Frommer's San Francisco 2012 - Matthew Poole [187]
The Roxie Film Center Founded in 1909, the Roxie is the oldest continually running theater in San Francisco, and so when it almost went under in 2005, a private donor saved it with a huge donation and a great idea: The theater merged with the New College of California and is now a nonprofit film center serving both students and the general public. Management has promised that the programming will stay the same and that they will continue to screen the best new alternative films anywhere, as well as host filmmakers such as Werner Herzog. The low-budget contemporary features are largely devoid of Hollywood candy coating; many are West Coast premieres. If you’re here in February, catch a flick at SF Indie Fest, which calls the Roxie home. Phone for schedules, prices, and showtimes. Admission is $5 to $9.75 adults, $5 seniors 65 plus and children 11 and under; $5 matinee is the first show on weekends. 3117 16th St. (at Valencia St.). 415/863-1087.www.roxie.com.
10
SIDE TRIPS FROM SAN FRANCISCO
Muir Woods tends to dwarf—and exhilarate—visitors.
The City by the Bay is, without question, captivating, but don’t let it ensnare you to the point of ignoring its environs. The surrounding region offers beautiful natural areas such as Mount Tamalpais and Muir Woods, scenic bayside communities such as Tiburon and Sausalito, and vibrant neighboring cities such as Oakland and Berkeley.
From San Francisco, you can reach any of these points in an hour or less by car. Public transportation options are also listed throughout the chapter. Another option is to hitch a ride with San Francisco Sightseeing ( 888/428-6937 or 415/434-8687; www.sanfranciscosightseeing.com), which runs regularly scheduled bus tours to neighboring towns and the countryside. Half-day trips to Muir Woods and Sausalito, and full-day trips to Napa and Sonoma are available, as are excursions to Yosemite and the Monterey Peninsula. Phone for prices and schedules.
BERKELEY
10 miles NE of San Francisco
Berkeley is best known as the home of the University of California at Berkeley, which is world renowned for its academic standards, 18 Nobel prize winners (seven are active staff), and protests that led to the most famous student riots in U.S. history. Today, there’s still hippie idealism in the air, but the radicals have aged; the 1960s are present only in tie-dye and paraphernalia shops. The biggest change the town is facing is yuppification; as San Francisco’s rent and property prices soar out of the range of the average person’s budget, everyone with less than a small fortune is seeking shelter elsewhere, and Berkeley is one of the top picks (although Oakland is quickly becoming a favorite, too). Berkeley is a lively city teeming with all types of people, a beautiful campus, vast parks, great shopping, and some incredible restaurants.
Pricing Categories
Note: In this chapter, hotels are organized by location and then by price range, as follows: Very Expensive, more than $250 per night; Expensive, $200 to $250 per night; Moderate, $150 to $200 per night; and Inexpensive, less than $150 per night.
Restaurants are organized by location and then by price range for a complete dinner (appetizer, entree, dessert, and glass of wine) as follows: Very Expensive, dinner from $75 per person; Expensive, dinner from $50 per person; Moderate, dinner from $35 per person; and Inexpensive, dinner for less than $35 per person.
Essentials
The Berkeley Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) station is 2 blocks from the university. The fare from San Francisco is less than $4 one-way. Call 511 or visit www.bart.gov for trip info, or fares, or to download trip planners to your iPod, mobile phone, or PDA.
If you are coming by car