San Francisco Education Directory
San Francisco and the Bay Area is a center of culture, banking, the arts, and more. Nearby are Berkeley, Silicon Valley, and the Napa Valley vineyards. It's a great place to visit or a great place to live.
Things to See:
Alcatraz. Check out the audio tours narrated by tough ex-cons who were once imprisoned on the island.
Art at museums like the Asian Art Museum, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, or the deYoung.
Chinatown. Get off the cable car near Grant Ave. and Bush St. to explore the shops, food stands, apothecaries, and restaurants. "All About Chinatown" offers guided walking tours.
Fisherman's Wharf is a must, with its historic waterfront, shopping, seafood, street performers, and don't forget the Ghirardelli chocolate. Catch a cable car to downtown or a boat ride to see Alcatraz.
Golden Gate Bridge stretches almost two miles across the bay to Marin County. It's San Francisco's best known symbol.
Things to Do:
A San Francisco CityPass takes you to all the best spots in the city, including riding the cable cars, and visiting Chinatown, Coit Tower, or the waterfront, in whatever order you want.
Berkeley is just a BART ride away. Home of the University of California's flagship campus, Berkeley prides itself on its open-minded, accepting, and tolerant culture. It's a great college town full of terrific shops and restaurants, including the famous Chez Panisse.
Café Sport, with it's intricately decorated booths and delicious food, is a great place for lunch.
Cartoon Museum: the only museum in America for cartoon art, with over 6,000 exhibits.
Napa Valley is home to vineyards that produce wine that rivals the best France has to offer. Take a tour of vineyards by car, limo, or bicycle.
Rent a bike at Blazing Saddles and take a three-hour tour of the Presidio, Golden Gate bridge, and Sausalito.
Nightlife:
- Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View is a popular concert location.
- Slim's, opened by Boz Scaggs in 1988, has food, drinks, and the music of America: blues, R&B, jazz, Cajun/zydeco, alternative, etc.
- The Independent has been a favorite live music showcase for over 30 years.
- Mighty is an upscale club with up-to-the-minute sound and a huge dance floor.
- In Berkely, 924 Gilman admits all ages. This is where Green Day got their start.
- Check out the local colleges like UC Berkeley, Stanford, and SF State for on-campus concerts and more.
Accommodation:
Students looking for a place to stay should contact one of these for rates and availability:
- Carlton Hotel on Sutter St.
- Hotel Adagio on Geary St.
- Hotel Del Sol on Webster St.
- Hotel Triton on Grant Ave.
- Metro Hotel on Divisadero
Sports:
Watch hockey with the Sharks (San José); football with the '49ers (San Francisco) and Raiders (Oakland), and baseball with the Giants (San Francisco) or A's (Oakland). Or check out the college teams from Stanford, Berkeley, San José State, Santa Clara, SF State, USF, Sonoma State, etc. Or do it yourself with hiking, bicycling, swimming, or climbing.
Transportation:
You won't need your car in San Francisco. Between the cable cars and electric busses you can get all over town, and BART will take you all outlying areas—even the airport. Check out http://transit.511.org for everything you need to know about schedules, routes, fares, even bike paths.
