill in the city in a
quest to sav e the pope fr om being mur-
dered at the O pera House. And who can
resist the D irty H arry mo vies, starring
Clint Eastwood as the hard-boiled detec-
tive? Alfr ed H itchcock also lo ved S an
Francisco and set thr ee of his films her e,
including
Vertigo.
Topics are also useful to raise awar eness
of the city . For younger readers there are
some gr eat pictur e and stor ybooks av ail-
able about San Francisco. Herb Caen, the
city's famous columnist until his death in
1997, br ought together some of its most
famous characteristics—fog, cable cars,
and Chinese New Year—in an enchanting
tale,
The C able C ar and the Dr agon
(Chronicle Books, 1986).
Humphrey, the
Lost Whale: A True Story
(Heian, 1986), by
Wendy Tokuda and Richar d H all, is a
beautiful book av ailable in E nglish and
Japanese. It tells the tale of a group of local
people who band together to save a hump-
back whale that swims into S an Francisco
Bay b y mistake.
The C ity b y the B ay: A
Magical J ourney A round S an F rancisco
(Chronicle Books, 1993), by Tricia Brown
and the Junior League of San Francisco, is
a wonder ful pictur e book that turns
famous neighborhoods and landmar ks
into whimsical illustrations. This is perfect
for introducing kids 4 to 8 years old to the
culture and sights of the city. Another ter-
rific book is a r eprint of a 1962 classic b y
Miroslav Sasek,
This is San Francisco
(Uni-
verse P ublishing, 2003). E ven older kids
will love the drawings of fishtailed Cadil-
lacs and drive-in restaurants in this detail-
rich picture book.
A novel set in the city can also act as a
catalyst to inter est older childr en. In
Pep-
permints in the P arlor
(Atheneum, 1980),
by B arbara B rooks Wallace, r ecently
orphaned E mily L uccock finds herself
embroiled in a murder mystery in Golden
Gate Park when she mo ves to S an Fran-
cisco to liv e with her aunt and uncle. I n
Sid Fleischman's
By the Great Horn Spoon!
(Little Brown & Co., 1963), a 12-year-old
boy strikes it rich in S an Francisco during
the gold r ush after sto wing away on a
journey from Boston.
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