Orientation

Visitor Information

The San Francisco Visitor Information Center, on the lower level of Hallidie Plaza, 900 Market St., at Powell Street (tel. 415/391-2000; www.onlyinsanfrancisco.com), has brochures, discount coupons, and advice on restaurants, sights, and events in the city; their website offers an incredible amount of information as well. The on-site staff can provide answers in German, Japanese, French, Italian, and Spanish. To find the office, descend the escalator at the cable car turnaround. The office is open Monday through Friday from 9am to 5pm, and Saturday and Sunday from 9am to 3pm, May through October. However, it is closed on Sundays during winter and Easter, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day. Phones are answered in person Monday through Friday only. Otherwise, dial tel. 415/391-2001 any time, day or night, for a recorded message about current cultural events, theater, music, sports, and other special happenings.

Pick up a copy of the Bay Guardian (www.sfbg.com) or the S.F. Weekly (www.sfweekly.com), the city's free alternative papers, to get listings of all city happenings. You'll find them in kiosks throughout the city and in most cafes.

For specialized information on Chinatown's shops and services, and on the city's Chinese community in general, contact the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, 730 Sacramento St. (tel. 415/982-3000), open daily from 9am to 5pm.

City Layout

San Francisco occupies the tip of a 32-mile peninsula between San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. Its land area measures about 46 square miles, although the city is often referred to as being 7 square miles. At more than 900 feet high, towering Twin Peaks (which are, in fact, two neighboring peaks), mark the geographic center of the city and make a great place to take in a vista of San Francisco.

With lots of one-way streets, San Francisco might seem confusing at first, but it will quickly become easy to negotiate. The city's downtown streets are arranged in a simple grid pattern, with the exceptions of Market Street and Columbus Avenue, which cut across the grid at right angles to each other. Hills appear to distort this pattern, however, and can disorient you. As you learn your way around, the hills will become your landmarks and reference points.

Main Arteries & Streets -- Market Street is San Francisco's main thoroughfare. Most of the city's buses travel this route on their way to the Financial District from the outer neighborhoods to the west and south. The tall office buildings clustered downtown are at the northeast end of Market; 1 block beyond lies The Embarcadero and the bay.

The Embarcadero -- an excellent strolling, skating, and biking route (thanks to recent renovations) -- curves along San Francisco Bay from south of the Bay Bridge to the northeast perimeter of the city. It terminates at Fisherman's Wharf, the famous tourist-oriented pier. Aquatic Park, Fort Mason, and Golden Gate National Recreation Area are on the northernmost point of the peninsula.

From the eastern perimeter of Fort Mason, Van Ness Avenue runs due south, back to Market Street. The area just described forms a rough triangle, with Market Street as its southeastern boundary, the waterfront as its northern boundary, and Van Ness Avenue as its western boundary. Within this triangle lie most of the city's main tourist sights.

Finding an Address -- Because most of the city's streets are laid out in a grid pattern, finding an address is easy when you know the nearest cross street. Numbers start with 1 at the beginning of the street and proceed at the rate of 100 per block. When asking for directions, find out the nearest cross street and your destination's neighborhood, but be careful not to confuse numerical avenues with numerical streets. Numerical avenues (Third Ave. and so on) are in the Richmond and Sunset districts in the western part of the city. Numerical streets (Third St. and so on) are south of Market Street in the east and south parts of town.