San Francisco - Alison Bing [239]
American Express (800-992-3404)
Diners Club (800-234-6377)
Discover (800-347-2683)
MasterCard (800-622-7747)
Visa (800-847-2911)
Traveler’s Checks
In the US, traveler’s checks in US dollars are virtually as good as cash; you don’t have to go to a bank to cash them, as many establishments will accept them just like cash. The major advantage of traveler’s checks in US dollars over cash is that they can be replaced if lost or stolen. For lost or stolen traveler’s checks you can call the following numbers:
American Express (800-992-3404)
MasterCard (800-622-7747)
Thomas Cook (800-223-7373)
Visa (800-227-6811)
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NEWSPAPERS & MAGAZINES
San Francisco Bay Guardian (www.sfbg.com) Free weekly; alternative news and entertainment listings.
San Francisco Chronicle (www.sfgate.com) Main daily newspaper; news, entertainment and event listings online (no registration required).
SF Weekly (www.sfweekly.com) Free weekly; local gossip and entertainment.
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ORGANIZED TOURS
Magical mystery tours of San Francisco and beyond by bus can be found in the Transportation chapter Click here.
At the California Historical Society Museum (Map; 415-357-1848; www.californiahistoricalsociety.org; 678 Mission St; adult/child under 5yr/senior & student $3/free/1; noon-4:30pm Wed-Sat; 6, 7, 14, 21, 31, 71, F, J, K, L, M, N; & Montgomery St), when eccentric urban planner Gary Holloway isn’t dressing in monk’s robes or rearranging his tea tin collection, he leads enlightening Historical Walkabouts through obscure San Francisco neighborhoods.
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DIY TOURS
Follow your bliss with these handy self-guided tour tools:
For a terrific literary map of San Francisco, go to 826 Valencia; City Lights Bookstore sells literary guides to Northern California, plus volumes of poetry inspired by San Francisco locations.
Match your interest to tours from San Francisco’s nonprofit history goldmine at http://foundsf.org, with historical photos, oral history clips, and videos around San Franciscan themes such as Food, Dissent, Wilderness and more.
The San Francisco League of Urban Gardens (415-285-7584) organizes Open Garden tours of private backyard beauties every June; call for meeting times and places.
Follow the Ecology Trail through the Presidio with maps available from the Presidio Visitors Center (Map; Officers’ Club, 50 Moraga Ave; 9am-5pm; 43, 76), heading through Tennessee Hollow, site of a refugee camp after the 1906 earthquake and blooming with endangered pink clarkia flowers in summer, to Inspiration Point and Spire, Andy Goldsworthy’s 100ft sculpture of reclaimed Presidio cypress logs.
Artist Kate Pocrass collects odd things she and other locals have noticed around town into loosely organized Mundane Journeys (415-364-1465; www.mundanejourneys.com); call for a phone recording guiding you to some of these odd places.
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Teens who grew up here lead two-hour Chinatown Alleyway Tours (415-984-1478; www.chinatownalleywaytours.org; adult/child 6-9yr/student $18/5/12; 11am-1pm Sat or by appointment) offering an up-close-and-personal peek into Chinatown’s past. Hot stuff: Fire Engine Tours (415-333-7077; www.fireenginetours.com; Beach St at the Cannery; adult/child under 12yr/teen $50/30/40; 1pm Wed-Mon) takes you on a 75-minute ride in an open-air vintage fire engine over Golden Gate Bridge.
Precita Eyes Mission Mural Tours (415-285-2287; www.precitaeyes.org; adult $10-12, child under 17yr $5; 11am & 1:30pm Sat & Sun) offers two-hour walking tours by local artists covering 60-plus murals in a six-block radius of mural-covered Balmy Alley. Public Library City Guides ( 415-557-4266; www.sfcityguides.org; public tours free, donations accepted) are local historians who lead one-to-two-hour tours by neighborhood and theme: Art Deco Marina, Gold Rush Downtown, and Summer of Love Treasure Hunt in the Haight. See the website for times and locations.
The only way for true techies to cover the waterfront: on an electric Segway scooter with San Francisco Segway