Things to do in California
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FEATURED
Yosemite National Park and Giant Sequoias Trip
14 hours (Departs San Francisco, California)
by Viator
Take time out for a day trip into the wild beauty of Yosemite National Park from San Francisco. Enjoy the beautiful countryside and discover the raw beauty of…Not LP reviewed
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Venice Boardwalk
Venice Boardwalk is officially known as Ocean Front Walk. It’s a freak show, a human zoo and a wacky carnival, but as far as LA experiences go, it’s a must. This is where to get your hair braided, your karma corrected or your back massaged qi gong–style. Encounters with budding Schwarzeneggers, hoop dreamers, a Speedo-clad snake charmer and a roller-skating Sikh minstrel are pretty much guaranteed, especially on hot summer days. The Sunday-afternoon drum circle draws hundreds of revelers for tribal playing and spontaneous dancing. If the noise doesn’t show you the way there, just follow your nose towards whiffs of ‘wacky tabaccy.’ Alas, the boardwalk vibe gets a bit…
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Union Square
Louis Vuitton is more top-of-mind than the Emancipation Proclamation, but Union Square – bordered by department stores and mall chains – was named after pro–Union Civil War rallies held here 150 years ago. A misguided renovation paved the place and installed benches narrow enough to keep junkies from nodding off, turning this once-lovely park into a fancy prison exercise yard. Redeeming features include Emporio Rulli, the half-price theater-ticket booth and the stellar people-watching.
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Alcatraz
Alcatraz: for almost 150 years, the name has given the innocent chills and the guilty cold sweats. Over the years it’s been the nation’s first military prison, a forbidding maximum-security penitentiary and disputed territory between Native American activists and the FBI. No wonder that first step you take off the ferry and onto ‘the Rock’ seems to cue ominous music: dunh-dunh-dunnnnh! It all started innocently enough back in 1775, when Spanish lieutenant Juan Manuel de Ayala sailed the San Carlos past the 12-acre island he called Isla de Alcatraces (Isle of the Pelicans). In 1859 a new post on Alcatraz became the first US West Coast fort, and soon proved handy as…
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Griffith Observatory
Above Los Feliz loom the iconic triple domes of this 1935 observatory, which boasts a super-techie planetarium and films in the Leonard Nimoy Event Horizon Theater. During clear nighttime skies, you can often peer through the telescopes at heavenly bodies.
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Escape from New York Pizza
The Haight's obligatory mid-bender stop for a hot slice. Pesto with roasted garlic and potato will send you blissfully off to carbo-loaded sleep, but the sundried tomato with goat cheese, artichoke hearts and spinach will recharge you to go another round.
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Golden Gate Bridge
Imagine a squat concrete bridge striped black and caution yellow spanning the San Francisco Bay – that's what the US Navy initially had in mind. Luckily, engineer Joseph B Strauss and architects Gertrude and Irving Murrow insisted on a soaring art-deco design and International Orange paint of the 1937 Golden Gate Bridge. Cars pay a $6 toll to cross from Marin to San Francisco; pedestrians and cyclists stroll the east sidewalk for free.
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Santa Barbara Zoo
Big cats, monkeys, elephants and giraffes await at the 500-animal Santa Barbara Zoo , where you'll also find beautiful gardens. The Humboldt penguins are the current stars, and these tuxedoed show-offs seem to know it. If you're in need of a giggle, hit the 'Eeeww!' insect exhibit. Its hissing cockroaches and giant African millipedes will leave you giggling at the grossed-out kids. Or deeply disturbed. Parking costs around US$3.
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Dog Beach
The real action in Ocean Beach, of course, lies on the sands. Just north of the half-mile-long Ocean Beach Pier is the headquarters for the beach scene, with volleyball courts and sunset barbecues. Further up you'll reach Dog Beach, where pooches can run unleashed around the marshy area. A few blocks south of the pier, you'll find Sunset Cliffs Park, a great spot to watch the sun dipping below the horizon.
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Roscoe’s House of Chicken & Waffles
It’s not spiffy, the lighting’s not so great, and the decor’s best described as well worn and wooden. But for LA’s best Southern soul food, look no further than this 30-year-old landmark where the namesake dish is can’t-miss. The combo sounds strange but the reality – crispy, juicy fried chicken with a side of soft, syrupy waffles – is simply delish. There’s salad on the menu, but why?
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Chef Jia's
All three of the sauces on the menu here make nostrils flare in eager anticipation: spicy black bean sauce, tangy brown vinegar sauce, and savory-salty oyster sauce. Mix and match your choice with standbys of chicken, pork, and squid and/or green beans, eggplant, or yams. Dishes are generous to the point of embarrassing, but don't neglect the sublime onion cakes with peanut sauce.
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La Note
A good spot to fuel up before exploring, La Note serves a French-cafe menu of omelettes and pancakes at breakfast, and croques monsieurs, Niçoise salads and baguette sandwiches at lunch.
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Grand Central Market
The frenzied and sawdust-sprinkled Grand Central Market across the street has some fun nosh spots.
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Golden Gate Park
Golden Gate Park includes the following sights: MH de Young Museum, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco Botanical Garden, Japanese Tea Garden, Conservatory of Flowers and Stow Lake.
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Berkeley Bowl
A Berkeley institution since 1977, the Berkeley Bowl got its name from its original location in a former bowling alley. Its narrow aisles offer the absolute best and worst of Berkeley: produce, deli goods, wines and organic dry goods of the very highest quality threaten to topple off the shelves, while incredibly cranky and arrogant shoppers try to navigate oversize carts through the gridlock.
The self-centered rudeness amidst piles of celery and bulk granola bins can be exasperating and at times downright laughable. (Yoga, so popular in Berkeley, doesn't seem to put people in a positive mindset for the Bowl.) Get a picnic lunch here (weekdays, well ahead of the dinner…
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Half Dome
According to Native American legend, one of Yosemite Valley's early inhabitants went down from the mountains to Mono Lake, where he wed a Paiute named Tesaiyac. The journey back to the valley was difficult, and by the time they reached what was to become Mirror Lake, Tesaiyac had decided that she wanted to go back down to live with her people at Mono Lake. However, her husband refused to live on such barren, arid land with no oak trees from which to get acorns.
With a heart full of despair, Tesaiyac began to run toward Mono Lake, and her husband followed her. When the powerful spirits heard quarreling in Yosemite, they became angry and turned the two into stone: he became…
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Sea Lions at Pier 39
Beach bums took over San Francisco’s most coveted waterfront real estate in 1990 and have been making a public display of themselves ever since, canoodling, belching, scratching their naked backsides and gleefully shoving one another off the docks. Naturally these unkempt squatters became San Francisco’s favorite mascots, and since California law requires boats to make way for marine mammals, yacht owners have to relinquish valuable slips to accommodate as many as 1300 sea lions who ‘haul out’ onto the docks between January and July, and whenever else they feel like sunbathing.
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Ocean Front Walk
Between the South Mission Jetty and Pacific Beach Point stretch 3 miles of pure, unadulterated SoCal beach scene. Ocean Front Walk bristles with joggers, in-line skaters and cyclists - the perfect place for scantily clad pretty people-watching. Back from the beach, Mission Blvd consists of block after block of surf shops, burger joints and beer busts. Down at the Mission Beach end, beach bums pool their resources to rent small houses and apartments for the summer season. The surf is a beach break, good for beginners, bodyboarders and bodysurfers.
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Buena Vista Park
True to its name, this park founded in 1867 offers sweeping views of the city beyond century-old cypresses to the Golden Gate Bridge as rewards for hiking up the steep hill. When SF went up in flames in 1906, this was where San Franciscans found refuge and watched the town smolder; on your way downhill, take Buena Vista Ave West to spot Victorian mansions that date from that era. Hanging around after the park closes at sunset for boozing or cruising is risky, given recent criminal activity at night.
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Cafe 976
PB denizens of all shapes and colors flock to this mellow, yellow converted 1920s beach house for the magnolia-shaded gardens, the wraparound porch studded with colorful chairs, and eclectic comfort food like Indian tuna curry (limited menu at night) and vegetarian chili. There's local art on the walls and often more being produced right at the tables. Kids will be spoiled by options like grilled cheese with the crusts cut off.
You're all set if you need some wi-fi vibes to go with all the groovy ones here.
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Swan Oyster Depot
Superior flavor without the superior attitude of most seafood restaurants. The downside is an inevitable wait for the few counter seats, but the upside of the high turnover is unbelievably fresh seafood. On sunny days, place an order to go, browse Polk St boutiques, then breeze past the line to pick up your crab salad with Louie dressing and the obligatory top-grade oysters with mignonette sauce. Hike or take a bus up to Sterling Park for superlative seafood with ocean views.
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Lefty O’Doul’s
Wood paneling and lamp-warmed roast beef welcome you to Lefty's, a dimly lit family spot that seems largely unchanged since the 1950s. It's campy, crowded with tourists and at the lower rung of San Francisco's culinary ladder, but for old world atmosphere and a shot-and-a-beer break from the swish department stores of Union Square, it's hard to beat.
Join the crusty old timers in a toast to Francis Joseph 'Lefty' O'Doul, the former San Francisco Seal for whom the joint is named.
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People's Park
Just east of Telegraph Ave, between Haste St and Dwight Way, is the site of People's Park, a marker in local history as a political battleground between residents and city government in the late '60s. The park has since served mostly as an unofficial residence for Berkeley's homeless. A publicly funded restoration spruced it up a bit, and occasional festivals do still happen here, but on the surface it's still just a mangy patch of trampled grass.
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Universal Studios
Universal Studios first opened to the public in 1915, when studio head Carl Laemmle invited visitors at a quaint 25¢ each (including a boxed lunch) to watch silent films being made. Nearly a century later, Universal remains one of the world's largest movie studios, even if today's visitors are directed to movie-based theme parks at which their chances of seeing an actual movie shoot are approximately nil.
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Canal Walk
Just northeast of the intersection of Washington Blvd and Pacific Ave, it's a step through the looking glass from the traffic-clogged roar of Washington Blvd to the bougainvillea-lined bungalows bordering Venice's once-plentiful canals. Wandering the narrow, impossibly cute bridges and walkways, it's tough to keep envy in check as dog-walkers, surfers and grandmas pass by, enjoying their tranquil patch of paradise.
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Mt Tamalpais State Park
Mt Tamalpais State Park encompasses 6300 acres of parklands, plus over 200 miles of trails; get a map and don't miss East Peak. Panoramic Hwy climbs from Hwy 1 through the park to Stinson Beach, a mellow seaside town with a great beach. Park headquarters are at Pantoll Station, the nexus of many trails and location of a wooded first-come, first-served campground.
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