05/08/2003 Entry: "Nobody Jumps Off The Dumbarten Bridge."

What with Jason's imminent arrival to our fair city, I realize I've fallen down on the job of finding him interesting things to do whilst he's here. I was supposed to have done this and sent it to him last month. Oops. I figured I'd share with the class.

There's the usual suspects, of course. The Museum of Modern Art. The Legion of Honor. The Asian Art Museum. The Japanese Tea Garden. All good things.

But who would I be if I showed people around "Normal" San Francisco? Watch a video for that. Here's what would make my list.

First, some general links:

• The Idiosyncratic Guide for the Goth-Geek-Freak-Hipster-Nerd. A little out of date, but still required reading.
• Dr. Weirde's Guide to Mysterious San Francisco. A little esoteric sometimes, but good reading nonetheless.
• Though his whole site is good, I particularly want to point out Mister SF's Notorious Sites. Now you're talking my language.
• Laughing Squid's San Francisco Pages, particularly their offbeat events section.
• The San Francisco Zone—not a great page, but full of odd links like the Poetry Readings and Taxi Driver Shortcuts.

If we're going into Golden Gate Park, I'd have to recommend visiting the buffalo Bison and the Shakespeare Garden. While the gardens in general are interesting, and the AIDS Memorial Grove is moving and worth a visit, nothing mixes as well for me as flora and iambic pentameter. Nearby, there's the Columbarium, one of the few, if not only, places in San Francisco which still accepted human remains. Ah, how I love old cemetaries.

There's a bunch of stores along Valencia Street to which I love to drag people. Paxton Gate, conveniently located near The Pirate Store, the best Pirate Supply Store in the city. (Their store log is a good read and not to be missed.) There are some great design boutiques and independant art galleries around there, too. I don't know if the Botanica Yoruba is still open to the public, but after walking that far down, we might as well see Good Vibrations and its Vibrator Museum. (More of a display case, really, but interesting nonetheless.)

I've always wanted to do the Barbary Coast Walking Trail, which leads along the original 19th Century coastline of downtown SF and points out the history of things. Like the old ship which was converted into a restaurant and hotel, and is now very much inland. The crow's nest (either the original or a reproduction of it) became the bar. Or if it's late enough, there's the Vampire Tour instead.

And then there's the gay stuff. Hmph. I'm really no expert on that anymore. Maybe the My-Power-Hole tour? Maybe Trannyshack? Who can say.

Did I mention how much I love this city? See? I just can't decide where to start showing it off.

Replies: 3 comments

Did you see where Ernie wants to take him? I hope you get to Jason first.

Posted by jhames @ 05/09/2003 12:43 AM PST

I have a strange love of Paxton Gate.

Posted by geno @ 05/09/2003 09:51 AM PST

Uh, where *does* Ernie want to take me? :p

Posted by Jason @ 05/09/2003 10:24 PM PST