With just two days to see the sights, an open top bus tour is just the ticket. Our guide, Melissa, wears purple lipstick and grips the microphone as though she’s hosting her own talk show.
We start off in Union Square, full of colourful lanterns and dominated by department store Macy’s. Winding through the city, the bus rumbles into the gritty Tenderloin, an area traditionally rife with drugs and crime. It’s a place for the city’s down and outs, and is one of the most densely populated areas on the West Coast.
Some say the Tenderloin gets its name from the fact it is the soft underbelly of the city, while others attribute it to a New York police officer, who on being transferred there, was able to afford tenderloin instead of chuck steak thanks to the number of bribes he could solicit. Melissa, of course, is in favour of the latter story.
We peer out at lines of people reading, smoking, or just sitting as they wait for shelters or soup kitchens to open.
As we roll out of the district, Melissa’s commentary switches to that universal topic: rental prices. A modest two-bedroom townhouse in the city is out of reach for most people, she tells us, and many workers commute from across the bay. Being from real estate-obsessed Auckland, we nod sympathetically.
As we climb past Alamo Square, excitement grows. “Ladies and gentlemen, on your left… the painted ladies!” cries Melissa. The Victorian rowhouses that once dominated TV show Full House’s opening credits come into view. Melissa informs us that one was recently on the market for $4.6 million.
“Can you imagine the Tanners being able to afford that?” she asks.
The 1960s are well over, but something of the decade remains in Haight-Ashbury, a haven for artists, writers and addicts, and the scars of the worst effects of the era are still visible.
While wildly painted vintage clothing stores, record shops and independent cafés and book stores line Haight Street, a number of homeless, drug-addled people wander about.
Some look like they’ve been around since the 1960s, others are young. They wearily push shopping trolleys and gather outside McDonald’s.
Once a week, Melissa tells us, there are free food stalls at the end of Haight Street for whoever needs them. This sort of initiative is true to San Francisco’s liberal spirit, as the first city in the US to offer universal healthcare.
Next up is the Golden Gate Bridge. At regular intervals there are what look like pay phones. Melissa explains that as so many people attempt to jump off the bridge each year, crisis hotlines have been installed should they have second thoughts.
After racing back across the bridge, we get off at Fisherman’s Wharf. The sun lights the sea and waterfront buildings, and everyone seems to be on holiday in this gorgeous but honest city that isn’t afraid to show its darker side.
GETTING THERE
Air New Zealand flies direct from Auckland to San Francisco.
WHAT TO DO
Take a hop-on hop-off bus tour, enjoy a walk through Chinatown and Little Italy, and walk up the famously zigzagging Lombard Street.
WHERE TO STAY
Omni San Francisco Hotel is located in the heart of the city. See omnihotels.com
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