San Francisco Off the Beaten Path Tips by sarahandgareth

On Ross Alley, the oldest alleyway in San Francisco, you'll be bewitched today by the smell of fresh fortune cookies. The street once attracted people to brothels and gambling establishments, and while the cookies might be tamer, they're as addictive as some of the past activities in the area.

You simply walk into the factory - two machines constantly pushing out little circles of batter, which are cooked as the machine revolves, coming back around to be picked off and swiftly folded by the two ladies on the machines. They'll ask if you want to try, and then to buy (that's what we heard, anyway: perhaps they just asked if we wanted to buy!), and an old lady at the front will pull out a bag of cookies or instead a bag of flat unfolded circles, just as delicious and a fabulous snack later in the day.

Ross Alley itself is of interest for other reasons: there are murals depicting scenes in Chinatown life, and there's also a barber shop which has had many a famous visitor over the years, whether Michael Douglas when he was making a movie locally, or Willie Brown, the SF mayor.

The Alley runs between Washington and Jackson streets.

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Website: http://www.sanfranciscochinatown.com/attractions/ggfortunecookie.html

The Kong Chow temple, in the headquarters of the Kong Chow Association (a Chinatown community organization), was first built around 1853, in a different location, but many of the temple's original elements have been transported to this newer location, on the 4th floor of an office building. Not much from the outside, but well worth the trip inside.

It's a Taoist temple, with dozens of sticks of incense constantly burning, the ash falling into great urns, and offerings left on the altar, as well as prayer flags and other objects affixed around the room. There's an elaborate carving on the left side facing the altar that is especially interesting: it shows the signs of many, many years of incense-smoke!

Although visitors are welcome, please be aware that this is a place of worship - indeed, people may be performing devotions during your visit - and you should behave appropriately. Donations are not solicited, but it might be polite to put something small in the box near the door.

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Other Contact: 855 Stockton St, 4th Floor

We went to Ocean Beach, on the west side of San Francisco, in order to see the Musee Mcanique (see below), only to discover that the location, in the Cliff House, is being renovated (most of the machines are at Pier 45 for the moment, but sadly the Camera Obscura was closed).

However, it wasn't a wasted trip: Ocean Beach has a gorgeous sandy strand, with plenty of waves to spice things up for surfers. It's dangerous, though: the inexperienced should not surf here, and swimming, and even paddling, can be fraught with danger. The adjoining Richmond District area is popular now with many Chinese people, who have moved out here after making a little money in Chinatown. As a consequence, there are plenty of Chinese and other Asian restaurants in the area.

The views out over the Pacific, and up and down the coast, are especially good if you climb up the hill to the Cliff House. Walk a little further up the hill and you can gaze out over the remains of the public bath house known as Sutro Baths built in 1896.

They were once the world's biggest swimming baths, and the photos give a sense of the astonising scale of the construction, with seven pools. The complex was destroyed by fire in 1966, and the ruins are surprisingly appealing.

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Right now (summer 2003), the Musee Mecanique is located in Fisherman's Wharf, on Pier 45, which is generally quite busy. Normally, however, it's located out at Ocean Beach's Cliff House, which is undergoing a renovation, and most visitors don't make it out there.

The museum houses an extraordinary collection of toys and machines, many of them reminiscent of the Zoltar machine that made such an impression on Tom Hanks's character in Big . There are gypsy fortune tellers, machines that reveal what happens at a French, or an English execution, viewers in which you can watch various mildly risque movies from the early 20th century, and other attractions like Laughing Sal, a life-size doll with an eerie laugh that often scares young children.

The museum is a lot of fun: the machines might be quaint, but they are often very amusing, and definitely bring out the inner kid. It's free, in one sense, but you need quarters, or occasionally dimes, to operate all of the machines: it's that rare museum that costs as much as you want it to!

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Website: http://mistersf.com/high/index.html?highmecanique15.htm
Other Contact: Pier 45, Fisherman's Wharf