Lyle Tuttle Tattoo Art Museum & Shop
North Beach & Chinatown
Tattooed ladies are the life's work of icon Lyle Tuttle, who inked women across seven continents – including Janis Joplin, Cher and Joan Baez. Since the…
Must-see shopping in The Bay Area
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
The mother lode of magazines since 1973. The Magazine's old wooden shelves barely contain all the 1940s pinup mags, 1950s Vogue, trippy 1960s underground…
The Haight & Hayes Valley
Host gifts that earn return invitations to SF dinner parties come from Fatted Calf. This Bay Area salumi maker's showcase is a one-stop shop for…
North Beach & Chinatown
Ditch your day job and take up painting at this employee-owned art-supply store, housed in the former Hippodrome burlesque theater. This Barbary Coast hot…
North Beach & Chinatown
Hollywood pinups borrowed their slinky silk-robe style from Chinatown burlesque stars back in the '30s – and now you can rock that retro hottie look in…
The Haight & Hayes Valley
Strap on goggles and hang onto your top hat: with steampunk styling from Distractions, tonight you're gonna party like it's 1899. This gold-rush mad…
The Haight & Hayes Valley
Get geared up in San Francisco–designed styles to suit every local weather condition: arctic Alamo Square winds require minimalist Golden Gate hoodies,…
Sausalito
Near Sausalito's houseboat docks, this factory has been baking and glazing iconic dinnerware and home goods made of clay since 1959. Even chef Alice…
Japantown, Fillmore & Pacific Heights
Get cheeky with BeneTint (liquid blush made from crushed roses) or raise eyebrows with Big Sexy Eye Kit – two of Benefit's signature products, invented in…
The Haight & Hayes Valley
Stuffed deer exchange glassy stares with skeletons over rusty dental tools: the signs are ominous, and for sale. Head upstairs for Goth gifts, including…
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
Ignorance of the fog is no excuse in San Francisco – but should you confuse SF for LA (the horror!) and neglect to pack the obligatory sweater, Margaret O…
The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
For the prankster in your life, Houdini's stocks all the classic gags – rubber chickens, exploding caps, marked cards, escapable handcuffs – plus…
Japantown, Fillmore & Pacific Heights
It's a wonder you got this far in life without penguin soy-sauce dispensers, Pikachu socks, extra-spiky hair wax and the ultimate in gay gag gifts, the…
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
Wabi-sabi is the fine appreciation for imperfect, organic forms and materials, and the stock in trade of Gallery Japonesque. Owner Koichi Hara arranges…
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
The perfect stop before a long flight, Fog City stocks a vast variety of domestic magazines and newspapers, plus 700 international titles from 25…
North Beach & Chinatown
Detour from reality at Eden & Eden, a Dadaist design boutique where espresso cups give you side-eye, lightning strikes on dresses, shaggy tea cozies make…
The Haight & Hayes Valley
Big air and big style are the tip at this SF skateboard outfitter, featuring Western Edition decks designed by local guest artists. Show insider flair as…
San Francisco
Blow minds with souvenirs that get visitors mistaken for locals. Go from downtown protests in tees featuring the Golden Gate Bridge and the city's…
Japantown, Fillmore & Pacific Heights
Fragrant Japanese incense for every purpose, from long-burning sandalwood for Zen meditation to cinnamon-tinged Gentle Smile to atone for laundry left too…
The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
A tiny shop for girly girls with big clothing allowances, Dress draws from leading contemporary designers, such as Diane von Furstenberg and rag & bone,…
The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
Nothing screams San Francisco quite as much as a new leather outfit – it's what Hillary Clinton wore in SF the first time she spoke publicly after losing…
San Francisco Railway Museum Gift Shop
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
The next best thing to taking an SF cable car home with you is getting a toy streetcar from this tiny, free Municipal Railway museum showcasing SF public…
The Mission, Dogpatch & Potrero Hill
Do you have a spiritual need involving herbal remedies, organic supplements, essential oils or magic crystals? This store can manifest such things. They…
North Beach & Chinatown
See the world from the comfort of your living room with a wall of Real Old Paper finds: vintage travel posters, Dutch Star Wars promotions, Pacific WWII…
The Haight & Hayes Valley
Whether you just broke a guitar string jamming on Haight St or left a Fillmore show determined to learn ukelele, this legendary music shop will rock your…
San Francisco
When date nights and last-minute party invites catch you unprepared, head here to score casually fabulous Californian looks for women. For bargains, start…
Oakland
Two Jacks is an indispensable resource for East Bay men who need to come correct. It specializes in selvedge denim – made on a shuttle loom with a…
The Haight & Hayes Valley
When Victorian attics overflow, San Francisco eccentrics sell their excess art-glass vases, pewter peace-sign necklaces and California-bear bookends at…
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
The West Coast outpost of the high-end New York fashion landmark has similar signatures, including inspired window displays and up-to-70%-off sales. But…
The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
Here's an unusual gift: bring back the bay to those who couldn't join you. SF Salt mines salt from San Francisco Bay to make bath salts, adding only…
Marin County
This rickety, unsigned shop around the corner from the Bolinas Museum sold surfboards for 25 years but now it's a den full of very reasonably priced ($10…
North Beach & Chinatown
You'll have to bend over those earthquake-defying bins to let DJs and hard-core collectors pass (hey, wasn't that Tom Waits?!), but among the $5–25 discs…
The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
The first boutique outside Japan of Japanese brand Itoya showcases ingenious gadgets for travel you never knew you needed, including reversible house…
North Beach & Chinatown
Be the star of Crissy Field and wow any kids in your life with a fierce 9ft-long flying dragon, a pirate-worthy wild parrot (SF's city bird), surreal…
North Beach & Chinatown
Costuming is a competitive sport in SF, and Rosalie's will help you find a head-to-toe ensemble that will have the whole city gagging on your glamour…
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
The flagship store in Levi Strauss' hometown sells classic jeans that fit without fail, plus limited-edition Japanese selvage pairs and remakes of Levi's…
Marin County
Stop for free tastings at one of Marin County's most renowned cheesemaking shops. Crafted on a ranch started by a Swiss immigrant family, these wheels of…
Japantown, Fillmore & Pacific Heights
An installation artwork that doubles as a store, where bird baths overflow with hand-dyed shawls and ladders are laden with cocktail cookbooks and dessert…
Japantown, Fillmore & Pacific Heights
The actual pool hall's across the street - here the green felt table is piled with an array of belts, PF Flyers high tops and retro bandannas, as though a…
Marin County
Take the bicycle-and-pedestrian bridge from the Larkspur ferry terminal across the road to this breezy shopping center with upscale boutiques, excellent…
