Visiting Cali in 3...2...1...

[LeonOfTheDead]

After 3 years of relationship, it was about time I was going to visit my gf's place. She'll get her degree in a few days (16th of December, once another mech engineer in the family....), so atm her family flew over here, will visit Italy for a few days and then the 24th we'll leave for San Francisco, where I'm going to stay until the 10th of January.

So I was wondering if there is anything worth a look in the Bay Area automotive wise, from collections to... well, I don't think there are as much exotics' factories as over here
I know Pebble Beach would be a must visit, but it happens to be in the wrong part of the year, and I'm afraid I can't do much about it.

Any tip will be appreciated, will pay with e-cookies.

[f6fhellcat13]

Just driving around San Francisco you should see plenty of fun old stuff. Stuff that most of us (Americans) wouldn't really regard as overly-spectacular but is quite cool to see.
Monterey, all car-related stuff aside, is quite beautiful and PCH (Hwy 1) is fun to drive even in a 3.5 cylinder Ford Escort.

[csl177]

It's a great city for foodies, Leon. Maybe we have a native on the forum, but I've visited several times and love the place.
Public transportation is good, ride BART nearly everywhere and use the cable cars downtown... those hills are steep.

Mexican street food in the mission, best seafood at Nob Hill's Swan Oyster Depot, the ferry building Farmers Market, everywhere in Koreatown, Japantown, Chinatown (R & G Lounge)... exquisite sushi at Sebo. Old-school red meat at House of Prime Rib, best burgers in town at Pearls, out-there cuisine at Incanto. Drink coffee like you've never tasted (with bacon!) with killer pastries at Pirate Cat Radio Café. Take the ferry over to Sausalito for breakfast at Fred's Diner or the Lighthouse for lunch.

If you decide to go to the Haight just know it's not what you might imagine. It's worse. Yet, I love the Haight. Seedy as ever and
now as much a tourist strip as location for meth-head panhandlers. Still, muy excelente tapas at Cha Cha Cha, and real drinks at my favorite SF bar if you're up for time travel slumming: Zam Zam Club. It's an old bar so there's no trendy drink menu,
just classic cocktails and Martinis made as God intended.

Automobile related: an hour east in Danville is the Blackhawk Collection, a classic car dealer worth making the trip to.
It's like visiting a museum, lots to see.

http://www.blackhawkcollection.com/

[Rockefella]

It's a great city for foodies, Leon. Maybe we have a native on the forum, but I've visited several times and love the place.
Public transportation is good, ride BART nearly everywhere and use the cable cars downtown... those hills are steep.

Mexican street food in the mission, best seafood at Nob Hill's Swan Oyster Depot, the ferry building Farmers Market, everywhere in Koreatown, Japantown, Chinatown (R & G Lounge)... exquisite sushi at Sebo. Old-school red meat at House of Prime Rib, best burgers in town at Pearls, out-there cuisine at Incanto. Drink coffee like you've never tasted (with bacon!) with killer pastries at Pirate Cat Radio Café. Take the ferry over to Sausalito for breakfast at Fred's Diner or the Lighthouse for lunch.

If you decide to go to the Haight just know it's not what you might imagine. It's worse. Yet, I love the Haight. Seedy as ever and
now as much a tourist strip as location for meth-head panhandlers. Still, muy excelente tapas at Cha Cha Cha, and real drinks at my favorite SF bar if you're up for time travel slumming: Zam Zam Club. It's an old bar so there's no trendy drink menu,
just classic cocktails and Martinis made as God intended.

Automobile related: an hour east in Danville is the Blackhawk Collection, a classic car dealer worth making the trip to.
It's like visiting a museum, lots to see.

I have no idea if Sir CSL's food recommendations are worthy, but sampling a California delicacy known as OG Kush or Trainwreck will likely make the food legendary.

[csl177]

I have no idea if Sir CSL's food recommendations are worthy, but sampling a California delicacy known as OG Kush or Trainwreck will likely make the food legendary.

Mmmm-mmm. Yes indeed... mixing a nice Sour Mango with Train Wreck will definately perk up the appetite.

Kush just makes me sleepy.

[kingofthering]

It's a great city for foodies, Leon. Maybe we have a native on the forum, but I've visited several times and love the place.
Public transportation is good, ride BART nearly everywhere and use the cable cars downtown... those hills are steep.[/url]

ahem

Well as someone who was born and raised here, the bus system is very good. You shouldn't need to bother with BART unless you're leaving the city without a car. The cable car thing is a tourist trap to the max, but I guess if you want, it's always worth a shot. There's a good pizza place (to me, at least) near one of the turnarounds on Powell by the new shopping center.

If you like walking, you can basically walk your way through Chinatown into North Beach (connected) and to the Coit Tower. Don't bother paying to go inside; you can get a pretty good panoramic view of the city from the outside. From there, there's a neat set of stairs that takes you through this narrow and winding path past houses that you might normally miss that ends near the pier. Make sure to hit up Blue Bottle Coffee at the Ferry Building. As an Italian, you must definitely visit North Beach.

Car stuff? The Academy of Art has a nice collection of cars that they purchased with tuition money, but it's private. Had a chance to go but missed it due to prior arrangements. They do bring them out at the annual auto show, though. They do keep the cars in a room with lots of windows, so you see some nice stuff.

But yeah, if you go through some of the nicer neighborhoods and even random parts of the city, you should see some nice metal. There's a guy near me who has a Testarossa/512 parked in his garage and I've seen Bentleys here and there. In fact, I nearly jaywalked in front of a vintage rally-prepped 911.

For the ultimate in eye-rolling glory, they just opened a new Ferrari store right by Barney's in Union Square. I've visited once. That was certainly an interesting experience. No cars, just polo shirts with a prancing horse.

edit- There's several boutique dealers in the city on Van Ness, if I remember correctly. Don't remember the exact whereabouts.

[henk4]

If you look for something automotive, there is some sort of Art College on cars in Van Ness (one of the main North-South Roads), last time we passed there there were some impressive pre-war classics (Packards and the like) visible from the road. (Can't remember the exact name nor the number in the street, but if you are heading south, it is on the right side, on the corner of some block)

Enjoy the trip, I don't think there will be fog in December.

[LeonOfTheDead]

Thanks everyone for the tips, gf already told me a I was going the best pig-out food I could think of... Japantown is already a must go stop during my time there.
Also the blackhawk collection was on the to do list, iirc it's the place with completely dark walls and pavement, and where you can't use a tripod/monopod, right? That's a spot on decision...

[Dino Scuderia]

I'll alert the proper authorities.

[LeonOfTheDead]

Just got my ESTA clearance

[csl177]

Thanks everyone for the tips, gf already told me a I was going the best pig-out food I could think of... Japantown is already a must go stop during my time there.
Also the blackhawk collection was on the to do list, iirc it's the place with completely dark walls and pavement, and where you can't use a tripod/monopod, right? That's a spot on decision...

Yes, but the lighting is like a museum so no worries. Enjoy your trip, Leon.

My bad, King... thought all transit was BART. If I lived there getting used to walking up hills would be fine, but as a visitor I was glad the trolleys are there! Love the streamliner streetcars too, way cool.

[kingofthering]

My bad, King... thought all transit was BART. If I lived there getting used to walking up hills would be fine, but as a visitor I was glad the trolleys are there! Love the streamliner streetcars too, way cool.

Bah. I still dislike walking up hills! You're not entirely wrong though - parts of the city are BART-friendlier than other parts. It is usually more expensive, though.

The streetcars are nice especially as they don't cost more than the average bus/railcar. My usual commute usually revolved around a different part of the city so I never really got around to using them. It's also a shame the public transportation system has a nasty habit of running into/over things every once or twice a month. There was a collision between two of them not long ago.

[F1GTRUeno]

Isn't Vijay Mallya's collection nearby to San Fran as well?

[LeonOfTheDead]

I know I'll be using a BART train as I'm actually going to live outside the big city, so I'll use that to enter Frisco.

I just came to know that blinds are not used on windows over there. Going to hate that.

[NSXType-R]

Where is Ralph Lauren's collection?

It should be on the west coast, right?