I'm up for something.

Alcatraz is worthwhile although a bit expensive in both dollars and time. Book in advance.

If he's into newly-built structures, Tim might be interested in the new Transbay Transit Center (vilely now named for Salesforce). Ferry across to Oakland is also quite fun; you get to cross under the Bay Bridge.

I will put down more ideas as they occur to me.

The Cable Car Museum may be be worth checking out. http://www.cablecarmuseum.org .

I'm possibly up for something, but have a potential work-related conflict.

As a lurker, I plan to reserve a table 11 feet away and cast odd and surreptitious glances.

Yep. That happens every time.

Yep. That happens every time.

Hey where's my London meetup post I asked for?

It was up, but then reported for harassment.

You have to add value in the car thread first.

6: Shit. Did I lose an email again?

Busy at work but will check in again later. E-mail is linked.

2: That's up his alley. He knows all about the defunct A line on the Green line.

Cable car museum v fun, Alcatraz was nauseating grade school exp for me (sea sick) & then couple of years ago went to Hamlet production there notable for off the fucking charts Ophelia & access to otherwise inaccessible areas, but otherwise would skip - ? Not a strong counter recommendation.

Will never call transbay terminal anything but! Haven't been yet.

MoMA meh in my view, v pandery exhibits, like "art" wine labels 🙄 not my thing but could be yours. Porcelain and art book rooms at Legion of Honor excellent! Highly recommend.

Plane taking off will add more recs, pretty sure I'll be out of town tho. Have a lovely trip!

I think ousted it in comments

Posted it

Well! Then it's your own fault, bub.

Regular exhibitions at Legion of Honor not so much recommended though, right?

SFMOMA has a Magritte exhibition running through Oct. 28, so there's that opportunity. Normally I would suggest that you also check out the Museum of the African Diaspora (just around the corner from SFMOMA) while you're there, but they are closed Mondays and Tuesdays, so might not fit with your schedule.

I went to an exhibition of photos taken after the 1906 earthquake & fire at SFMOMA several years ago (including some aerial photos taken from a balloon/kite), and I was particularly struck by one aerial photo of a church that was the only building left standing for blocks around. Then I walked out of the museum and saw that same church in the very next block, on Mission. St. Patrick church. Worth a quick look while you're there (at least from the outside) if you like to imagine that sort of thing.

The Asian Art Museum is really good (near City Hall, Civic Center Bart station), and they have their free general admission on the first Sunday of every month (see Target First Free Sundays on that page), so your timing is good if you wanted to see it then. The third floor is closed for renovations, but the rest of the museum should be open.

The permanent collection at the legion is pretty fusty BUT i just enthusiastically recommended the bowles collection of 18-19c porcelain so ymmv. Fabulously insouciantly rendered oxen asses with random twiddly insects and a fanciful decrepit tree on a plate appeal to me, is all. Also the art book room is small but pulls from a v deep collection & is excellently curated ime. Have seen many fabulousess there.

Asian Art Museum also good.

Hyperbowles.

6:I'll come and drink with you Barry. Let me know where. Don't leave before I get there.

Honestly, the thing I like to do most in San Francisco is walk and walk for miles, then rest and drink some coffee, then keep walking, then wait 25 minutes for a Muni because I'm physically incapable of moving, but I am orders of magnitude more sentimental than most people here. I feel it is a pretty good city for wandering, though, even downtown. The Botanical Garden in Golden Gate Park is a favorite destination.

Can people still walk across the GG Bridge and up into the headlands?

I agree, lurid! Yes, or you can take the bus to the toll plaza and walk back to Crissy Field - beautiful & less traffic noise.

Ditto on the walking in SF.

I was checking to see if my dad's old office (early 70s to late 80s) had become a museum or something. No, but I learned that what I'd been told in 1971 -- it was built pre-earthquake, and was AP Gianini's original Bank of Italy (I recall seeing the vaults in the basement -- wasn't exactly correct. It was designed before the quake, but built after. It was the Banca Popolare Italiana Operaia Fugazi. Gianini sat on the board, and ended up owning the building, so my dad's spacious high ceilinged office probably was his, but that's not quite the same.

First Jewish religious services in SF, held in 1849, were on that same block.

Anyway, it's not a museum, but is instead a Church of Scientology. There's a metaphor in that, I suppose.

21 is me, too--it's such a great city to walk in, with the obvious caveats abut the extreme inequality. Architecture and history and weather that's either pleasant or interestingly unpleasant. Lots of great hills, and wonderful views across the bay. In April I took a lovely stroll along the Embarcadero at sunset; it was fun trying to figure out what all the headlands and towns on the other sides of the bay were.

I've never bothered to take the tour of Alcatraz because of how much time it takes up in a day, but my cousins's wife gave such an enthusiastic review I'm reconsidering next time I'm there. The California Academy of Sciences is a very pretty museum you and Tim might enjoy. Really, though, I prefer to spend my time outdoors walking, either in the city or just outside (the headlands, the redwoods, the Presidio, Golden Gate Park in the less touristy areas).

i'll try and post a more organized list of things this weekend, bus-walk routes, places to eat, shop, etc. will interrogate the guys re: infrastructure places. you have an excellent chance of awesome weather at that time!

26: Awesome. Thank you. And disappointed that you'll be out of town!

Can I get a meet-up post? I'm coming to the UK tomorrow (Oxford for a few days, then London with a brief stop at Taunton). I'll be free in London on Sept 19-20 and Sept 22-23 (unless someone wants to join me for a 35mm screening of Youssef Chahine's The Earth on the 18th and Elaine May's A New Leaf ot hde 21st.

I'll be staying very close to the British Library.

Barry - email Heebie and you'll get the post.

Respect the process.

I'm NY contingent, I emailed LB.

You do realise Taunton is in diametrically the opposite direction to London from Oxford?

I think that's common knowledge.

Is Taunton named after that sound from Law & Order?

No, it's named after the goat-kangaroo things from Empire Strikes Back.

Legally, can somebody be in the NY contingent if they don't spend at least half of the days of a year in New York?

Comments are taxed where they're typed, regardless.

32 yes, did I get the dates wrong? I'm still in Oxford and will be in Taunton on Monday and London Monday night (though probably too late to meet up on Monday)

I hardly ever get to go anywhere. On the other hand, I hardly ever have to go anywhere.

Here are some ideas that wouldn't necessarily be covered in all the usual guides.

As an alternative to walking across the GG Bridge (noisy, windy, you will be right next to the traffic the whole way) or in addition, consider taking the 28 to the GG Bridge toll plaza and then walking down the hill towards Fort Point. When you get to the bottom of the hill you can either turn towards Fort Point (left) or go right to Crissy Field and Fort Mason. Either splendid.

As for transportation infrastructure things to do, the kid suggested various MTA hearings, the stinker. If you do end up at Fort Mason, walk over the hill to Aquatic Park and check out the blocked up tunnel and old street car tracks. That's about all I got on the transportation front! Except of course if you want to take a cable car just hop on the California one, skip Powell and the interminable queue.

If you are looking for a super nice meal to enjoy together, I think you can't go wrong at Boulevard. Food and wine are excellent, professional and wonderful wait staff (put yourselves entirely in their hands with respect to wine in utter confidence), great location (history of the Audifredd building is wild i swear this link will not disappoint: http://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=Audiffred_Building) Reservations totally not necessary at lunch - if they can't seat you in the main dining room just say you're happy to sit in the bar. The two seats at the end of the bar are right by the kitchen entrance but none the less congenial for it, my regular spot for lunches with friends.

Some nice neighborhoods for strolling:

Hayes Valley - 20th c. cafe is wonderful for lunch or tea and a little something. The lingerie store a la prima (sp?) is excellent, particularly strong on Italian brands, and check out the shoes on sale at gimme shoes; there's tons more small retail here, I have no idea what may tempt you for looking and/or buying. Ample more-money-than-they-know-what-to-do-with tech worker/hipster watching, can be somewhat awful but eh enter into the mocking spirit of things.

Inner Richmond, Clement between Arguello and Park Presidio, is very relaxed fun stroll territory, there's a farmer's market on Sunday but it sounds like you won't be around then? Still worth a stroll. Arsicault on Arguello does indeed have correct croissant, and much better size than Tartine, closer to the proper croute-mie ratio. Their butter cookies are so so good and would pack perfectly for gifts or just a nice something to take home. Green Apple Books is ace.

The Cole Valley is nice for bougie strolling and people watching, less infested with tourists than Haight. But the Tornonado on lower Haight is great, get some sausages next door and enjoy excellent beer.

I'd send you to the world's best lentil soup at Zitouna on Polk but it CLOSED which is a tragedy. Sob.

The murals in the Beach Chalet are great (also Coit Tower murals) and you should consider getting out to Ocean Beach if the weather is nice because you can then distribute pictures on your "social media" of each other in scanty clothes on a sunny calm beach, thereby contributing to hypothermia of future visitors and perpetuating a grand tradition. Please don't go in the water, you seem like a very nice person and the tides are really not to be messed with and it will be COLD. Beware the beer on tap at the beach and park chalet restaurants, the only explanation I can come up with is that they never ever clean their taps. Blech. Also the food is gross.

If you find yourself in Dogpatch, the ice cream at Mr. and Mrs. Miscellaneous is excellent, great food at piccino, great wine at wayne's store right next to piccino and if you are super duper lucky maybe some lovely piece of clothing on BIG sale at Modern Appealing Clothing in between? Fun to look even if too extortionate to buy.

Hmmm live music venues - the jazz place on Franklin has excellent spaces, highly raked, if you can catch an unamplified show by someone you like definitely go for. But BEWARE Davies (totally hit or miss acoustics and if it's a miss the musicians sound like little toads playing at the bottom of a well) and only go to Herbst if you can snag tickets in the first like 3-4 rows. Atrocious acoustics.

Consider spending a day in the East Bay! So many lovely things to do and places to go.

If you are looking for an afternoon coffee date, send heebie and e-mail and my better half would be happy to do the honors, but I'll be out of town.

Have a lovely time!

And if you are downtown and mooching about around Powell/Union Square, the basement of Barney's has a great selection of perfume and if you just relax into the experience the salespeople are perfume maniacs and will delight in spraying you with all kinds of outlandish things.

Meant send heebie an e-mail so she can kindly forward to me and then i'll get you in touch with better half. but only if you'd like.

E-mail linked here. I can send heebie a follow up.

I am at the airport. I have plans for today but have a lot of flexibility otherwise. If anyone is in town let me know - either posting here or e-mailing me.

The weather is gorgeous.

Sorry, looks like I will not be available Tuesday evening.

Or really the next couple of days.

Arsicault did have one of the best croissant i've Had outside of Paris. And it was enormous. I have had chocolate, and i've had almond, but it was my first chocolate almond croissant. Yummy.

I'm around, and potentially available for a meetup, though I work in the South Bay, so may be delayed coming up to SF. Any details yet?

It seems like the Bay Area contingent has mostly drifted away from meetups. I'm also in the south bay, and I don't know that I'd be able to make it. I've been working past 7 lately.

Yes - I think that it won't happen. Sorry not to be meeting DQ's spouse, but I didn't follow her directions to e-mail Heebie.

bostonienne, i'm delighted you are having wonderful weather. v sorry about not being organized so that you could have tea or some such with my better half, i'm traveling and things have been hectic. safe travels back to the east coast!

48: Maybe we should have a South Bay meetup some time (particularly if there is someone flying in or out of San Jose), which would allow those of us working at that end of the bay to get there more easily. There are some nice places in downtown San Jose.