home • software • writing

San Francisco

I really, really loved living in San Francisco. There’s a sort of nerdiness, open-mindedness, optimism, and earnestness that feels distinctly Bay Area, that I really love. One of my initial fears was that SF had weak cultural institutions, which, in a traditional sense, I think is right—our art museums are smaller and less serious, many bands don’t route their tours through town, the city seems less traditionally “lively,” etc. Less discussed, I think, is the city’s rich tapestry of oddball subcultures. I saw this map floating around the internet a few years ago, and it’s missing a whole lot of new stuff, but I think it gives some idea of how high a concentration of “weirdos” we have living here. I think it’s awesome, and unlike anywhere I’ve ever lived.

Last updated 9/15/25. Excuse my inevitable errors!

Outdoors

One of the best parts of SF is proximity to amazing nature. Some of my favorites incude:

Golden Gate Park (obvious). I don't have particular favorite spots here, I mainly just running or biking through the park. The Panhandle which leads into it is also pretty nice.
Ocean Beach is nice, too, and you can find many people hosting beach bonfires in the summer. An eventual routine of mine that I loved was running the length of the park (~5 miles), dunking my head in at Ocean Beach, and taking the 5 bus home. Living in California rules!!
Lands End is a quite popular (and excellent!) hike along the water — great views!
If you have a bit more time, driving (or taking the ferry) to Marin is awesome. The prettiest (and most difficult) trail is the Dipsea, which also is a yearly race. I've also done and enjoyed: Tennessee Valley, Lake Lagunitas, and the Marin Headlands, all of which I'd recommend. Muir Woods is crowded but also quite pretty / worth it in my view.
Angel Island is an easy day trip by ferry either from SF or Marin. We loved renting bikes for the day and 'd also strongly recommend this.
Alamo Square Park, famous spot of the Painted Ladies, was my local park, and I think is one of the best in SF. Very cute, nice to sit in or have a picnic.
Half Moon Bay, also about an hour drive south, has a bunch of great hikes. I don't remember what I did but basically all of it is pretty, and there's a cute down nearby too (I really liked Gulino Gelato which was inside!) If you want to do something similar but not drive as far, there's beautiful stuff in Pacifica. These are the sorts of places that are beautiful enough everywhere that you can sort of throw a rock and find a great hike.
Twin Peaks is a nice, quick and central-ish hike. Nice but not as much my favorite, although very pretty in the fog.
Dolores Park, perhaps as famous as GGP, is also nice, although I think less lush. Much more of a "hanging out" park.

Bay Area culture

This is not all "places," persay, but things I think are useful Bay Area reference points.

I think it is really worth exploring or reading about a lot of "Silicon Valley ideology" that shaped it. I think the definitive book on the subject is Fred Turner's excellent From Counterculture to Cyberculture, also relevant is Richard Barbrook and Andy Cameron's influential "The Californian Ideology" (link, Wikipedia) and Adrian Daub's What Tech Calls Thinking
Related here is 60s counterculture which very much shapes the city. There's two great semi-primary texts on this, in my view: Tom Wolfe's Electric Kool Aid Acid Test and Joan Didion's _The White Album_
I really like a lot of the "New Age" music that's not all 100% Bay Area but emerges directly from this culture. Numero Group has an excellent compilation of this music called Bliss Out: For Days, named after song by Bay Area new age legend Laaraji who worked with Brian Eno (I like his album Vision Songs, Vol. 1). Another very influential (and great) artist of this ilk is Arthur Russell, oft-sampled and widely revered ambient guy. I compiled my favorite songs of his here. Related that I wanted to check out (but got distracted by) is the history of the Bay Area tape music center.
The other interesting strain of Bay Area culture is "sideshow" culture where people drive cars around. I lived a really yuppie life in SF so I only really explored this from afar, aggregated on worldstar-like accounts like tenderloinactivities and bartactivities
Reddit /r/AskSF is one of the more useful city-specific subreddits.

Cultural

Gray Area is an excellent art and technology space that hosts lots of workshops ("creative code", etc) and events, including Gray Area Fest. I think this is part of broader history of Bay Area experimental media, like the aforementioned tape music center and a larger history of video art (this book is apparently an excellent history)
The Roxie theater in the Mission is an excellent local art house. There's "Big Roxie" and "Little Roxie," and both play cool old stuff — I recommend signing up for their newsletter
CinemaSF is a nonprofit that runs a few theaters in the area - the Four Star and Vogue in the Richmond and the Vogue in Presidio Heights. I've seen movies at each and all are solid. Worth watching out for is screenings of Tommy Wiseau's cult-classic (often considered "the worst movie ever made") "The Room" which was set in SF (!) and plays at midnight screenings at the Balboa the first Saturday of every month. I used to go to these screenings in LA growing up and they can be really fun / this is a rich bit-laden subculture (see also _The Disaster Artist). My friend Randa also recommended _Local Critique_, a less techy creative demo night hosted at the 4-Star.
The Computer History Museum in Mountain View is supposed to be excellent, and they also host Vintage Computer Fest West which I really wanted to go to this year but missed.
One of my favorite architects, Richard Neutra, designed a bunch of buildings in SF. I made a map a long time ago of where they all are, it's worth seeing some of them!

Recurring Events

Demos and Chill is a (roughly) bimonthly demo night. It's mostly software demos but there's definitely some range / deviation; short films, physical art, electronics, etc. Maker-y spirit is really alive here and I enjoyed, so much so that I demoed an app I built, 48, a few months back.
TIAT, or "the intersection of art and technology" is another pretty similar demo night. It's bigger than Demos and Chill (Ash, the organizer, has done a strong TikTok push), the demos tend to be shorter, and it definitely has a stronger "creative technology focus." Theres a lot of overlapping demos between it and Demos and Chill.
The Internet Archive (yes, the Wayback Machine one) has a physical space in SF they host cool stuff at. I went to a decentralized web meetup there and also really liked.
Fidget Camp is a yearly DIY-y / maker-y program. A few friends organize it, I participated in 2025 and loved it. The first few days are workshops (you can host your own, also can learn things like: building with TV remotes, metal etching, silicone casting, TouchDesigner, etc) and then you join a project group and produce something for the showcase. If you don't have time for the full week you should go see the showcase anyways!
San Francisco Systems Club my friend Neil organizes and is apparently great; I kept having conflicts but was quite enthused about going. Greylock hosts a similar group that sometimes brings guests.
Make Magazine's only remaining Maker Faire is in the Bay Area, once a year. My friends who have gone say it's awesome. I was quite excited about a side quest of launching model rockets at Snow Ranch, which is about a two hour drive outside of SF and launches every month, but never made it to either.
Noisebridge is, apparently, an excellent makerspace.
There's an overlapping network of book clubs some friends and I, at various points, hosted in SF. We read some academic books, others hosted for literature and nonfiction. There's usually at least one happening; if you reach out I can probably connect you to the right person!
A bunch of my friends live in a group house called Mosaic. I co-hosted a series of movie nights there that were a lot of fun ("Mosaic Movies") that are stll ongoing, and they host a regular HCI/design meetup called interface.click. Let me know and I also probably can connet you to the right person.
On my list but I never went to, both sporty: Marina Run Club and LuxFit, an outdoor gym in Hayes Valley.

Sauna

Somewhere between new age / wellness culture and Andrew Huberman / bodyhacker culture. These are great!

Archimedes Banya is the canonical spot, in south SF. A Finnish sauna, two Russian saunas, two hot tubs, a steam room, a cold pool, cold plunge, and roof deck. Clothing optional. Go with friends for about three hours (sidenote: have your group commit 100% to naked or clothed! mixed groups are wack!), eat at the upstairs eastern European restauraunt. I have some friends who go a lot, DM me if you want me to put you in touch.
Onsen, in the Tenderloin, is a recent opening. Looks pretty sus from the ouside, but very nice inside. Clothing required, quieter / less hectic / fewer pools than banya, but closer and definitely nicer facilities.
Harbin Hot Springs, about two hours north of SF, is a series of naturally fed pools. It's clothing optional as well, all outside, has quiet and talking sections, and is really nice (better than Banya)!
Esalen is a legendary utopian community in Big Sur, that hosted a wide range of mid-century intellectuals. They have cliffside cloting optional hot springs that are apparently amazing, this has been top of my list and I haven't (yet) made it out. It's quite expensive to stay at Esalen overnight (they also feed you and have workshops). You can get around this two ways; either in somewhat bizarre accommodations (shared floor; sleep in a sleeping bag with a ton of other people; still expensive!) or by going to volunteer for a shift in the day; cleaning bedrooms, kitchen prep, garden work, etc. Sidenote that there's a history of Esalen that is apparently quite good.
Good Hot is a new opener in the East Bay that I haven't made it out to but have been curious about and have heard great things.
Wilbur Hot Springs I also didn't make it out to, have heard it's a bit further but nicer than Harbin.

Bars

The Interval, the Marina, $$$, the attached bar to Steward Brand's "Long Now" foundaton, a nonprofit with the goal of building a clock that will last 10,000 years. Brian Eno art on the wall; SF classic!
Smugglers Cove, Hayes Valley / Civic Center, $-$$. SF staple tiki bar, absurdly large selecton of rums. Perhaps the best part of SC is "Rumbustion Society," a series of courses you can complete, each of which has a set of reading (about rum production tecniques) and rums to drink. After you drink 100, associated with the course, you get put on their wall. My first roommate Tian and I are both midway through.
Pagan Idol, Downtown, $-$$. Affectionately dubbed the "Twitch Bar" for its proximity to their office, bizarre but charmingly kitschy tiki bar.
Bar Part Time, The Mission, $$-$$$, excellent natural wine bar, one of the only "New York cool" places in SF. They have great DJs come in and it's a blast for dancing if you time it right, too.
Royal Cuckoo, The Mission, $$, fun divey bar.
Bar Crudo, NoPa, $$-$$$, datey, chic bar and restauraunt. The Crudo is great!
Birba, Hayes Valley, $$, cute wine bar. Best out on their backyard patio when it's warm out!

Book Stores

I really love:

Green Apple Books, in the Richmond, a classic. Large selection, great to browse while waiting for food nearby.
Dog Eared Books, in the Mission, is a classic.
You should keep an eye out for the SF Art Book Fair , which is pretty neat and a lot of fun every year.

farmers markets

Stonestown, the Sunset, Sundays from 9am to 1pm. This is the largest market I've been to in the city and has killer produce.
Divisadero, NoPa, Sundays 9am to 1pm, solid but small.
Castro, the Castro, Wednesday 3pm to 7pm, tricky with work but I bought a lot of produce here.

Food

Highlights

Rich Table, Hayes Valley, $$$$, my favorite restauraunt in SF.
RT Rotisserie, Hayes Valley/NoPa, $-$$, run by Rich Table's management, a fast casual alternative. The chicken sandwich, RTR Rice Bowls, shiso lemonade, sweet potato, and sorbet are all excellent. This is easily S-tier fast casual food.
Delfina, the Marina, $$-$$$, my favorite pizza in SF.
Nari, Japantown, $$$-$$$, excellent Japanese fusion. I've been here a few times and it's always solid.
DragonEats, Hayes Valley/Civic Center + other locatons, $, my go-to, excellent / cheap / takeout banh mi. The duck is the best!
Basa Seafood Express, the Mission, $. Amazing poke for like $8 or something ridiculous. Wish I lived, like, next to it.
Breakfast Little, The Mission, $$. I found this through Adam Savage (of Mythbusters!) food recs, I think it is the best breakfast burrito in the city! (Note: mising here is El Farolito, which I think is overrated!)
Stoa, Lower Haight, $$$, pricey but excellent bar / restauraunt, lots of funky / great dishes
buddy, the Mission, $$-$$$, also interesting New American spot
Beit Rima, The Castro, $$, excellent mediterranean food
Uva Enoteca, Lower Haight, $$$, solid and really cute Italian spot
Eddie's Cafe, NoPa, $$, great little (cheap!) diner

Also solid:

Domo, Hayes Valley, $$-$$$, nothing to write home about but reliable and good sushi spot very close to my old place. Hamachi crudo is AMAZING, the Black Pearl is also a very solid roll.
Suppenkuche, Hayes Valley, $$-$$$, solid German food, good schnitzel and great beer.
a mano, Hayes Valley, $$-$$$. Solid and dependable Italian previously right near my house.
Foreign Cinema, The Mission, $$$-$$$$. Another more fine-dining-y pick, very good (and worth going to) but probably not my favorite of this genre in the city. Really interesting dishes, and they play some movie on the back patio every day. Also one of Adam Savage's favorites.
Mercury Cafe, Hayes Valley, $$-$$$, is a solid / funky coffee shop. No outlets but I loved working here.
Kokkari, Jackson Square, $$$-$$$$, a classic SF fine dining pick, and lives up!
Hamburger Project, NoPa, $-$$, a burger place decorated like a sushi bar, with an excellent burger!
True Laurel, The Mission, $$$, nice and funky bar / restauraunt
Che Fico, Hayes Valley, $$-$$$, solid Italian.
Liholiho Yacht Club, Downtown, $$$-$$$$. Another solid fine-dining-y choice. Lots of pretty interesting dishes.
Saigon Sandwich, the Tenderloin, $, unbelievably cheap (~$5) and excellent banh mi, SF cult classic
Terzo, the Marina, $$$, cute spot, excellent steak.
Sweet Maple, Lower Pac Heights, $$$, excellent brunch food.
The Progress / State Bird Provisions, the Fillmore, $$$-$$$$, really interesting concept-y / fresh produce-centric restauraunts. They're both great!
Burma Superstar, The Richmond, $$-$$$, oft-recommended and also very strong Burmese food
ABV, The Mission, $$, very solid burger that is a great pre-Roxie stop
Udon Mugizo, Japantown, $-$$, great Udon!
The Mill, NoPa, $$, always line down the block, great coffee shop / bakery

I don't have very specific recs within it, but you should get dim sum in the Richmond, bring cash and honestly just go to a bunch of places. Insanely good. Arsicault is overrated!

Music

I went to a few venues I liked for shows, not much to report. Many historic ones:

The Telegraph in Oakland is beautiful and really historic.
The Greek, right near Berkeley campus, in my mind is a sort of discount version of the Hollywood Bowl, but is still a great outdoor ampitheater.
The SF Symphony is great and super easy to get to. One of my favorite things they've done recently is: they'll screen a movie and have the symphony play the score live (I saw La La Land like this!) Really awesome.
SFJAZZ is also by Civic Center and occasionally has cool people come through (I saw Standing on the Corner last summer, which was neat!)
There's a very strong SF electronic scene, I gather. I'd follow accounts like squishsf, hydefm, clear.cast and other local DJs.
The Great American Music Hall is nice although right in the Tenderloin — someone tried to steal my phone!
I saw LCD Soundsystem at The Warfield which is also very nicely located.
Two things I missed but were on my list: Earthling, which I learned about when I asked a guy in my yoga class about his Plantasia shirt (awesome album). It's very much in Bay Area ambient-y tradition, and is affiliated with Leaving Records in LA. I'm may go this weekend and will report back if so!
Goldenvoice runs Portola every fall now, and I think it's one of the best booked festivals (way better than Outside Lands!) every year. Mostly dance / electronic-y stuff.