San Francisco shopping & night life

[daggersprawn]

Hello:

I'm planning on going to San Francisco from June 1st to June 4th.

I've already read the superfuture guide for the various

shops in the area. I already plan on going to recon, redfive and stussy

but the extent of my knowledge as to what shops in SF are hot

is very limited. Do any of you guys have any recomendations

for shopping, restaurants and the night life? Are there any places/areas which I should

avoid at all costs?

I plan on traveling with 2 guys and 2 gals, all Japanese, FOBs if you will.

Anything would help. Thanx in advance!!!

we need more shops in san diego

[mcp]

i would say that rather than outline particular stores that you just go to a couple different areas of the city and just walk around.

haight street - more of the funky and used clothing stores. start on one side at around stanyan street and walk east until you start seeing the park then turn around and do the other side.

union square - this is the main consumerism spot. there are not really any stores that you can't find elsewhere. one thing that is cool is the levis store on the corner of stockton and post streets where you can get custom made jeans (cut, material and additional tweaks) for around $100.

hayes valley - this is where i live, but besides that it has a lot of nice little shops. mostly home and jewlry but there are some cool clothing shops as well.

union street - the best way to explain this section is an up scale version of haight street.

the only place i can think of that you should not go to specifically is the stonestown mall.

for restaurants my favorates right now are:

kiss - excellent sushi. a japanese expat said it has the most authentic japanese sushi in the city. very small place: only about 8 seats.

bistro aix - french style tapas. cool "outdoors" area in back that has a tent with space heaters for those cooler sf nights.

globe - my favorate for quite a few years which offers late night dinning. excellent american-style food.

paul k - mediterannian food. probably the best restaurant in the city imho.

for nightlife it kinda matters what type of thing you want to go to.

my favorate haunts:

r bar - the owners of this place are really cool. good place to get your drunk on. sometimes it gets a bit packed (usually from around 11:30 until 1).

jade bar - nice little bar in hayes valley (within stumbling distance for me) with a good interior design. check out the guys bathroom for a secret of the place...

wish - good industry nights (when the bartenders and waiters come out to play), i believe on tuesdays.

as a side note: i think that the recon store here is the best that i have been to (tokyo was a little small and nyc was ok). they have art openings there and supposedly dan the automator shops there and/or knows the owner.

as usual here is a shameless plug for the san francisco style and culture site i work on:

http://www.orange-mag.com/

we have lots of articles that are a little more verbose than i have been regarding shopping, restaurants and nightlife if you want to check it out.

hope this helps!

mcp

[Edward]

daggers drawn, lets see s.f is pretty small not too many shops anymore. I will give you al the worthy shops.

Huf- in downtown good place for supreme,pam,ssur and more. the shoe store is dope too.

Hayes valley- Hayes st- Gimme shoes/ designer sneakers and shoes.

Recon/Little italy ,Hard to find but, it's all right. go up to grant street, couple of spots that cariies rogan.

rolo / castro - High end, Paul smith,one true saxon,rogan

villans vault /haight It's o.k , stussy on haight

Red five went under.

thats all for now

to kick it go to the mission or valencia and 16th street / a lot of bars and restaurants. try ti couz for dope ass crepes. where are u from?

[daggersprawn]

Edward&mcp-

Thank you both for the lengthy reply!!

I greatly appreciate it. I did not know that redfive went under..

That's quite a shame.. I got a hotel on Van Ness and Broadway called the Broadway Manor.

From the pictures, I'm really not expecting much but since it was rather

affordable, I really can't complain. I was wondering if there are any dangerous

areas which I should avoid since I am going to be traveling with two girls.

Any areas where the homeless pepper the streets on the mass or just considered

dangerous in general?

I'm definitely interested in going to union street, though I have no idea

as to where the areas worth going starts and ends as it seems to be quite lengthy.

The Recon shop will definitly be checked out. What would be the ideal method of

transportation going to haight st? I was told to never go around SF in a car as

the parking spots usually charge an arm and a leg.

HUF seems interesting too. I would most definitely check it out.

It seems to be within walking distance from where I'm going

to be lodging at too.

I really appreciate that help that you guys have lent me

If you guys want a San Diego or LA report, feel free to ask me any time.

Edward - I reside in San Diego at the moment but am originally from

Los Angeles. From the looks of how you misspelled my name daggersDrawn

instead of daggersprawn, I'm assuming they carry that stuff in SF as well.

Are they doing good there? I ask cuz all the joints that used to carry them

before have taken them off the racks in LA.

mcp - Your homepage helped me a lot!! Thanks!! I'll more likely check out a number of

restaurants as well as bars and clubs that you've recomended. Are there any Dim Sum

joints in china town worth checking out?

we need more shops in san diego

[mcp]

here are my favorite spots for dim sum:

good luck dim sum, 736 clement st at 8th ave. a little bit of a dive, since there are really only kitchen tables to sit at in back, but i think it has the best tasting dim sum in the city. very cheap! you take one of the pink pieces of paper and circle what you want. things come in sets so if you want 3 of something that comes in 3s only write a "1" next to your circle. if you don't want to eat there and you have a car, get it to go and head for the golden gate park for some picnic style dining. if you can get one of the ladies behind the counter to smile or laugh you get extra points.

tong palace, 933 clement st at 10th ave. i have just started going there a bit more since it is a middle of the road: not very expensive and it feels like an actual restaurant. the waiters don't always speak much english, but they are still pretty nice.

tom kiang, 5821 geary street and 22nd ave. nicest looking of all the ones i have listed here. lots of mixed couples (asian/white) and white people go here but the food is still pretty good. probably the most expensive out of the group also.

its pretty funny looking at this list because all of them are in the "richmond district" and not really in "chinatown" itself. there are pretty good chinese restaurants there, but dim sum seems to be better closer to the ocean.

with regards to getting around sf: if you are near the underground muni that is the best way to get around in my opinion. i believe the n or j line stops pretty close to haight street in cole valley and you can catch it from union square. since you are staying on van ness and broadway you will probably have to take a bus (there are a bunch going down van ness) or a taxi. getting from where you are to union square will probably be about a 7 dollar cab ride.

since you are staying down around that area (and a tourist) there are two other areas of the city that are not too bad if the weather is nice (but the shops are a bit lacking or lame):

marina - nice outdoors cafes and some more standard chain shops. close to the actual marina where there is a grass field overlooking some boats. nice to walk around.

pier 39 - THE tourist destination in sf. the smelly sea lions are there and you can catch a ferry to alcatraz if you want from pier 41. if you do want to go to alcatraz try to buy your tickets about a week in advance (you can do so over the phone) because they book up quickly.

have a good time while you are in san francisco!

mcp

http://www.orange-mag.com

[Edward]

Hey Daggers

Just avoid Eddy street. It's shady but, S.F is pretty safe. I wouldn't sweat it. I am from L.a ,I used to live in S.F. do u come down here a lot ? I would avoid union street. It's mostly snooty old people shop and people who live there are frat + sorority types. Nothing to see, from where your staying I would take a bus down to market street and then take 71 ,7 , 9 this will all take u to haight. you should definitely check out Hayes street(hayes Valley). probably, the best shopping district in s.f. also the mission, valencia and 16th through 28th street. As far as Daggers drawn, I don't think it was doing so well. The graphic was really good but, it's too hard to sell. where do u go in LA? you should check out this line called Champion of none. This shit is dope! www.championofnone.com have a good time!