Day 1 – 5/27
I finally visited San Fransisco on my own terms. I had been looking forward to this vacation – especially checking out the cool restaurants and wineries in the area. Last time I was in San Fransisco was probably ‘98 – back during the Dot-Com boom (and with my parents).
I flew in from Boston on the 27th and landed around 10:00 PM. I had booked my stay at the Pacific Tradewinds hostel – I’m a budget traveler and considering the location (Chinatown/North Beach) and the price ($27/night) it was a deal that could not be beat. The atmosphere is a typical hostel, filled with young European travelers and a very budget/crunchy-hippy vibe. Most of the people were between 18 and 24, staying in San Fran for a few days before heading on to other areas. I didn’t spend time getting to know anyone at the hostel, this was more of a solo trip for me and I planned on seeing as much and eating out at as many restaurants as possible (not the typical budget traveler itinerary).
After check-in, I got some recommendations for some bars in the surrounding area and headed out. First impressions of San Fransisco – this town is dead during the weeknights – this would be a recurring theme during the rest of my stay and something that differed from my expectations. I never thought anything special of the Boston nightlife, but I have to say that at least back home you could walk into most bars and find a decent crowd of people. In San Fransisco, the majority of bars (and the city itself) were dead during the week nights. Most bars had between 3 – 10 people inside, most were there to eat food and by 11:00 the city looked deserted.
Unfortunately I didn’t bring my camera with me, so no pictures. I needed up visiting Vesuvio, a pretty cool beatnik bar with a storied history, and the Grant & Green Saloon, a local live music spot that was highly recommended by the hostel staff. I loved Vesuvio, it had a lot of character and made me immediately regret leaving my camera at the hostel (I did make sure to revisit over the next few days with my camera in tow). Grant & Green seemed like a typical live music spot, actually it seemed pretty over hyped and nothing to write home about. I stayed for a couple of drinks but turned in, deciding it better to get an early start the next day.