In a city where parade themes include "Weapons of Ass Destruction" and starting your holiday with an Irish coffee at the Buena Vista Café is de rigueur, it's pretty much guaranteed that you'll have a fun time vacationing in San Francisco. Where else in the world will you find a restaurant whose servers are all gorgeous transvestites? Where it's considered good, clean fun to get airborne in your car? Or where locals don't even pause for earthquakes under 5.0 on the Richter scale?
And it's always been this way: San Francisco's reputation as a rollicking city where almost anything goes dates back to the boom-or-bust days of the California Gold Rush. The result is a wee bit o' heaven for everyone: In a city that is so beautiful, exciting, and cosmopolitan there's always something enjoyable to see and do no matter how long you're staying. I've lived here for 14 years and I'm still discovering new things about this city almost every day.
There are, however, three things you should know before coming to San Francisco that will help you blend in with the locals. First, don't call it 'Frisco. (You wouldn't call New York just "York," would you?) Second, please don't call our beloved cable cars "trolleys." A trolley is a British shopping cart. Third, always dress warmly. Bob Hope once remarked that San Francisco is the city of four seasons -- every day. Temperatures can drop darn quick when the fog rolls in, so be prepared.
But the best advice I can give you about San Francisco is to just go. Enjoy the cool blast of salty air as you stroll across the Golden Gate. Stuff yourself with dim sum in Chinatown. Browse the secondhand shops along Haight Street. Recite poetry in a North Beach coffeehouse. Walk along the beach, skate through Golden Gate Park, ride the cable cars, tour a Victorian mansion, explore Alcatraz Island, go to a Giants ballgame: Like an eternal world's fair, it's all happening in San Francisco, and everyone's invited. All you have to do is arrive with an open mind, this guidebook, and a sense of adventure -- the rest is waiting for you.
Right then. Let's get this vacation started.
