1. Romantic:
Pick a cable car, any cable car, stand on the running board with your significant other, hang on for dear life, and start kissing. The truth is that most locals rarely step foot on a cable car, but that shouldn’t keep you from taking a stylish spin a la Tippi Hedren.
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The first and last time I rode one, from Montgomery to Van Ness on the California line, I was sitting right beside the brakeman, who relayed with great gusto a particularly gory story about a woman who lost her leg during an accident involving a cable car and an SUV. The most important thing to remember when riding a cable car is that it’s not just a set piece from a Hitchcock film. All those automobiles racing past within an inch of your dangling legs are real, so kiss at your own risk.
Getting there: There are three cable car routes: the Powell-Hyde line, the Powell-Mason line, and the California Street line. Board at the cable car turntable at Powell and Market, or California and Davis, or look for the brown-and-white Cable Car Stop signs Visit sfcablecar.com for routes.
photo courtesy of Misty Richmond Photography. To purchase photos of San Francisco contact the photographer through her website.
Nothing quite says San Francisco like the fog, and nowhere is the fog denser than at Ocean Beach in the summer. Thanks to the city’s strange microclimate, July is the coldest month, which is why a San Franciscan can always spot a tourist a mile away; the tourist is the one who goes to the beach in the summer without a coat.
It was this view that inspired me to write The Year of Fog, a novel about a child who vanishes at Ocean Beach. I’ve spent countless hours wandering up and down that beach; it was easy to imagine how someone could step into the fog and simply disappear.
Timing: Your best bet is in the morning, because the fog often lifts in the late afternoon.
How to get there: Take Muni, or, better yet, enter Golden Gate Park at Stanyan Street and Haight Street, and walk down through all the way to the beach.
Ocean Beach
Point Lobos Ave. Great Highway
San Francisco, CA 94121
(415) 561-432
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photo by Robert Owens, for THE YEAR OF FOG photo tour.
3. Quirky
No Feeding the Birds sign at Spreckels Lake. For better or worse, there are a lot of things you can probably get away with in San Francisco–smoking a joint in plain sight on Haight Street, running naked through the streets during the annual Bay to Breakers marathon. Which is why it’s so odd to see a poorly painted wooden sign reminding you not to engage in one of the most intuitive activities known to humankind–feeding the birds.
One of many man-made lakes dotting Golden Gate Park, Spreckels is particularly popular with the gentlemen of the Model Yacht Club, who race their incredibly elaborate boats along its otherwise placid surface, and with a crowd of local Russian men who gather there daily to play cards. I used to take my young son to Spreckels Lake every day to look at the ducks and pigeons, which he rather enjoyed chasing around.
How to Get There: Take the 5 Muni bus to 36th and Fulton, and walk to the far side of the lake. Go anytime, but if you want to see the model yachts in action and grab a pretzel from a vendor beside the lake, go on a warm weekend in September.
Golden Gate Park
Lincoln Blvd. and 7th Ave.
San Francisco, CA
(415) 753-7032
photo by Michelle Richmond
4.Fun Family Spots
China Camp is actually in Marin, but no trip to San Francisco is complete without a drive over the Golden Gate Bridge into the hills north of the city. This quiet state park, a former Chinese shrimp-fishing village, is a terrific spot for the kids to blow off steam. Picturesque boats and abandoned cabins lend this historic spot the feel of a ghost town, which is precisely what it is. There’s a campground and picnic site, and every Saturday during the park rangers host a talk around the campfire, followed by marshmallow toasting and s’more eating.
How to get there: China Camp is located four miles east of San Rafael on the shore of San Pablo Bay. From San Francisco, take Highway 101 across the Golden Gate Bridge, and go east on North San Pedro Road for five miles.
China Camp
101 Peacock Gap Trl.
San Rafael, CA 94901
(415) 456-0766
Hours: 8AM-sunset
photo by Misty Richmond Photography
The Golden Gate Bridge is one of the most recognizable structures in the world. For those seeing it for the first time, it often evokes a very emotional reaction. I’ve driven over the bridge hundreds of times, viewed it from myriad angles, and yet it never loses its appeal.
Golden Gate Bridge
U.S. Highway 101
San Francisco, CA
(415) 921-5858
Michelle Richmond is the author of two novels set in San Francisco, No One You Know and the international bestseller The Year of Fog. Visit Michelle’s interactive San Francisco fog map.