Eco-swanking in San Francisco

Article by: Alison Bing, March 2008

Green living doesn't sound much like an urbanite's dream vacation. Who wants an outdoor privvy, itchy hemp pajamas and a steady diet of parsnips? But instead of trying to make burlap-clad vegan campers of us all, San Francisco lets city slickers go green while living it up. Calling all sports fans, fashionistas, movie marathoners, wine snobs, aspiring artists, and room-service cocooners: ready to cut loose while making nice with the planet? It's entirely possible in a day by the Bay.

Morning

Wake up to a greener world. You'd never guess by its sleek urban looks, but the Orchard Garden Hotel is one of just four hotels in the world to receive Silver Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) certification. It's all so refreshing: the sunny rooftop garden, air that's fresh rather than endlessly recirculated, and not a trace of harsh chemical cleaners or scratchy overbleached linens.

Go eco-gourmet by the Bay. The three best places for Bayside brunch happen to be green. Wetsuited windsurfers and Crissy Field kite fliers fuel up on Fair Trade-certified coffee and organic pastries at the Warming Hut, knowing that their purchases fund Crissy Field's ongoing conversion from US Army air strip to wildlife preserve. This shack below the Golden Gate Bridge is a monument to eco-innovation, with salvaged wood floors, formaldehyde-free cabinets and walls ingeniously insulated with recycled denim.

Greens is another trailblazing foodie landmark in a converted military warehouse, living up to its name with organic produce from Marin's Green Gulch Farm & Zen Center. On weekends there's usually a wait for tree-stump tables overlooking the boat marina, so get your order to go and savour that organic black bean chilli with pickled jalapenos and creme fraiche dockside, while contemplating the Golden Gate Bridge.

On Saturdays, early-bird foodies get prime pickings at the Ferry Building Farmer's Market: Acme baguettes, Cowgirl Creamery cheese and a seasonal embarrassment of riches. Plunk down on a Bayside bench (near the incongruous statue of a fasting Gandhi) and enjoy the freshest meal in town.

Afternoon

Look good in green. At Wasteland, make like a Prius-driving Hollywood starlet and pick up a vintage Halston halter dress, or Hugh-Hefner it up in a classic smoking jacket (though given California laws, consider it a non-smoking jacket). But why stop there? At the certified green cooperative Residents Apparel Gallery, you can go eco down to your reclaimed-cashmere Porcelynne skivvies, and get spiffy with bejewelled, reclaimed LEGO bracelets.

Cavort outdoors. Head to Golden Gate Park, where you can make like a hippie circa 1967 and bang a drum in Sharon Meadow (rhythm apparently not required), get on the ball with free lessons at the San Francisco Lawn Bowling Club, or check out what star architect Renzo Piano is building to house the California Academy of Sciences. No, it's not just the wafting pot smoke from the rhododendron bushes playing tricks with your senses: that really is a grass-domed roof capping California's new home of natural wonders.

Think trashy thoughts. The city's garbage collectors run an artist-in-residence program that invites San Francisco's top talent to trash-pick and 'make art, not landfill' - see the results for yourself at the Steven Wolf Fine Arts annual Dump Residency show. Inspired? Pick up industrial surplus materials for your own artworks at SCRAP (Scroungers' Center for Reusable Art Parts), which offers workshops on making art from Barbie parts.

Evening

Get sustainably entertained by the great American pasttimes: movies and baseball. Robert Redford's Sundance Institute reinvented SF's beloved Kabuki Cinema - home of the revered San Francisco International Film Festival each April - as a trendsetting green multiplex. Shinto-inspired, reclaimed-wood interiors are just the beginning. Check out the GMO-free popcorn at the snack bar, extra-comfy seats made with recycled materials, and the frankly brilliant Balcony Bar, where you can slurp a seasonal cocktail during your movie. Tickets cost up to $1.50 more here, but get this: they don't show any ads. Afterwards, debate Oscar chances over signature SF Dungeness crab cioppino in the swanky, seasonal, sustainable Kabuki Kitchen.

In baseball season, catch a San Francisco Giants game at AT&T Park, where the scoreboard is solar-powered and the hotdogs at the Let's Be Frank cart are made of local grass-fed, hormone-and-antibiotic-free beef and come loaded with organic condiments. When the game is sold out, don't despair: outside the park, the Waterfront Promenade offers a free view of right field.

Drink to the planet's health with your beverage of choice: organic and biodynamic wines from eco-conscious Yield Wine Bar, Fair Trade organic Beatnik Espresso or Flower-power Tea from Coffee to the People (WiFi free with purchase); or organic beer or 100% organic cocktails from SF-certified green saloon Elixir - and toast yourself too, for redefining green.