San Francisco Hotels

I mean I guess esp at night there's no denying that the area is gonna feel pretty sketchy to a tourist.

re SOMA:

6th Street between Market and Mission is skid row. Any hotel within a 1-2 block radius I'd define as "sketchy" if you're not familiar with street cretin/urchin-ry.

Got it. If I knew the city it would be ok, but maybe not the best idea for intro to SF as a single female.

haha yeah probably not

stayed at the grant plaza a few weeks ago. great service, great location. had some in-laws in tow who didn't fully appreciate the uh rustic charms but def. recommend to average ilxor (they're renovating as we speak, to hear them tell it)

looking at tripadvisor maps, Grosvenor Suites and Mosser Hotel appear to be the better locations of the top 10.

NB: I've never been to or heard of these hotels!

Yeah Mosser and Grant both seem good options - also good deal on Andrew's, mentioned upthread, if it has availability (its website says it does, tripadvisor says it doesn't)

yeah the grant plaza is a pretty ideal tourist location

but really, anything north of market street that isn't the tenderloin is gonna be safe and really walkable, so I wouldn't overpay for a good location.

I'm actually heading there from a conference in San Diego (planning 1 day/night in SD after the conf). I have a week free. Should I (using buses):

a) stop in LA on the way up for one night (NB no car but hear public transport not as impossible as it seems)
b) spend all 5 nights in SF
c) spend 1 or more nights away from SF but nearby (NB lone traveller and get bored easily if things are too bucolic)
d) stay longer in SD

I know, I've gone off-topic.

iatee, great location advice summary - thanks.

b maybe c

one day in LA w/ no car and not knowing what you're doing isn't gonna be so great.

if c there's lots of options. berkeley/oakland day maybe.

marin is awesome but better with a car. napa or sonoma'd be fun if you're into wine. south bay sucks avoid it.

I'd really only consider 6th to be sketchy. I mean I guess there are surrounding areas (mainly market past 6th) would be kind of sketchy but on the whole SOMA is less sketchy than the tenderloin.

aforementioned hotel is 7th and mission, I think that's plenty sketch at night

Only thing about taking one night elsewhere is how much time you're going to lose checking into/out of hotels and travelling.

There's plenty to do and see in SF to fill up five days if you take things easy, IMO.

^^^^ why an east bay day is probably the best option for a car-less tourist, cause you can just keep your sf hotel and take BART across the bay for a day. but still, def more than enough to do in sf.

Thanks for reviving this thread - my parents are visiting in Jan as well so I'm looking for cheap hotels for them (Holiday Inn - Civic Center- seemed pretty cheap, but no idea how decent that is). There are also cute guesthouses in places other than downtown but these are expensive and probably not worth it if you have no reason to experience the residential areas.

Last year I stayed at the King George hotel (http://www.kinggeorge.com) because it was central and pretty cheap. Wasn't luxury at all but had a diner next door for breakfast and good basic service.

Wouldn't bother stopping in LA for one night, unless you just want to spend a day in Santa Monica or whatever. We did it without a car and although not impossible to get around, it took absolutely ages to get anywhere.

Another SF hotel I really liked is the Oceanview: http://www.oceanviewmotelsf.com/ The catch is that it's way over in the Sunset District near the SF Zoo and the SW corner of Golden Gate Park. It's in front of a MUNI stop though and the neighborhood is very quiet in the evening.

ljubljana - LA is too much of a sprawl to deal with in one day. Go with option b and a little of c and wave at the LA ILXors as you pass overhead.

i had a nice experience with the andrews hotel that is mentioned upthread. good location a couple blocks from union square

Thanks very much all. I'm definitely going with option b/c. I'll probably book the King George if I'm feeling cheap (100 dollar saving on the others over 5 nights), otherwise Andrews if I can get it or the Carlton. Will let you know... will make an appearance on yer fapping thread as well. Is this the one to use?

oh no wait, Carlton/Vertigo = edge of Tenderloin. OK then so King George or Andrews or maybe Grant Plaza

Mosser seems nice enough from the outside and is conveniently located wrt BART/Union Square/SFMOMA/Yerba Buena/LOL Westfield (knock it if you want but two Beard Papas in two blocks is worth something).

Ahaha, after all that it looks like a friend of a friend and his family (who I last saw 17 years ago) now lives there and wants to put me up. Not a done deal yet though and I don't know what part of town they're in. Our mutual friend just said it had a high Chinese population (but I don't think it was actually Chinatown).

Thing with mutual friend worked out. 1500s block of 20th Ave. What area does that count as?

It's kind of awkward. I'm very grateful but in some ways would rather have the bliss of my own hotel room. But I'm sure it'll be fiiiiine.

that is on Fulton right next to the park. it's definitely the Richmond district, maybe middle-Richmond more specifically? It's pretty residential but allows you to take advantage of the nature: direct access to the park and the beach is only about 25 blocks west of there.

you have a few small neighborhood shops on the 3 "ABC" blocks north of there (Anza, Balboa, Cabrillo) before you get to the bigger streets like Geary and Clement which will have tons of shops, cafes, restaurants.

The 5 Fulton will get you downtown if you don't feel like huffing it a few blocks to Geary and the 38 (or the 38X express) will get you downtown much faster.

Thanks Steve. It's nice to know roughly where I'm heading and how to move about.

Our mutual friend just said it had a high Chinese population (but I don't think it was actually Chinatown).

― ljubljana, Saturday, November 28, 2009 3:33 PM (1 month ago)

haha, welcome to SF! There was an article in today's paper that stated that more than 100,000 Chinese residents are undocumented due to poor census penetration and that Chinese are already the majority ethnic group measured at over 30%.

The 5 Fulton also crosses the major arteries of Masonic and Divisadero (leaving you 6 blocks from the Upper Haight and seven from the Western End of the Lower Height/one block from Nopa, respectively) goes by the Painted Ladies and, at Laguna or Octavia, leaves you 5 blocks away from the center of Hayes Valley, before it passes by our lovely beaux-arts Civic Center. It's a cool bus. I bet Steve takes it a good deal. I do but it's not quite as close to my place as the Haight Street buses.

I bet Steve takes it a good deal.

I actually don't pubtrans much (velo bicyclette!) but if I go that way I take the 21. Jblujlama: The 5 is more frequent and the 38 has possibly the highest frequency of all muni, the 38X Express stops at every 3rd stop in "the avenues" then every other stop once you approach downtown.

Fulton & 20th is not far from the Presidio either for more natural beauty (Land's End, Baker Beach, GGB)

I kind of hate the 38, though. I mean, if you're on Geary, fine, but otherwise...

Ha, this mutual friend is Russian, and this was his first time in the US. But I was equally naive about the high level of Chinese immigration.

Also, thanks for my first ever xtra display name.

ljubljana, hope you enjoy your stay.

also, interesting fact: the first city in the US with a majority asian population is only 45 minutes south.

San Jose?

If anyone is interested in fapping on 13 or 14 Jan give me a shout - but realise it's pretty short notice.

haha, my ignorance of slovenian capitals is on full display.

how slovenly

"I kind of hate the 38, though. I mean, if you're on Geary, fine, but otherwise..."

It's a hassle, but there are worse buses. But both the 5 Fulton and the 31 Balboa are better and closer.

The express buses (Geary or whatever) are great btw if you want to go straight to the Financial District during rush hour though.

Milpitas, of all places, is 52% Asian. and that's only the official census.

tabletto, if you can get from SF to milpitas in 45 minutes, can i hire you as a full-time driver?

Thanks for all the info - had a great time. Turned out the 1500 block of 20th is in Sunset, so I used the N to get into town, which was very easy. I salute your city, and worryingly I especially liked the popped-collar parts of it! Didn't like the Haight-Ashbury though. It creeped me out.

did you go at night? the haight is pretty innocent, just sorta crusty

No, daytime, and it was a weekday... probably not the best time to go. It seemed kind of jaded rather than innocent - maybe 'creeped me out' is the wrong phrase. Depressed me a bit.

okay yeah it is pretty jaded

Cliff House on the other hand was pretty ecstatic-making.

The Marina popped-collar part is o_0 but I can't really argue with diggin' Sea Cliff.

Thinking about maybe coming up for NYE. We usually stay at the Grant Plaza, but it wasn't so great last time around. Where is good now? Don't mind paying a little more if place is nice/well-situated.

Guess downtown wld be convenient because we want E Bay access too.

I really miss SF though

I like the outer sunset and richmond. If i were to ever move to SF (I never will) I wouldn't mind living out there, I like the ocean, the fog, the lack of sunlight, the relative lack of crowdedness. but living in west berkeley near Oakland I'm honestly probably closer to downtown SF than if I lived out there. it takes me 25 minutes to get to work.

yes to what sarah said. it is like living in the suburbs! also the houses are quaint. those are some of the only places in SF that still feel like the SF of 30 years ago.

you except for the fact that the houses still cost 2.5 million dollars.

xp, always best to take a sweater or fleece when traveling around SF. I do think the weather here is great, though, sun or fog. You can walk for hours around the city and not feel uncomfortable. I was in NY last week and it was so hot and humid it was unbearable to be out in the sun for any significant length of time

You can walk for hours around the city and not feel uncomfortable.

except when it's pouring pissing rain

but it never rains in the Bay Area!
They told me the day I arrived in a hurricane

yes, it's 100% why I like the 6 months from mid April to mid October so much more than the other 6 months!

it is DAN

Fun to see in the Westin St. Francis lobby - there are hotel photos Ansel Adams took for hire for the hotel's architects in the 1930s.

that's an incredible hotel

I didn't actually want to kill all the people there

Given that my sis lives in the Inner Sunset, I appreciate the clarification.

Westin St Francis is where that Fatty Arbuckle party with the dead hooker went down. The rooms are small af unless you're $$$$.

Presumably he was

St. Francis also traditionally where GOP presidents stay when in SF (Democrats stay at the Fairmont)

also your police department is better at avoiding get caught having sex with underage women

― sarahell, Tuesday, July 25, 2017 2:18 PM (yesterday)

on the other hand ...
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/SF-Police-officer-arrested-on-child-pornography-11438413.php

On my visits I've stayed at the Stanyan Park (in the Haight but not necessarily of it - oriented more toward GG Park). And, as a splurge, the Sir Francis Drake (fun bar in the sky).