San Francisco and what to do in it

I've never had a car and lived in cities all my adult life, the Muni is great (and cheap) compared to most and although slow I wouldn't get a car just on that basis. Mind you I haven't tried it in rush hour yet, and I imagine taking a kid + grocery shopping is stressful enough to fork out for a taxi. That's not to say they shouldn't improve all that stuff they mention in the article, esp bus lanes. The 24-Divisadero is *painful* - stop at traffic lights - move 10 meters - stop at bus stop - move 20m - stop at traffic lights - move 10 meters - get in hilarious Muni fight - argghhh

mmm Kung Fu Tacos. I approve

I have semi-regular appts in Laurel Village, and coming back when I get out of the bus on California or Post (depending on what westbound bus I get on Cal), I've started not even bothering w/the bus and just walking down Divis which is a pleasant enough walk and frankly more pleasant than that stretch of bus and about the same amount of time.

24 Divisadero is the worst bus (possibly in the universe) in terms of timeliness. I regularly walk from California/Divis to Castro/Noe without seeing a single bus on the horizon.

Plus, even if you do get a bus, it tends to be full. I do take it to Noe Valley, though. I just don't do the Divis corridor.

Surprised the MUNI has that bad a rap. Living in Dallas all my life, functional mass transit was like spotting my first unicorn.

It's a very mixed bag, but yeah I think most people acknowledge that even at its worst it's still pretty great despite too often being needlessly slow and unreliable.

milo, even w/ all the aggros, the crazies, the taggers, the delays, etc..., you're talking about a city that's 7x7 miles squared and highly conctrated toward the eastern side of the city; it might suck but your trip is unlikely to suck for very long.

hey i am going to be in this city on thursday! for a few days, then driving up the coast w/ friend. i haven't been to SF since 1994! o_O
i guess i will figure out what to do in it!

That's why I'm surprised - I thought MUNI did a good job the two weeks I was there last year. The only time I had to grab a cab was making it to a Giants game when my girlfriend was slow getting ready.

you're talking about a city that's 7x7 miles squared and highly conctrated toward the eastern side of the city; it might suck but your trip is unlikely to suck for very long.

otm - w/ the exception of really, really long trips, I just walk everywhere in sf. muni's sorta *allowed* to suck because of the 7x7 thing.

I find it highly functional and I use it all the time if I'm not just walking.

rrobyn, have fun. Are you fapping with any of the autochtones?

also, a lot of out of towners forget the topographical diversity of SF, it's hard to run subways into areas with extreme hills imo. which is why cable cars, LRVs and streetcars still make sense.

From where I live, I can do the haight, hayes valley, the mission and the castro on foot, easily get downtown via several MUNI options and get over to the marina via the 22. It's very rare for me to drive and it's an excellent city in which to walk and I like my 'hood a lot and mostly hang around here.

hard but not *impossible*

xp

i haven't made any FAP plans, as this is somewhat impromtu and i've been busy, but that would be fun :)

i look fwd to taking your public transit system regardless

Well, yeah, there are plenty of tunnels in MUNI's light rail system.

xpost

so, what does ilx think of central subway?

that's a part of town i'm rarely in (mostly caters to tourists) but is a notable area of fare-dodging (and muni fights!). so it may be good for city revenues, at least in the long run.

I take it home every day.

xpost

mwhite, meant this one:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Subway

Oh, duh. Right. As we increasingly ask vehicular traffic to give way downtown, I can't help but think that any underground Public transport relief can'' be but a good thing and since it would serve an important and dense corridor.

it's more the opportunity cost that's the issue, I think. I mean, if this is the first step for a line that one day gets to north beach, and from there sneaks up to the presidio, okay, that's something pretty useful. but for the time being...transit to chinatown?

I am pro-any public transportation, but if I had 2 billion to spend on sf transit...

If you've ever spent any time on any of the Stockton St buses...

I haven't! because anything in that area is a 5 minute walk imo

my pet project would prolly be light-rail up van ness or geary

yeah is there really that much traffic between 4th and King and Chinatown...? That seems like a random route to me... but maybe there are lots of people taking Caltrains that want to get to Chinatown.

getting Muni light rail out on the northwest end of town seems like the more pressing/no-brainer option

I wouldn't spend any money on single rail trains.

my pet project would prolly be light-rail up van ness or geary

Van Ness is also a Fed highway for better or for worse and I'm kind of with you on Geary

yeah is there really that much traffic between 4th and King and Chinatown...? That seems like a random route to me... but maybe there are lots of people taking Caltrains that want to get to Chinatown.

i think the underlying issue with the central subway is:

(1) better enforcing the 30-Stockton to Powell BART which has rampant fare-dodging, I think that one of the big reveals of the last SFMTA study was that route has the double distinction of the lowest yield of fares with one of the highest capacity riderships. Not sure if you've ever been on this bus but if you have, you know what i'm not talking about.

(2) 4th & King direct via Powell is better/frequent BART connector to the baseball stadium and with rumors that the Warriors are heading back to SF to a new arena adjacent to AT&T Park so this would help streamline traffic to the sporting events (and CalTrain) from downtown rather than the T/N trains which get a little wonky when they have to disengage from/to auto-pilot.

i have not read the wiki just all imho so if you disagree fuk u.

I was just about to post my reasons for hating the idea, but those are both pretty solid arguments for it.

Main reason I hate the idea is because it's such a short walk. I used to take the 30/45 to work near 4th and King every morning, and those buses are completely empty before/after Mission (depending on if it's in our outbound.

seems like a huge waste to stop at Chinatown. Would love to see it go up under Columbus and threw Marina to Presidio or something. Agree with iatee that the Richmond is also in serious need of some transit <3. a subway following Geary out to the coast would be great for those areas.

i have not read the wiki just all imho so if you disagree fuk u.

lol luv ya Shasta don't ever change

http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/Muni-F-line-extension-faces-setback-92155354.html

whoa... i mean, i'm no fan of that side of the city but holy shit, how the fuck will those old F-cars go up the Ft. Mason hill w/ no cables? wau @ all that.

Those PCC cars are pretty tough, they were running in Pittsburgh until at least the end of the 90s and theres some pretty big hills on the T.

The PCCs I'm not worried about, it's the orange Milanese ones that can barely make it up Market between Gough and Laguna. Although.... I have seen some of them climbing the Dolores Park J-Church route which is probably the same as the Ft. Mason hill so maybe I should just shut up now.

Okay ILX, DON'T FAIL ME NOW... awhile back my wife intimated that all she wants for mother's day is Korean BBQ. since I can't line up a babysitter for Sunday, this means I need to find somewhere decent that will deliver in the Mission. Anyone got any recommendations?

havent had korean in the city yet -- seoul house in downtown oakland is shabby but v good next time youre hungry in the east bay, though...

Is there even Korean in the Mission?

there's some shitty Korean in the Mission, my hope is there's somewhere farther afield that will deliver (or that I can pick up)

There's Playground in Japantown, but I doubt they deliver (maybe Waiters on Wheels or something would though). All the other Korean I know is in my neighborhood which seems too far to drive there and back for.

Delivering KBBQ is kinda hard because KBBQ is all about the diners interactively cooking their meats on the open charcoal flame... your best bet for true KBBQ to go would be something like the "Mountain of Meat" from Hahn's Hibachi (sic, no hibachi's used at Hahn's). However... I have a better idea, the KBBQ sandwich from Rhea's deli in the Mission is really great and they deliver... but definitely not to be confused with a place like Brothers in the Richmond or Juban in J-town.

yeah I know KBBQ is really all about the dining experience but my options are limited here...

kbbq isn't very hard to do yourself if you have any korean grocery stores near you

the KBBQ sandwich from Rhea's deli in the Mission is really great and they deliver.

? I thought this place was a liquor store

it was until a few months ago, now it is like 'OMG BEST SANDWICH' type place, and also still a liquor store. i think the sandwiches are just all right, though they are monstrously large for the price, and their fake chicken sandwich is miles above most places i've had similar sandwiches. the meat stuff is just eh...anyway, they don't have a menu online, but if you go in you can get a take-out thing...

weird

otoh don't think my wife would be impressed that I procured her mother's day dinner from a liquor store

their kimchi is really fucking good.

Uh you are getting Korean take out food. . . how impressed is she likely to be either way?

depends on where it's from/how quality it is, of course!

But the very def. of Korean bbq kind of precludes getting best quality take out fare as Steve points out.