San Francisco - Alison Bing [96]
BRITEX FABRICS Map DIY
415-392-2910; www.britexfabrics.com; 146 Geary St; 10am-6pm Mon-Sat; 2, 3, 4, 30, 38, 45; & Powell St; Powell-Mason & Powell-Hyde
No reality design show can compare with the four floors of nonstop fashion drama at Britex. First floor: designers bicker over who gets first dibs on caution-orange chiffon. Second floor: glam rockers dig through a velvet goldmine. Third floor: Hollywood stylists squeal ‘To die for!’ over ’60s Lucite buttons. Top floor: fake fur flies and remnants roll as costumers prepare for Burning Man, Halloween and your average SF weekend.
LE SANCTUAIRE Map Food & Drink
415-986-4216; www.le-sanctuaire.com; 5th fl, 315 Sutter St; by appointment 10:30am-4:30pm Mon-Fri; 2, 3, 4, 30, 38, 45; Powell-Mason & Powell-Hyde
Mad scientists, thrill seekers and professional chefs are buzzed in speakeasy-style to this culinary curiosity shop selling anchovy juice, spherifiers to turn fruit into caviar, salt for curing meats, and of course that hallmark of molecular gastronomy: foaming agents. Check the website for classes on making smoked watermelon with vacuum sealers and using liquid nitrogen to make powdered lard – too bad suspending disbelief using gellants isn’t on the schedule.
JAPONESQUE Map Housewares, Arts & Crafts
415-391-8860; 824 Montgomery St; 10:30am-5:30pm Tue-Sat, 11am-5pm Sun; 10, 12, 15
Wabi-sabi is not something you smear on sushi but the fine appreciation for organic forms and materials you can experience first-hand at Japonesque. Owner Koichi Hara stocks antique Japanese bamboo baskets and raku ceramics alongside Ruth Rhoten’s molten silver vases and Hiromichi Iwashita’s graphite-coated, chiseled-wood panels that look like bonfire embers.
DSW Map Shoes
415-445-9511; www.dswshoe.com; 111 Powell St; 9am-9pm Mon-Sat, to 8pm Sun; 5, 6, 7, 21, 31, 71, F, J, K, L, M, N; & Powell St; Powell-Mason & Powell-Hyde
The basement clearance section is where recovering shoe hounds come once they’ve sworn that they’ve bought their last pair for the season. Diligent research has uncovered 40% to 60% off Marc Jacobs flats, Betsy Johnson wedges and an inexplicable bonanza of limited-edition Pumas.
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top picks
Fashion Strips
North Beach – Grant Ave from Columbus Ave to Filbert St.
Hayes Valley – Hayes St between Laguna and Franklin Sts.
Pacific Heights – Fillmore St between Clay and Sutter Sts.
The Haight – Haight St from Shrader to Fillmore Sts.
Noe Valley – 24th St between Castro and Church Sts.
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CIVIC CENTER & THE TENDERLOIN
KAYO BOOKS Map Books
415-749-0554; www.kayobooks.com; 814 Post St; 11am-6pm Thu-Sat; 2, 3, 4, 27, 38, 76
Juvenile delinquents will find an entire section dedicated to their life stories here, where vintage pulp fiction, true crime and erotica titles ending in exclamation points (including the succinct Wench!) induced John Waters to endorse this place on NPR. You might find a first edition Dashiell Hammet gumshoe caper, a wayward nun’s tale filed under Catholic Guilt, or Women’s Medical Problems in the Bizarre Nonfiction section.
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CHINATOWN
GOLDEN GATE FORTUNE COOKIE COMPANY Map Food & Drink
415-781-3956; 56 Ross Alley; admission free; 8am-7pm; 30,45; Powell-Mason, Powell-Hyde
You too can say you made a fortune in San Francisco after visiting this bakery, where cookies are stamped out on old-fashioned presses and folded while hot – just as they were back in 1909, when they were invented in San Francisco for the Japanese Tea Garden. You can make your own customized cookies, or pick up a bag of the risqué ‘French’ fortune cookies – no need to add ‘in bed’ at the end to make these interesting.
CHINA BAZAAR Map Gifts
415-391-6369; 667 Grant Ave; 10am-10pm; 1, 9, 30, 45; California, Powell-Mason, Powell-Hyde
Wire racks are perilously overloaded with bargain novelty items in no discernible order,