The 5-story Peace Pagoda towers above Nihonmachi, or Japantown, consisting of three square blocks of 40 or so shops, restaurants, theaters, galleries, and the Japanese-style Radisson Miyako Hotel. Shoppers discover 19th century woodblock prints, huge bags of rice, kimonos, and silken apparel created by local designer, Mariko Sawada. Kinokuniya Bookstore sells art and architecture books and a hundred different fashion magazines. Hungry sightseers find Maki in Japan Center to be a near-perfect replica of a Tokyo restaurant, serving signature wappa meshi—rice steamed in bamboo baskets and topped with fish, meat or vegetables. Locals and visitors take their turns at the karaoke microphone at Sachi Cocktail Lounge, and plunge into deep ceramic soaking tubs for an authentic Japanese bathhouse experience at Kabuki Springs and Spa. A parade of colorful floats and costumed dancers glide beneath clouds of pink at the Cherry Blossom Festival in April, when karate and other martial arts, and Japanese gardening and food are showcased. More than fifty films are shown at the International Asian American Film Festival at the Kabuki movie theater in March; and traditional Noh and Kyogen dance, drama and storytelling is presented throughout the year. The blood-racing percussion beat and striking poses of Taiko drummers create drama at the Nihonmachi Street Fair in August.

Haight-Ashbury

Rapidly approaching gentrification, the once hippified Haight, of 1960s "Summer of Love" fame, is chockablock with vintage clothing stores, internet cafés, trendy galleries and shops. Some of the larger Victorian mansions are now luxurious bed-and-breakfast inns, notably the Archbishop's Mansion Inn, crowned by a 16-foot-tall stained-glass dome; and the Victorian Inn on the Park, a Queen Anne beauty built in 1897. Site of the Haight-Ashbury Street Fair in June, the Upper Haight, from Stanyan to Masonic, is upscale, where everything from fishnet bodysuits to stiletto heels and all-the-rage Babyphat accessories can be found. The Lower Haight, Divisidero to Webster, remains a diverse, alternative-style neighborhood with music shops and nightclubs, tattoo parlors and tie-dyed T-shirt and retro punk shops. The shop called Costumes on Haight is the best place in town to rent Halloween getups and outfits for Mardi Gras and Carnival. Movie fans love the Red Vic Movie House where they can lounge on sofas, munch on organic snacks and watch cult and independent films. All you need is a giant veggie burrito at All You Knead diner; or fish tapas at Cha! Cha! Cha!, a wildly colorful Caribbean restaurant famous for barbecued pork quesadillas. On a hill near the panhandle of Golden Gate Park, the high vantage point of Buena Vista Park gives great views of the Haight and the city.

The Fillmore/Pacific Heights

Built during the Gold Rush of the mid-1800s, thousands of gabled, turreted, gingerbread-trimmed Victorian mansions are the "Painted Ladies" of San Francisco, lovingly restored, in hilly Pacific Heights and along the streets of the Fillmore District.

The 4-block-square green aerie of Alta Plaza Park rises in terraces to a ridge surrounded by hundreds of vintage mansions designed by such renowned architects as Bernard Maybeck and Willis Polk. Across from the Spreckels Mansion, a French limestone palace built for a Gold Rush magnate, residents, their dogs and children love the lawns, the pines and eucalyptus in Layfayette Park. Cottage Row on Baker Street is a sweet circa-1890 streetscape in lower Pacific Heights, nearby the Ortman-Schumate house at 1901 Scott, an ornate Italianate landmark from the 1870s. About 200 shops between Jackson and Bush streets are chic boutiques selling pricey antiques, French birdcages, elegant housewares, and vintage and designer apparel. In this city of more than 3,000 restaurants, the Fillmore District offers a New Orleans-style oyster bar; the "gastronomia" and trattoria Vivande Porta Via; patisseries, Italian coffee houses, and cafés on every block. The Fillmore Auditorium is remembered by Baby Boomers for its hard-rock heyday of the 1960s when the Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead were headliners. Today's hall presents such bands as the Jefferson Starship and local stars Boz Scaggs and Santana. The best of Bay Area talent is presented on three outdoor stages before huge crowds at the Fillmore Jazz Festival in June.

Union Street

West of Van Ness Avenue between Russian Hill and the Presidio, fashionistas replace milkmaids where dairy cows once drank from freshwater springs, hence the name, Cow Hollow. In the 1600 to 2200 blocks of Union Street, within a gloriously over-decorated procession of Victorians are stylish shops, art galleries and restaurants;

Identical circa-1870 houses at 1980 Union are charming examples, today housing Extreme Pizza and Bar None, a popular watering hole. At 2164, a century-old barn is now a florist shop. A slow-strolling window shopper will come across flower-filled courtyards and hidden gardens, wrought iron fences and gaslights. Old roses and lavender scent the English gardens around an Edwardian mansion, now the Union Street Inn. At Union and Gough is a small museum of decorative arts and historic documents, the Octagon House, built in 1861. Next door, petite Allyne Park is a place to rest one's feet and one's credit cards from overuse. Another Cow Hollow historic site is the Public Library on Green at Octavia, modeled on a Roman basilica, with a terra cotta glazed stone exterior. The former Vedanta Temple at 2963 Webster Street, built in 1905, combines Colonial, Queen Anne, Moorish and Hindu influences in an architectural extravaganza. The Union Street Arts Festival in June is a fun-filled day of music, street performers, art and craft booths, a waiter's race, food and wine. Neighborhood bars and pubs are popular with the singles set, especially around the legendary "Bermuda Triangle" at Greenwich and Fillmore.Ê

The Marina

Joggers, Frisbee tossers and babies in strollers congregate on the city's front lawn, Marina Green, which is bordered by a gallimaufry of yachts and sailboats on one side, and a stately lineup of Art Deco, Moderne and Mediterranean Revival homes on the other. On the 4th of July, the Green is filled with people watching hundreds of flag-flying sailboats, motor yachts, ferries and often, an aircraft carrier, while they wait for the fireworks show. Just above the Marina on the Great Meadow at Fort Mason, Grammy-winning artists and acoustic roots players from around the world perform for thousands on warm September days and nights at the San Francisco Blues Festival. In a nearby neighborhood park, a flamboyantly reddish-orange, classical Roman-style temple, the Palace of Fine Arts is reflected in a lake swimming with swans. A remnant of the 1915 Panama Pacific Exposition, when a newly rebuilt San Francisco , the Palace is now the Exploratorium, a funhouse for young science and technology buffs. West of the Marina beneath the Golden Gate Bridge, swords, cannons, and costumed docents recall the Civil War era at Fort Point National Historic Site, often misty from waves crashing under the massive girders of the bridge. A bayfront walking trail meanders alongside Crissy Field, a restored marshland where nature lovers watch the seabirds and visit the Gulf of the Farallones Marine Sanctuary Visitor Center. Young, hip denizens of the Marina District frequent the small gourmet groceries, cafés, sushi bars, yogurt shops and pizza joints on Chestnut Street. They flirt over the baby carrots at the Marina Safeway and hang out at popular at Cozmo's Corner Grill and the sidewalk tables at Grove Café.

Sacramento Street/The Presidio

A sweep of woodlands, coastal bluffs and beaches in the northwest corner of the city, the Presidio was occupied by Spanish and Mexican armies, then the U.S. Army until 1994 when it became part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The magnificent park is threaded with quiet roads and paths for walking and biking. Rangers leads tours of the museums and relics, from Civil War barracks and pre-earthquake Victorians to Spanish cannons. Once the privileged playground of the Army, the Presidio Golf Course, now public, has a new clubhouse and restored fairways and greens. Baker Beach stretches a mile along the western shore, with stunning views of the Golden Gate and the Marin Headlands. Just south of the Presidio on Sacramento Street stands an armada of shops and small businesses servicing classy Presidio Heights, where designer-clothed residents furnish their fancy Victorians with antiques and garden ornaments from neighborhood purveyors. The Urban Pet supplies rhinestone collars and custom-made sofas and chairs for Fido and Fluffy, and croissants and baguettes are snapped up at Boulangerie Bay Bread. A block or so away, Laurel Heights on California Street caters to the elite with French pastry at Fantasia Bakery and Confections, and cookware and cooking lessons at HomeChef, owned by gastronomic guru, Judith Ets-Hokin.

Golden Gate Park/Richmond District

A steamy, dreamy jungle of exotic trees, plants and flowers thrive in a monumental Victorian greenhouse shipped around Cape Horn from England in the 1870s. The Conservatory of Flowers is among the many historic attractions of Golden Gate Park, one of the world's largest and most beautiful urban preserves. Built in 1871, it stretches nearly four miles to the sea in a wide swath of meadows, forests, gardens and lakes, incorporating such magical retreats as the oldest public Japanese garden in America, a fantasy when the cherry trees and azaleas bloom, or when red maples blaze against the red-painted pagodas in the fall. Built in 1895, the Temple of Music is the site of free outdoor concerts and festivals, and "Opera in the Park" performances in the summertime. Gourmet food from the city's top chefs, beer, wine and live music bring crowds for the annual "A La Carte A La Park" in Sharon Meadow in August. At the park's western edge, within the terra cotta-tiled, Willis Polk-designed Beach Chalet is a museum of the park with vivid Depression-era murals and mosaics; and a brew pub and restaurant upstairs, with lovely views of the sea and Ocean Beach, a mile-long ribbon of sand. The Coastal Trail is a breezy footpath tracing rugged cliffs from the Golden Gate Bridge through the Presidio and Sea Cliff, a tony residential enclave. The trail wanders through Lincoln Park to Land's End, a picturesque promontory above the ruins of the Sutro Baths, nearby the historic, recently renovated Cliff House restaurant. Within this greenbelt, bronze lions guard the Bronze lions guard the Palace of the Legion of Honor, which shelters 4,000 years of ancient and European art; El Grecos, Renoirs, Flemish tapestries and a roomful of Rodins are among the highlights. Golfers brave winds off the ocean at Lincoln Park Golf Club, laid out in 1910 when surrounding Richmond District residents were trading in their horse-drawn carriages for Model Ts. Today, reflecting a large Asian and Pacific Islander population, a "New Chinatown" has emerged in the Richmond along Clement Street from Arguello to 25th Avenue. Glossy roasted ducks, ginseng, mangoes and star fruit are on sale in the groceries; old records, flowers and books in small shops. Family-owned restaurants may be Chinese or Japanese, Thai, Persian, Vietnamese or Burmese. Sweet Delite sells coconut and taro-flavored tea shakes with tapioca balls at the bottom that customers slurp up with a fat straw.

Upper Market/The Castro

Flying rainbow flags from renovated Victorian mansions, the Castro is inhabited primarily by gay and lesbian population proud of the undeniable joie de vivre of the gay life in San Francisco. The shopping district on Castro Street between 17th and Market is the capital of kitsch, from quirky housewares, fashion-forward apparel and erotic dolls to X-rated greeting cards. A Castro institution, Cliff's Variety sells plumbing supplies, hammers and nails, feather boas and false eyelashes. The entire neighborhood turns out for the Castro Street Fair for swing dancing and Latin rhythms, food and beverages, with profits going to local charities; and, the Castro is ground zero for the biggest annual event in the city, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Parade in June. Nearly half a million spectators watch marchers, and motorcycle and float riders in wild, weird, sometimes scanty regalia from leathers to ball gowns. Castroites are movie fans, flocking to vintage films at the Art Deco-style Castro Theater, where the Silent Film Festival, the Jewish Film Festival and the International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival take place. Restaurants and confectioners' shops are among the best in the city, notably the noisy, trendy supper club, Mecca; Hot 'N' Hunky, for hamburgers; and Joseph Schmidt Confections for chocolate truffles.

Noe Valley An island of quaint and calm, the urban village of Noe Valley seems disengaged from the rest of the busy city. Inhabited by young families and professionals on the move, the neighborhood's bistros, coffee shops, and bookstores are frequented by satisfied locals who sit on the porches of their Victorians and watch battalions of moms and strollers pass by. The best shopping is on 24th Street from Douglass to Church. Fashion mavens and soccer moms buy workout wear at See Jane Run Sports; retro kitchenware at Nifty Vintique, artisan cheese at 24th Street Cheese Company, and organic produce at the weekly Noe Valley Farmers' Market. One of many gourmet ghettos in the city, Noe Valley is the place for big, fat burgers at Barney's and for the inventive price fixe menu at Le Zinc. Irish expats convene at the quintessential pub, The Dubliner. In a redwood replica of a English Gothic country church, the Noe Valley Ministry has a Presbyterian congregation and a lively schedule of art shows and public events such as poetry readings; and guitar, opera and jazz concerts, making it one of the most unique and intimate performance venues in San Francisco.

Mission District

More than 200 vivid, whimsical, wall-sized murals are dramatic slashes of the Latin American spirit in the Mission, a suncatching valley below Twin Peaks, which has always been home to immigrants. On 16th Street past Mission Street, and on Mission between 15th and Cesar Chavez Street are salsa dance clubs, little groceries, sidewalk fruit stands, and inexpensive restaurants, with a sprinkling of avant-garde art galleries on side streets. The food is legendary—pane at Domingues Bakery, fresh tortillas at Casa Sanchez, frozen fruit bars at Latin Freeze, and the tacos and carne asada at La Taqueria, for nearly three decades on Mission Street, a standout in a community where taqueries are omnipresent. Thousands turn out in ethnic garb for big annual events: Cinco de Mayo and Carnival, the city's Mardi Gras celebration on Memorial Day weekend. The nightlife is fun and friendly in dance clubs and cantinas lively with Latin, Brazilian, Cuban and Caribbean bands—beginners come early for free dance lessons. In an Indian village five days before the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the first mass was celebrated within the four-foot-thick adobe walls of Mission Dolores, now the oldest structure in the city. Built in 1918, the Spanish colonial basilica next door stands by a lovely little cemetery where lie the Mexican, Spanish, Indian and Irish builders of the city.

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