'Sass' and class, SF's good for the soul

By KEVIN JONES

Some cities just have IT - that intangible, indefinable quality that makes you want to stick around or return as quickly as you can, should you have to leave.

London and Paris have it, New York has it.

Take the drive up the California coast from Monterey and you will soon find the city that has IT by the bucketload - San Francisco, the city by the bay.

These days, every big city likes to give itself a catchy label for the tourist trade, such as Melbourne's tired "World's Most Liveable City".

San Francisco has been calling itself "Everyone's Favourite City" for decades, long before the "tourist label" fad became established. The thing with this epithet, however, is that it fits the city perfectly.

You know you're in for something special as you make the 150-odd kilometre drive up Highway One from Monterey.

Head through Santa Cruz and the Big Basin Redwoods State Park and pretty soon you're in the outskirts of San Francisco and the names on the direction signs start becoming increasingly familiar - Daly City, San Jose and the like - and you start to feel the excitement rise.

When you clap eyes on the big TV masts atop Twin Peaks, you know that pretty soon you'll be clapping your eyes on one of man's engineering marvels - the Golden Gate Bridge - and the distinctive hilly skyline of America's most bohemian, free and easy city as it sits alongside one of the world's most beautiful bays.

San Francisco's allure is not just because of its striking beauty and stunning location.

That intangible "IT" quality largely stems from the atmosphere of calm, relaxed, universal acceptance that permeates the city. It really is a case of "anything goes" in San Francisco.

You are what you are or whatever you want to become. It is possibly the world's least judgmental city, which is probably why it became the epicentre of the Flower Power movement in the Sixties and is the gay and lesbian capital of the USA, if not the world.

San Francisco has soul, class and sass. It may sound like all this permissiveness must necessarily lead on to Sodom and Gomorrah, but it's not the case in SF.

There is an artistry about the place and, although there is a wildly hedonistic side to the city, it is tempered by a cultured, considered and respectable air of humanity too.

For the tourist, there is a wealth of things to do in San Francisco, but you don't have to go to any particular attraction or landmark to experience the vibe of the Frisco Experience.

Just wander around, take a tramcar ride down an impossibly steep hill, stroll around the Coit Tower or through Chinatown, check out hippy central at Haight-Ashbury or try some clam chowder at Fisherman's Wharf.

A good way to get the feel for the layout of the whole place is to do the 49-Mile Scenic Drive.

It's a circuit, so you can join it wherever you please and come off it where you started if you want. On your way around the city (by a very convoluted route) you will see the splendour of the Golden Gate Bridge from Fort Point, see Fisherman's Wharf, the Ghirardelli Centre, the Embarcadero, Chinatown, the Financial District, Japantown, Mission, the views from Twin Peaks, Golden Gate Park, Sunset District, Lake Merced, the Pacific coast beach along Great Highway, Seacliff and the Presidio.

While you're still in your hire car, you have to take a drive over the Golden Gate Bridge. Sing a few bars of I Left My Heart in San Francisco as you go and really get in the mood.

On the other side of the bridge is Marin County. Rather than just hopping straight back to San Francisco, check out Sausalito, a charming sailing town on the bay with drop-dead gorgeous views of the big city and some great bars and restaurants.

Most tourists spend a lot of their time around the Fisherman's Wharf/Embarcadero area in the city. In fact, 87 per cent of San Francisco's visitors include Fisherman's Wharf at some stage on their itinerary.

Waterfront marketplaces include The Anchorage, The Cannery, Ghirardelli Square and Pier 39. The food is awesome, as is some of the entertainment.

San Francisco is world renowned for its buskers and some of these registered and officially sanctioned artists and artistes will astound you with their talent and originality. I've seen other people doing it in other cities, but it was in San Francisco that I first saw a human jukebox and also a mimic whose gimmick was to do an impression of a celebrity so you could heckle and insult the star of your choice. Genius.

One hugely popular tourist attraction is, of course, Alcatraz, the world's most famous prison, made even more famous in recent decades by Hollywood movies such as Escape from Alcatraz and The Rock.

A tour of Alcatraz is worth the money just for the ferry ride across the bay to the rock itself. The million-dollar vistas will always stay with you. The prison tour is fascinating but if you suffer from claustrophobia, avoid the solitary confinement section of the jail because you will freak out when they give you a taste of what the lags went through.

Part of the romance of San Francisco is due to the famous Frisco Fog. San Franciscans can almost set their watches by the fogs that blow in from the Pacific at the end of each day.

It's quite a sight to behold from the top of one of San Francisco's myriad hills to watch a fog all but obliterate the Golden Gate temporarily.

After four or five days, you will be hooked by San Francisco (it took less than a day for me to fall head over feet).

However, you must not get too settled because further down the track on our road trip, we have the perfect thing to get Frisco out of your system - Yosemite, via some of California's Wine Country.

The only problem is that having managed to get San Francisco out your system, you will then struggle to say goodbye to Yosemite, one of the most stunning wilderness areas in the world. If you need a place to stay, click here for a list of hotels in the greater San Francisco area.

Los Angeles
Santa Barbara and Highway One
Big Sur
Monterey and Carmel
Yosemite
Death Valley