Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no need to ever waste time with an Alcatraz visit unless you're particularly into old prisons.

Golden Gate Park is huge and you can easily spend a day there and at Ocean Beach. The museums within the park are great, as are the mini parks within the park.

a teen would enjoy alcatraz; a teen wouldn't enjoy museums as much unless they are really into old art, which most teens aren't. You are looking at this through an old person's eyes, not a teen's eyes.

The academy of arts and sciences is not ‘old art’. My teen girls and boys go there on their own often.

The De Young has changing exhibits so check to see if it’s up your alley.

Don’t miss the De Young, Botanical Gardens and Academy of Arts and Sciences! You can definitely spend the day there. There are good restaurants in the Inner Sunset and Inner Richmond near by the museums.

If you are in good shape pick a lunch restaurant in Pacific Heights or Russian Hill and go for a walk. The Marina district is nice too.

Giants stadium (I think it's called Oracle now) for a Giants game, if he's a foodie go to Ferry Building, yes to Alcatraz, go boating in Stowe Lake in GG Park, Wave Organ at the beach, brunch at Pancake Boy in Noe Valley.

Go to Club Fugazi in North Beach and see "Dear San Francisco" -- it's a great show and the neighborhood is very fun, with a variety of places to eat (may as well do Italian though!): https://www.clubfugazisf.com/dear-san-francisco

Dim sum or food tour and wander around in Chinatown (and Japantown though it's much smaller).

Old school, cheesy SF fun: eat dinner at the Tonga Room in the Fairmont.

When I was little we would celebrate birthdays with brunch (IIRC; could have been dinner) at the Top of the Mark (Mark Hopkins Hotel). Fantastic view. I remember one year, the chef gave my parents some massive bone from the carving station for our dog and 12yo me was mortified that we had to carry it home (wrapped, I'm sure, but I was embarrassed anyway).

Castro district

Hit up the Castro and see sausages on bikes.

Anonymous wrote:My older teens loved shopping on Haight St- Amoeba records and tons of thrift stores. Cal academy is close by in Golden Gate Park.

Loved Amoeba Records!!! If you go OP, stop at this restaurant called Parada 22.

Go to this cool place on the wharf! He will love it! Musee Mecanique! Also there is a penny candy barrel store nearby.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We were just in SF. Had a great time. We hung out in Chinatown, visited Alcatraz, went to the beach, saw Redwoods, enjoyed the cool weather, and ate a lot of great food.

Also, stories of SF’s demise are very exaggerated. It’s a big city and you do see some eye-opening things like homelessness, drug use and public urinating. While these things are sad and shouldn’t be discounted, what we saw was no different than what you see in most big cities on the U.S.

Sadly, they aren't.

Just in SF and we went everywhere without issue. It’s like any U.S. city, meaning there are rough pockets, but I never felt unsafe.

Anonymous wrote:We were just in SF. Had a great time. We hung out in Chinatown, visited Alcatraz, went to the beach, saw Redwoods, enjoyed the cool weather, and ate a lot of great food.

Also, stories of SF’s demise are very exaggerated. It’s a big city and you do see some eye-opening things like homelessness, drug use and public urinating. While these things are sad and shouldn’t be discounted, what we saw was no different than what you see in most big cities on the U.S.

Sadly, they aren't.

Anonymous wrote:Get on Bart and go to Berkeley

Why?

I really liked the cable car museum. It is small (and free) but it has some working cables going through it, cable cars on display and a nice little gift shop. My teens also enjoyed it too.

https://www.cablecarmuseum.org/info.html

We were just in SF. Had a great time. We hung out in Chinatown, visited Alcatraz, went to the beach, saw Redwoods, enjoyed the cool weather, and ate a lot of great food.

Also, stories of SF’s demise are very exaggerated. It’s a big city and you do see some eye-opening things like homelessness, drug use and public urinating. While these things are sad and shouldn’t be discounted, what we saw was no different than what you see in most big cities on the U.S.

Get on Bart and go to Berkeley

My older teens loved shopping on Haight St- Amoeba records and tons of thrift stores. Cal academy is close by in Golden Gate Park.