Breakthrough shows launch at this turn-of-the-century landmark, which has hosted ACT's productions of Tony Kushner's Angels in America and Robert Wilson's Black Rider, with William S Burroughs' libretto and music by Tom Waits. Major playwrights like Tom Stoppard, Dustin Lance Black and Eve Ensler premiere work here, while the ACT's newer Strand Theater stages more experimental works.
American Conservatory Theater
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
4.05 MILES
When Frederick Law Olmsted, architect of New York's Central Park, gazed in 1865 upon the plot of land San Francisco Mayor Frank McCoppin wanted to turn…
2.36 MILES
Was it the fall of 1966 or the winter of ’67? As the Haight saying goes, if you can remember the Summer of Love, you probably weren’t here. The fog was…
0.59 MILES
If you look close today at the clinker-brick buildings lining these narrow backstreets, past the temple balconies jutting out over bakeries, acupuncture…
0.77 MILES
No one could have predicted the cultural force City Lights would become when it first opened in 1953. Sure, it had a proletarian ethos suggested by its…
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
0.52 MILES
When the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art expanded in 2016, it was a mind-boggling feat that nearly tripled the institution's size to accommodate a…
1.11 MILES
If you want to really see San Francisco, head to Coit Tower, a 1933 art deco beaut designed by Arthur Brown, Jr. and Henry Howard that sits high up on…
4.07 MILES
Few cities boast a structure so iconic as the Golden Gate Bridge, commemorated in everything from films like The Maltese Falcon to not one but two emojis…
2.08 MILES
Welcome to San Francisco's sunny side, the land of street ball and Mayan-pyramid playgrounds, semiprofessional tanning and taco picnics. Although the…
Nearby Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa attractions
0.1 MILES
San Francisco's infamous, secretive men's club was originally founded by bonafide bohemians – but they couldn't afford the upkeep and allowed the ultra…
2. Glide Memorial United Methodist Church
0.14 MILES
When the rainbow-robed Glide gospel choir enters singing their hearts out, the 2000-plus congregation erupts in cheers, hugs and dance moves. Raucous…
0.17 MILES
High-end stores ring Union Sq now, but this people-watching plaza has been a hotbed of protest, from pro-Union Civil War rallies to AIDS vigils. Atop the…
0.21 MILES
When Timothy Pflueger’s radical design was revealed on Union Sq in 1948, SF society was shocked: San Francisco’s flagship clothing store appeared…
0.22 MILES
This 1904 stone building survived the 1906 earthquake and retains its original character, notwithstanding the Gap flagship downstairs. Upstairs,…
6. Ruth Asawa's San Francisco Fountain
0.22 MILES
Covered in local landmarks and colorful SF characters – burlesque icon Carol Doda, psychedelic rockers Jefferson Airplane, protesters declaring themselves…
7. Powell St Cable Car Turnaround
0.22 MILES
Peek through the passenger queue at Powell and Market Sts to spot cable-car operators leaping out, gripping the chassis of each trolley and slooowly…
0.22 MILES
A 26-story deco dental building fit for the gods, this 1929 Mayan-revival stone skyscraper has a lobby covered floor to ceiling with cast-bronze snakes…