Shopping in San Francisco
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A Different Light Bookstore
The USA's largest gay bookseller: raucous readings; gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) resources; and literary cruising.
reviewed
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New Lab
This pro lab will do right by your artistic inspirations, whether you're an old-school photographer who needs contact sheets and proof prints, a new media maven looking to output massive Giclee prints of digital photos, or in transition converting your slides to digital images. Turnaround time is usually 4 hours for photos, 24 for contact sheets and proofs.
reviewed
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Gallery Flux
Castro couples getting hitched may not be officially recognized by the state of California - for now, anyway - but there's no mistaking those eye-catching wedding bands from Gallery Flux. Back-lit glass shelves highlight the hypnotic swirls of precious metals in locally crafted Michael Daniels rings, and Nick Dong's brushed-gold rings with polished gems on the inside.
reviewed
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Given
Have no fear of birthdays: it’s a Given that you’ll find worthy gifts for all ages in this emporium of offbeat design, from Kimochi the cuddly cloud to a wallet disguised as a memo-pad. If this storefront seems familiar, you’re right: this was once Harvey Milk’s camera shop, and the shop closed for six weeks so that the Academy Award–winning Milk could be filmed here.
reviewed
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Shotwell Boutique
SF fashion vanguardians could shop for decades for a look achieved in an afternoon at Shotwell: purple-rimmed ‘80s sunglasses, Surface to Air low-tops, a ’70s fedora, draped tank from Society for Rational Dress over Cheap Monday jeans, and locally designed bling. Unlike other Downtown boutiques, there are good selections of menswear and vintage under $25, plus a $5 jewelry bin.
reviewed
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Farmers Market
The Ferry Building weekend farmers' market.
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Books Inc
The Castro's indie bookstore has new-release hardcovers, good fiction, extensive magazines and many travel books. Check the bulletin boards for schedules of readings and literary happenings.
reviewed
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Green Apple Books
Blissed-out booklovers emerge blinking into the sunset after an entire day browsing three floors of new releases, used titles and staff picks more reliable than New York Times reviews. Local favorites are easy to spot in the local interest section – look for the local author tag. You can sell your books here, but be prepared for rejection: they can afford to be picky. Don't miss the fiction and music annex two doors down.
reviewed
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Kayo Books
Juvenile delinquents will find an entire section dedicated to their life stories here, where vintage pulp fiction, true crime and erotica titles ending in exclamation points (including the succinct Wench!) induced John Waters to endorse this place on NPR. You might find a first edition Dashiell Hammet gumshoe caper, a wayward nun's tale filed under Catholic Guilt or Women's Medical Problems in the Bizarre Nonfiction section.
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Bound Together Anarchist Book Collective
Given the state of the economy lately, an anarchist bookstore seems like the go-to place for answers. Since 1976 this volunteer-run, nonprofit bookstore has kept free thinkers supplied with organic farming manuals, prison literature and radical comics, while coordinating the Anarchist Book Fair and restoring its 'Anarchists of the Americas' storefront mural – makes us tools of the state look like slackers.
reviewed
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Adobe Books & Backroom Gallery
Come here for every book you never knew you needed used and cheap, plus zine launch parties, poetry readings and art openings. To get to the Backroom gallery, first you have to navigate the obstacle course of sofas, cats, art books and German philosophy. But it's worth it: artists who debuted here have gone on to success at international art fairs and Whitney Biennials.
reviewed
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City Lights
'Abandon all despair, all ye who enter,' orders the sign by the door to City Lights bookstore, written by founder and San Francisco poet laureate Lawrence Ferlinghetti. This commandment is easy to follow upstairs in the sunny Poetry Room, with its piles of freshly published verse, a designated Poet's Chair and literary views of laundry strung across Jack Kerouac Alley. Poetic justice has been served here since 1957, when City Lights won a landmark free speech ruling over Allen Ginsberg's incendiary epic poem Howl, and went on to publish Lenny Bruce, William S Burroughs, Angela Davis and Zapatista Subcomandante Marcos, among others. When you abandon despair, you make more…
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Kenneth Wingard
Upgrade from ho-hum IKEA to mod housewares that are positively scrumptious: glossy tangerine bud vases, vintage tiki-fabric cushions and mood-setting, ecofriendly, cork-shaded lamps, all priced for mass consumption.
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Ruby
As resident pug-in-chief Ruby sniffs suspiciously at your ankles, browse necklaces made of tiny fern fronds captured in resin, robot-chic rings made of watch mechanisms and purses made of vintage upholstery fabric.
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Photoworks
Quick proquality photo processing and printing for film and digital shooters, plus bonus creative services: digital pics can be printed on classic Ilford black-and-white paper or even canvas.
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Giant Robot
The storefront of the uberhip Cali-Asian pop culture magazine understands exactly how you imagined life as a grown-up: stacks of comics, a never-ending supply of toys and stickers, and a wardrobe consisting entirely of T-shirts.
reviewed
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ATYS
Tucked away in a courtyard, this design showcase offers version 2.0 of essential household items: a mirrored coat rack, a rechargeable flashlight that turns a wineglass into a lamp, and a zero-emissions, solar-powered toy airplane.
reviewed
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Worn Out West
Left your gear at home? Pick up leathers, original-cut Levi's 501s, cockrings and tank tops at this old-school-Castro used-clothing store, and dress like a local. Good fetish wear at great prices. Not much for gals, alas.
reviewed
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My Roommate's Closet
All the half-off bargains and none of the clawing dangers of a sample sale. You'll find cloud-like Catherine Malandrino chiffon party dresses, executive Diane Von Furstenburg wrap dresses and designer denim at prices approaching reality.
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Best In Show
Your dog would be one proud puppy in that crystal collar and your cat tickled pink by the fuchsia faux-fur kitty couch. Give them George Bush squeak toys to chew or catnip-infused bubbles to chase, and they'll be blissed out like hippies c 1967.
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Lola of North Beach
Answers to all your SF gifting quandaries, from artsy souvenirs (ticket stub album for all those cleverly designed SF museum tickets) to Beatnik baby showers (onesies with a typewriter tapping out 'So my story begins…'), plus California-made soy travel candles that smell like sunshine.
reviewed
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Katsura Garden
For a little something special, consider a bonsai. Katsura Garden can set you up with a miniature juniper that looks like it grew on a windswept molehill, or a stunted maple that will shed five tiny, perfect red leaves next autumn.
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Hyde & Seek Antiques
Like the home of a long-lost eccentric aunt, this tiny storefront is full of surprises: a briefcase that opens to reveal a full tartan bar, a Danish-design silver calla lily, a Native basket more tightly wound than your boss – all at reasonable prices.
reviewed
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Fabric8
Pull into this Astro-turfed-garage-turned-indie-design-boutique for a Mission-style overhaul. Rings sprout tiny volcanic geodes and Muni buses find their wings on T-shirts, while soft-sculpture mushrooms just want to make friends. Don't miss the bathtub fish tank, the backyard sculpture gallery or gallery openings with Mission food carts.
reviewed
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Discolandia
The oldest Latin-music store in the Bay Area and as funky as ever, making passersby step in time with merengue, salsa and Tejano blasting out the door. Get yours on CD or vintage vinyl, and stock up on Spanish-language mags, adult comics and pulp fiction.
reviewed