Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Entertainment
Beach Blanket Babylon (
Click here
)
Cobb's Comedy Club (
Click here
)
Getting There
Cable car
From Downtown or the Wharf, take the Powell-Mason line through Chinatown and North Beach.
The California cable car passes through Chinatown.
Bus
Key routes are 30, 41 and 45.
The Sights in a Day
Enter
Dragon's Gate
(
Click here
)
onto Grant Ave, lined with pagoda-topped
buildings purpose-built in the 1920s by Chinatown merchants to attract curios-
ity seekers and souvenir shoppers - clearly their plan worked like a charm. It's hard to be-
lieve that this cheerful vintage-neon-signed street was once a notorious red-light district -
at least until you see the fascinating displays at the
Chinese Historical Society
(
Click
here
)
. Wander temple-lined
Waverly Place
(
Click here
)
to glimpse a neighborhood
that's survived against daunting odds, and detour for dim sum at
City View
(
Click here
).
Cross into North Beach via
Jack Kerouac Alley
(
Click here
)
and
City Lights
(
Click here
)
, San Francisco's free-speech landmark. Espresso at
Caffe Trieste
(
Click here
)
frees your inner beatnik for the
North Beach Beat
(
Click here
)
walking tour,
and speeds you up giddy, garden-lined Filbert St Steps to
Coit Tower
(
Click here
)
.
Brave a Barbary Coast happy-hour crawl from
15 Romolo
(
Click here
)
to
Comstock Saloon
(
Click here
)
and
Tosca Cafe
(
Click here
). San Franciscans
will only excuse you from a final round at
Specs
(
Click here
)
for three reasons: dinner
reservations at
Coi
(
Click here
)
, tickets to
Beach Blanket Babylon
(
Click here
)
, or
shows at
Bimbo's 365 Club
(
Click here
)
.
