Frommer's San Francisco 2012 - Matthew Poole [7]
The Coastal Trail is steps from the beach.
THE BEST OFFBEAT TRAVEL EXPERIENCES
• A Soul-Stirring Sunday Morning Service at Glide Memorial Church: Every city has churches, but only San Francisco has the Glide. An hour or so with Reverend Cecil Williams and his exuberant gospel choir will surely shake your soul and let the glory out. No matter what your religious beliefs may be—everybody leaves this Tenderloin church spiritually uplifted and slightly misty-eyed.
• A Cruise Through the Castro: The most populated and festive street in the city is not just for gays and lesbians (though the best cruising in town is right here). Great shops and cafes aside, the best reason to come here is for the people-watching. If you have time, catch a flick and a live organ performance at the beautiful 1930s Spanish colonial movie palace, the Castro Theatre. See “Neighborhoods Worth a Visit,” beginning for more info.
The Castro Theatre.
• Skating Through Golden Gate Park on a Weekend: C’mon, when’s the last time you went rollerblading? If you’ve never tried skating before, there’s no better place to learn than on the wide, flat main street through Golden Gate Park, which is closed to vehicles on Sundays.
• Catching Big Air in Your Car: Relive Bullitt or The Streets of San Francisco as you careen down the center lane of Gough Street between Ellis and Eddy streets, screaming out “Wooooeee!” Feel the pull of gravity leave you momentarily, followed by the thump of the car suspension bottoming out. Wimpier folk can settle for driving down the steepest street in San Francisco: Filbert Street, between Leavenworth and Hyde streets.
Relive the 1968 Steve McQueen thriller Bullitt.
• AsiaSF: The gender-bending waitresses—mostly Asian men dressed very convincingly as hot-to-trot women—will blow your mind with their performance of lip-synched show tunes, which takes place every night. Bring the parents—they’ll love it.
10 PLACES TO spot locals IN THEIR NATURAL HABITATS
Here’s your guide to some of the city’s most curious (and beloved) characters:
• The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence (www.thesisters.org) appear at almost every public event to give their blessing—though these “sisters” have Adam’s apples and sometimes beards. It started in 1976 as a group of gay men performing The Sound of Music and then morphed into nuns carrying fake machine guns and cigars in local parades; now the satirical act is also a charity that is devoted to “community service, ministry and outreach to those on the edges, and to promoting human rights, respect for diversity and spiritual enlightenment.”
• Spotting a graffiti artist at work is rare; you may have more luck finding a muralist at work in the Mission district. Contact Precita Eyes, which oversees much of the mural painting, for more information, and ask if they’ll clue you in on their painting schedule.
• You’ll find a crowd of older Chinese men smoking up a storm and playing mah-jongg and cards in Portsmouth Square in Chinatown. Try www.sanfranciscochinatown.com.
• Strictly devout Christians don’t always find this amusing, but every Easter brings the Hunky Jesus Contest to Dolores Park, which combines men of various degrees of hunkiness (and nakedness) and lots of religious irreverence.
• More nudity (there’s no shortage of it here if you know where to look): The World Naked Bike Ride takes place around the world twice a year (partially to bring attention to the dangers of gas emissions); the Northern Hemisphere date is in mid-March, and the Southern Hemisphere date is in mid-June. San Francisco now participates in both, naturally. Visit www.sfbikeride.org for specific dates, routes, and more.
• Head to Golden Gate Park on a weekend to find lawn-bowlers and occasionally an impromptu drum circle.
• Head to Ocean Beach to watch surfers in action, especially on weekends. You may hear surfer lingo similar to this comment posted on www.wannasurf.com: