Frommer's San Francisco 2012 - Matthew Poole [147]
The American League’s Oakland Athletics play across the bay at the Coliseum, Hegenberger Road exit from I-880, Oakland ( 510/430-8020; www.athletics.mlb.com). The stadium holds over 50,000 spectators and is accessible through BART’s Coliseum station. Tickets are available from the Coliseum Box Office or by phone through Tickets.com ( 800/225-2277; www.tickets.com).
Pro Basketball
The Golden State Warriors of the NBA play at the ORACLE Arena, a 19,200-seat facility at 7000 Coliseum Way in Oakland ( 510/986-2200; www.nba.com/warriors). The season runs November through April, and most games start at 7:30pm. Tickets are available at the arena, online, and by phone through Tickets.com ( 800/225-2277; www.tickets.com).
Pro Football
The San Francisco 49ers (www.sf49ers.com) play at Candlestick Park, Giants Drive and Gilman Avenue, on Sundays August through December; kickoff is usually at 1pm. Tickets sell out early in the season but are available at higher prices through ticket agents beforehand and from “scalpers” (illegal ticket-sellers who are usually at the gates). Ask your hotel concierge for the best way to track down tickets.
The 49ers’ archenemies, the Oakland Raiders (www.raiders.com), play at the Oakland-Alameda Coliseum, off the I-880 freeway (Nimitz). Call 800/RAIDERS (724-3377) for ticket information.
7
CITY STROLLS
A streetlamp in Chinatown.
Hills schmills. Don’t let a few steep slopes deter you from one of San Francisco’s greatest pleasures—walking around the neighborhoods and exploring the city for yourself. Here are a couple of introductory walks that hit the highlights of my favorite neighborhoods for touring on foot. For more extensive city walking tours, check out Frommer’s Memorable Walks in San Francisco (Wiley Publishing, Inc.).
WALKING TOUR 1: CHINATOWN: HISTORY, CULTURE, DIM SUM & THEN SOME
START: Corner of Grant Avenue and Bush Street.
PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION: Bus no. 2, 3, 4, 9X, 15, 30, 38, 45, or 76.
FINISH: Commercial Street between Montgomery and Kearny streets.
TIME: 2 hours, not including museum or shopping stops.
BEST TIMES: Daylight hours, when the streets are most active.
WORST TIMES: Early or late in the day, because shops are closed and no one is milling around.
HILLS THAT COULD KILL: None.
This tiny section of San Francisco, bounded loosely by Broadway and by Stockton, Kearny, and Bush streets, is said to harbor one of the largest Chinese populations outside Asia. Daily proof is the crowds of Chinese residents who flock to the herbal stores, vegetable markets, restaurants, and businesses. Chinatown, specifically Portsmouth Square, also marks the original spot of the city center. On this walk, you’ll learn why Chinatown remains intriguing to all who wind through its narrow, crowded streets, and how its origins are responsible for the city as we know it.
To begin the tour, make your way to the corner of Bush Street and Grant Avenue, 4 blocks from Union Square and all the downtown buses, where you can’t miss the:
1 Chinatown Gateway Arch
Traditional Chinese villages have ceremonial gates like this one. A lot less formal than those in China, this gate was built more for the benefit of the tourist industry than anything else.
Once you cross the threshold, you’ll be at the beginning of Chinatown’s portion of:
2 Grant Avenue
This is a mecca for tourists who wander in and out of gift shops that offer a variety of unnecessary junk interspersed with quality imports. You’ll also find decent restaurants and grocery stores frequented by Chinese residents, ranging from children to the oldest living people you’ve ever seen.
Tear yourself away from the shops and turn right at the corner of Pine Street. Cross to the other side of Pine and on your left you’ll come to:
3 St. Mary’s Square
Here you’ll find a huge metal-and-granite statue of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the founder of the Republic of China. A native of Guangdong (Canton)