Japantown and other San Francisco, CA Off The Beaten Path Tips

This is a picture of Japantown or as us locals call it "J-town." There are many japanese supermarkets, shops, and restaurants.

There is a nice cinemaplex where many locals go to watch movies. There are also many Karoake bars around here.

I used to bowl in this area with my friends when I was in high school. The tower here is between Laguna and Webster Streets just after Geary Blvd. During Christmas Season from December-January, this tower is decorated with lights adding a nice electric vibe to the area.

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About a good one hour or longer drive from Downtown San Francisco is Sonoma, a city in the heart the Northern California Wine Region.

There are many ways to get there from San Francisco. You can take Highway 101 across the Golden Gate Bridge and follow the signs to Napa or Sonoma.

I recommend the longer more scenic drive where you take Highway 80 East (Towards Sacramento). About 30-40 miles on this drive, you will enter the city of Fairfield, follow the sign that tells you to go onto Highway 12.

Take Highway 12 and eventually, you will get to this City Hall in Sonoma, a quaint, friendly, lively town more down to earth making you feel far away from the busy San Francisco Bay Area hustle and bustle.

I took this picture yesterday night (May 23, 2005). Prior to getting here, I passed by at least 15 wineries. The country roads on highway 12 are windy and breathtaking if you love pastoral valleys engulfed by hot early Californian summer sunlight and hills that go up and down with vineyards with small Mountains looming in the background.

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I think the East Bayers may get mad at me for this, but I've decided to include the City of Oakland as "off the beaten path activity" of San Francisco. Why? Because by BART (The Bay Area Rapid Transit System or The San Francisco Bay Areas primary public transportation system), Oakland is only 5 minutes away.

If you want to avoid the stereotypical tourists of San Francisco, come to Oakland, CA. This picture is of the Downtown Oakland City Center. It is filled with many nice shops and places to eat lunch. Another bonus is that the weather is always sunnier and nicer than in San Francisco where it is windier, colder, and more unpredictable.

In the background is a landmark in downtown Oakland: The Oakland Tribune Paper. The Oakland Tribune is the cross bay media rivalry of The San Francisco Chronicle.

To get here, take the Concord/Martinez BART to Oakland 12th Street/City Center. It's about $1.80 from any downtown SF Bart Station off of Market Street.

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With the exception of some of the finer Malbec's from Argentina, the greatest wine in the world comes from the Napa Region about 40-50 miles Northeast of Downtown San Francisco. Because of the traffic, it can take up to 2-2 1/2 hours to get here. However, if you leave on a weekday from Downtown San Francisco after 10am, it shouldn't take you more than an hour to get here.

This is a picture of a wine vineyard somewhere in the Sonoma Region. I was in the middle of the freeway with no cars behind me and took this picture from outside the sun roof of my car.

I was frustrated with this picture because I missed about 20 other prettier photo opportunities until I took a shot of this.

It's a fun drive, the scene highway 12 which you get to by crossing the San Francisco/Oakland Bay Bridge (which is Highway 80 East), and after you cross the bridge, you follow the signs to 80 East (Sacramento). Drive about 30-40 miles to Fairfield and exit to Highway 12 (Sonoma/Napa).

Once you are on Highway 12, it is a peaceful drive which you will find yourself on beautiful pastoral, quiet scenery and lots of vineyards.

If it's a hot day and you want to get away from the loudness of San Francisco, this drive is the panacea to your desires.

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One fun thing to do while in Chinatown is to see how a fortune cookie is actually made.

Like the Origin of the Tango in Argentina, the origin of the Fortune cookie has many theories. Some date it back to the 13th to 14th century in China, others say it was invented in Los Angeles around 1918, and then there's even a theory that a Japanese American in San Francisco invented the Fortune Cookie!!!

One thing is for certain: Fortune Cookies as we are familiar with in American Restaurants were not introduced to China until 1992!!!

The fortune cookie is a great example of how cultures reinvent themselves as depicted by the Chinese American community in San Francisco's Chinatown.

Walk about the Alleyways of Chinatown until you find Ross Alley, somewhere between Grant and Stockton and Clay and Jackson. In this lovely alleyway, where you'll hear sounds of Mah Jong played in houses, a chinese Violin, and even the percussion of a dragon dance company practicing it's moves, you will first smell and then find the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory. Literally, a hole in the wall, you will just see two or three workers making cookies and putting them in bags. They'll even let you sample a hot one freshly made.

Here you can purchase a bag of fortune cookies for as little as $1.00. You can buy a large bag of "flat fortune" cookies for $3.00. But I thought the process of making them was the most interesting.

This company was founded in 1962, the year of the Tiger.

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

If you visit San Francisco's Chinatown, you will have to walk Grant Avenue from California Street all the way to Columbus. There will be many stores, lots of walking, so, on a hot day, you will need to stay hydrated. Wanna try something different and healthy? Then check out TenRen's Tea. I walked in this one and ordered a Red Bean Tapioca Drink. I read somewhere that Red Bean is one of the healthiest toxin cleansing things you can digest.

The service is fast, friendly, and you will be refreshed.

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Phone: 415-362-0656
Website: www.tenren.com

Located at the corner of Columbus and Kearney, this building has a lot of history. First, it was one of the few buildings to survive the Great Earthquake and subsequent Fire of 1906. Hence the name the "Sentinel Building."

It was commissioned by corrupt SF Political Boss, Abe Ruef, whose office was on the top floor.

Get this, the ground floor used to the Caesar Grill in the 1920s but closed down for selling alcohol during the "Prohibition." The "Caesar Salad" was coined here!

In the 1960s, it was a radio station and home of the Kingston Trio who recorded many albums in this building. In fact, the Grateful Dead recorded the song "Anthem in the Sun."

I spoke to the bartender and he told me that this place used to be one huge party filled with great musicians of the 60s.

Francis Ford Coppola bought this building in 1972.

Martin Sheen's voiceovers for the movie "Apololypse Now" were done here.

The bottom is now a restaurant: "Cafe Niebaum Coppola."

For $175.00, you can rent screening room (catering and film rental not included).

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Website: http://users2.ev1.net/~smyth/linernotes/articles/ColumbusTower/ColumbusTower.htm

McCovey cove is the area behind the Left Field stands of SBC Park in Downtown San Francisco.

Since this stadium has been having baseball games, as of yesterday, May 27, 2005, only 38 baseballs have been hit for home runs and splashed into McCovey cove. They are referred to in the baseball stadium as "splash hits."

The kayaker is hoping for a rare baseball souvenoir. The walkway is a nice place to go for a stroll when a baseball game is being played. There's a certain romance to listening to the cheers of an SF Giants game roar.

The bridge in the background is "Left O'Doul" Bridge, named after a San Franciscao born baseball player who played for many teams in the late 1920s and 1930s. He had a moderately successful baseball career and even hit .398 in 1929.

When I was a kid, this area used to be an ugly, isolated industrial area. In the 90s, there was a controversial vote to build this downtown ballpark. Proponents said it would keep the Giants Baseball team in San Francisco, and opponents warned it would be a public transportation nightmare making the already horrible SF traffic even worse.

Fortunately, the ballot passed by a narrow margin and now it has since been considered by many to be amogns the best looking baseball parks in the United States.

Today, it is a very lively part of San Francisco, especially during the baseball season from April until October.

Traffic was not affected by this stadium's creation.

SBC Park is now a major landmark in San Francisco, given life to an area that used to be pitch black at night.

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This is a picture of me taken in San Francisco's Presidio, which used to be an army base but has always been a scenic area off the 49 Mile Scenic Drive in the North western corner of San Francisco.

Behind me is the San Francisco Bay and the Marin Headlands. Marin County is the wealthiest county in the Bay Area. There are many hidden gems in Marin County. To get there, you cross the Golden Gate Bridge leaving San Francisco. For a wonderful drive, take the Coastal Highway 1 to Stinson Beach, a lovely little area to relax at. Or to Muir Woods or Hike Mt. Tam.

If you continue up the Coastal Hwy 1, you'll find yourself at Bodega Bay, where Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" was filmed. It's a wonderful, tranquil area with friendly people and nice cafes and restaurants. Somewhere over there is Pt. Reyes, a place discovered by Sir Francis Drake and at one point an area claimed by England.

Eastward of this is the infamous California State Prison "San Quentin" where prisoner's on California's Death row await to be executed. Yes, in California, there is the death penalty but because of the extensive legal process, fewer than 5 executions seem to occur per year.

Just recently Scott Petersen was placed in San Quentin.

Beyond San Quentin is the Napa and Sonoma Valleys. The land where some of the world's greatest wines come from. I will recommend the Rodney Strong 2001 Merlot which costs $10 in Costco. However, cheap or expensive, you will seldom make a bad choice in buying Californian wines.

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Our current State Governor, Arnold Schwartzenegger, once acted in the comedy "Junior" about a stoic german scientist who, in an experiment impregnates himself, only by accident, the egg belongs to a colleague of his acted by Emma Thompson.

It's a cute comedy that I recommend you watch. Seeing Arnold getting cramps, mood swings, and cravings had me laughing pretty loudly at times.

Anyways, this park on Bay Street, incidently about 2 or 3 blocks from Galileo High School, where O.J. Simpson went to High School at in SF, one of the houses behind the trees (2552 Hyde Street) is filmed as the place where Arnold Schwarteznegger's character lives at in the movie "Junior." Rent it sometime, it's a great movie.

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Website: http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hv&id=1800228205&cf=info&intl=us