North Beach & Chinatown
There was no place to go but up in Chinatown in the 19th century, when laws restricted where Chinese San Franciscans could live and work. Atop barber…
Must-see attractions in San Francisco
Museum of the African Diaspora
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
MoAD assembles an international cast of characters to tell the epic story of diaspora, including a moving video of slave narratives told by Maya Angelou…
The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
War is for the birds at Crissy Field, a military airstrip turned waterfront nature preserve with knockout Golden Gate views. Where military aircraft once…
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
Imaginations race from subtle Chinese ink paintings to seductive Hindu temple carvings and from elegant Islamic calligraphy to cutting-edge Japanese…
The Mission, Dogpatch & Potrero Hill
The Bay Area hits the big time here, with gallery director Ed Gilbert continuing Anglim's 30-year legacy of launching art movements, from Beat assemblage…
The Mission, Dogpatch & Potrero Hill
Ever since gold-rush miners captured their newfound wealth with ferrotype portraits, San Francisco has staked claims to artistic fame with photography –…
The Mission, Dogpatch & Potrero Hill
Brave new worlds are captured in celebrated artworks destined for museum retrospectives, international shows and even Marc Jacobs handbags and CB2…
Diego Rivera's Allegory of California Fresco
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
Hidden inside San Francisco's Stock Exchange tower is a priceless treasure: Diego Rivera's 1930–31 Allegory of California fresco. Spanning a two-story…
The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
Picnic amid wind-sculpted pines, fish from craggy rocks or frolic nude at mile-long Baker Beach, with spectacular views of the Golden Gate. Crowds come…
San Francisco
Rock stars and conspiracy theorists alike are mysteriously drawn to the Masonic – a major concert venue and the Masons' main temple for California…
The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
San Francisco takes subversive glee in turning military installations into venues for nature, fine dining and out-there experimental art. Evidence: Fort…
Transamerica Pyramid & Redwood Park
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
The defining feature of San Francisco's skyline is this 1972 pyramid, built atop a whaling ship abandoned in the gold rush. A half-acre redwood grove…
North Beach & Chinatown
The closest you can get to the complete Beat experience without breaking a law. The 1000-plus artifacts in this museum's literary-ephemera collection…
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
Urban blight is interrupted by bucolic splendor on one of the Tenderloin's grittiest blocks. Once littered with hypodermic needles and garbage, dead-end…
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
Like a dandelion pushing through sidewalk cracks, this plucky nonprofit gallery has brought signs of life to one of the Tenderloin's toughest blocks for…
North Beach & Chinatown
You can see all the way to China from the Hilton's 3rd floor inside this cultural center, which hosts exhibits ranging from showcases of contemporary…
The Haight & Hayes Valley
With its sunny courtyard and generous cased windows, this uplifting 1922 building is an interfaith landmark. Since 1969, it's been home to the largest…
San Francisco
While adults are asleep downhill, eight-year-olds are making scientific discoveries atop Corona Heights Park. After Josephine Randall became a pioneering…
San Francisco
America's first gay-history museum showcases a century of San Francisco LGBTQ+ ephemera – Harvey Milk's campaign literature, matchbooks from long-gone…
The Haight & Hayes Valley
When the bass thumbs out the opening notes to 'A Love Supreme,' you'll know the Sunday liturgy has begun at San Francisco's legendary Church of St John…
San Francisco
Follow trails of deleted White House tweets, lost Grateful Dead tapes and defunct Nintendo gamer magazines to this 1923 Greek Revival landmark. In a…
North Beach & Chinatown
'The air was soft, the stars so fine, the promise of every cobbled alley so great…' This ode by the On the Road and Dharma Bums author is embedded in his…
Glide Memorial United Methodist Church
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
When the rainbow-robed Glide gospel choir enters singing their hearts out, the 2000-plus congregation erupts in cheers, hugs and dance moves. Raucous…
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
Since 1974, this nonprofit art organization has championed experimental photo-based imagery beyond classic B&W prints and casual digital snapshots. Since…
San Francisco
On San Francisco's literary scene, all roads eventually lead to Ina Coolbrith. She was California's first poet laureate, editor of Mark Twain, colleague…
Human Rights Campaign Action Center
San Francisco
Harvey Milk’s former camera storefront was featured in the Academy Award–winning movie Milk, and now it's home to the civil rights advocacy group…
San Francisco
Looking out from Lands End feels like surveying the edge of the world. Nestled on the point of land between Golden Gate Park and the Presidio, the park's…
The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
Slide, climb and feel your way – in total darkness – through the labyrinth of the Tactile Dome at the Exploratorium, the city's standout science museum…
North Beach & Chinatown
Halfway through the steep climb up the Filbert St Steps to Coit Tower, you might wonder if it’s all worth the trouble. Take a breather and notice the…
The Mission, Dogpatch & Potrero Hill
Art really ties the room together at nonprofit arts center Southern Exposure, where works are carefully crafted not just with paint and canvas, but a…
San Francisco
This peaceful, 10-acre living memorial ringed by redwoods and graced with poetic paving-stone tributes was founded in 1991 to commemorate millions of…
The Mission, Dogpatch & Potrero Hill
Trancelike states are often induced by Hosfelt, where visitors step from gritty sidewalks into dreamy, finely detailed interior worlds. Close inspection…
The Mission, Dogpatch & Potrero Hill
Elephants created from sewn-together maps, benches made from repurposed shovel handles, factory-floor scenes recreated entirely in duct tape: one-off…
The Mission, Dogpatch & Potrero Hill
All roads in San Francisco's art underground lead to this nonprofit creative community hub under a highway overpass. Shows have featured eviction letters…
San Francisco
Reach staggering heights with spectacular views along this staircase connecting North Beach with Russian Hill – ideal for working off a pasta dinner…
North Beach & Chinatown
Upstart San Francisco artists buck art-world trends and kick out brave new work at the backstreet Mule Gallery. Recent shows have featured artworks by Bay…
San Francisco
Scramble up the red rocks of 520ft-high Corona Heights for jaw-dropping, 180-degree views at the summit. Face east as the sun sets, and watch the city…
The Mission, Dogpatch & Potrero Hill
A curiosity cupboard of major Bay Area talents. Works showcased here are entrancing and meticulous – past shows have featured Dana Hemenway's dazzling…
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
Rising from the ashes of the 1906 earthquake, this beaux arts landmark echoes with history. Demonstrators protesting red-scare McCarthy hearings on City…
San Francisco
It's hard to imagine from these ruins, but Victorian dandies and working stiffs once converged here for bracing baths in woolen rental swimsuits…
