Page 88 - 2015 Travel Guide to California

SAN FRANCISCO
The world on the tip of a peninsula
SAN FRANCISCO evening
skyline with the Bay Bridge,
above; cable cars pass each other
on California Street, below.
IN JUST 49 SQUARE MILES, San Francisco
contains more scenic beauty, neighborhood
diversity, good food and range of arts and cul-
ture than any U.S. city of its size. The landmark
Golden Gate Bridge, cable cars, Alcatraz and
Fisherman’s Wharf are synonymous with the
City by the Bay, also known for an atmosphere
of tolerance that stretches back to the Gold Rush
when one of the largest migrations in human
history brought hundreds of thousands west.
San Francisco is one of the great U.S. cities for
food and dining, with renowned chefs, a wide
variety of ethnic cuisine and restaurant-mad
locals spending more on eating out than resi-
dents of any other American city. Culture is
abundant, with world-class museums, theater,
opera, symphony and ballet, helped by a public
commitment that pre-dates the National
Endowment for the Arts.
There’s a fresh vitality in the city: An influx
of technology start-ups and young tech workers
led to a boom in restaurants, bars and nightlife,
especially in the vibrant Mission and South of
Market neighborhoods and extending into the
developing Mid-Market area. At popular Off the
Grid events, groups of mobile food trucks serve
up gourmet food, including at historic Fort
Mason on Friday evenings.
In the Presidio, the former Army base con-
tinues its stunning transformation into a vast
86 2015 T R AV E L G U I D E TO C A L I F O R N I A
B Y L A U R A D E L R O S S O
national park filled with historic sites,
museums, artwork and miles of walking and
biking trails in forests and along the bay. In
2014, the renovated Officer’s Club re-opened
with a new restaurant and exhibits tracing the
Presidio’s long history.
Other must-sees have opened in San Fran-
cisco in the last year, including @Large: Ai
Weiwei, a multimedia art installation by Chi-
nese artist Ai Weiwei, who used spaces on
Alcatraz not usually accessible to the public. The
show is open through April 26. Visible from
many parts of the waterfront are the playful,
twinkling Bay Lights on the Bay Bridge’s western
span, a unique art project that began in 2012.
Nearby, a new cruise terminal is hosting ships
on Pier 27, a former America’s Cup venue that
lies adjacent to a new waterfront park.
While the San Francisco Museum of Modern
Art remains closed for expansion and renovation
until 2016, art from its collection is displayed
throughout the city, including at the Museum of
the African Diaspora. Other museums with
notable 2015 shows are the de Young Museum,
which is hosting Botticelli to Braque: Master-
pieces from the National Galleries of Scotland
through May 31, and The Legion of Honor,
showing High Style: The Brooklyn Museum Cos-
tume Collection, through July 19. For trip
planning, see sanfrancisco.travel.
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