Hey Guys/Vetteheads,
Haven't posted here in a while.......sorry. Leavin for San Fransisco on wednesday night. First time in Calif. I've always wanted to go, so now I'm finall getting the chance. Can anyone direct me to some interesting attractions in that area. Also some vette or old car shops/dealers, car museums ect. Maybe cruise night locations? I promise I'll bring back pics. Thanks, L8TER, Paul.


[Modified by Vettesic, 8:45 PM 4/21/2003]

 

Trace the route Bullitt took :yesnod:

 

I just got back from SF this afternoon. I can't direct you to any "Car" things but the city is a favorite on my list. I went with the family as our daughter was out of school for Easter vacation. We stayed on *** Hill. It's a perfect location for the Warf, China Town and the cable cars. We only had 5 days but packed quite a bit in. Our daughter had a blast. It's tough to please a 13 year old. Take warm clothes as it is always cool and windy in the city. For a nice taste of SF, I would ride the cable cars, go to the warf, spend a day in Napa and Sanoma and see a play called "Beach Blanket Babylon" at club Fugazi. It's been running for like 25 years and I think it sells out every performance. A tour of Anchor brewing is fun. The tasting at the end is well worth the visit.

 

You are driving from NY to CA? Wish I could do a road trip like that. Sigh, maybe when I retire. Have a great trip and keep us posted on how it goes. Good Luck! :cheers: :flag

 

SanFran ain't too car friendly, considering the lack of/cost of parking. Having a nice car in the city, without secured parking is a bad idea. A nice ride is bound to get trashed, broken into, stolen or dinged (all in the same day!).

You can take buses, trolley's & taxi's everywhere. A car is a liability.

The Petersen Automotive Museum in LA might be worth a side-trip. On 5/3/2003 they are hosting "Corvette Day" for the 50th Anniv.

D. Ocean
Miami, FLA

 

Hi Paul :seeya

What ever you do....STAY AWAY from the ghey area's :p:

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

I grew up near SF, and I have to disagree with that :blueangel:. While its very hard to park there (as with any dense city), public transportation is not good either unless you plan out everything carefully, and just go to the tourist areas. Its not like DC or something where you can flag down a cab anytime you want. Almost everyone living there has a car (or a few), which should indicate something. And if you want to go to Napa or whatever, you need a car (at least a rental).

As for cars getting trashed, I don't know. You'll see $100k+ cars all over the place (996TT, SL55, SL600,...). Lower model Mercedes, BMW's, and Porsches are about as common as Hondas in the rest of the country, and they seem ok. Just make sure your parking brake works :D :thumbs: .

 

Have fun in the City... Parking bdoes stink. I actually never drive the vette into the city proper, may be the Sunset district, beach, but not in the financial district.

Lots of high end cars but parking is a premium downtown. Never park on the street downtown.

You will like it.

 

As for stuff to do, the Marin Headlands are very beautiful (mountain on the other side of the Golden Gate). Driving along the coast in general is very nice.

Many of the roads on the coast an in for example West Marin (Marin is the county above SF btw) are great for testing out your car's handling if you're so inclined.

 

Tons of great hills to catch air on :D Dont forget to visit The Rock (take the island tour) and the GG bridge.

 

Always great cruising Santa Cruz Boardwalk area in the Vette. :)

Blackhawk Auto museum ain't too far away: http://www.blackhawkauto.org/autocol...n/autocf1.html

Lombard Street :)



(sorry don't have a C3 on Lombard, but will have to settle with Eclipses)
-terry

 

My fiance and I go there all the time. It's a fun weekend getaway. There are basically different theme's in different parts of the city, like Epcot or somthing!

The Haight is hippy town, fun to check out and only really takes a few hours with lots of 'specialty' stores. Union Square and the Wharf has shopping and the very touristy attractions (watch out for the guy hiding in the bushes). Of course Chinatown and Japantown (there seems to be a bit of hostility between the two ;) ). And Cow Hollow or Union Street has great cafe's as well as Broadway with little Italy. Where ever you go there, I highly recommend avoiding any kind of corporate commercial venture as the locally owned places have so much more character. And eat at a sidewalk cafe whenever possible.

There is also Golden Gate park, but I hear that is a sliver of land compared to central park, so it might not be worth the effort. I also enjoy the SF museum of modern art. Always some big name artist on display, usually with a bit of funk. And if you want to be disturbed, drive thru the castro on a sunny afternoon. The folks there are a show unto themselves. Fort Point give a good view of the Golden Gate Bridge from below and it is a short walk up to the sidewalk and you can walk across if you like.

As far as auto specific stuff...forget it. Unless you know your way around, driving in the city sucks. Last time I parked there over night the parking attendant put my car below the sickest bunch of pigeons that ever lived:mad

Chris

 

You GREW UP near SanFran? Isn't that special. You're like 18, no? You're still "growing up". Got your CA driver's license at 16, left for college at 18. Hmm...that's well over 1.5 years of hard driving/parking experience I figure...

I lived in SanFran while in the military. Having a car in the city S-U-C-K-E-D! My car (a Honda Civic) was broken into (I began leaving the windows rolled down all the time), dinged, scratched, towed, ticketed and eventually stolen. I took buses or taxi's everywhere. The only time a car was required was to get out of the city (e.g. trip to Wal-Mart, auto parts store, Napa Valley, etc). Renting a car would have been more economicially practical.

Yes, you do see some big $$$ cars, but you don't see them parked at a meter or in some parking garage run by a greasy-fingered odiferous foreigner. The guys with the rides can afford to park in the "nice" garages @ $30 ~ $50 a pop. A booger-eating slob (like me and others similarly situated) has to settle for the street or the $20 garages.

D. Ocean
Miami, FLA


[Modified by 74FLCONV, 10:03 PM 4/22/2003]

 

74FLCONV,
Settle down. I didn't mean to offend. I figured you only visited once or something, and got an unfair impresssion. I only have a year of personal driving experience, but I have most of life sitting with my parents driving around for "collateral experience." I also have the opinions of friends and family who have lived in various places to draw from. I'm not going back on what I said though. I just think you had an unusually poor time there.

I don't know anything about Ft. Lauderdale, but SF is a real city. Its hard to park, there are often traffic jams, buses cut you off, you should avoid the wrong side of town, etc. From what everyone tells me (since you don't trust my own immature opinion), SF is far nicer in these ways than say, Chicago, NYC, or DC. You CAN get around on public transportation if you go to only the famous areas, but that's eventually boring IMO. I would agree that renting a car is a good compromise.

Other people here don't seem to have such a negative opinion of SF, so I doubt its just me...


[Modified by aharte, 9:57 AM 4/23/2003]

 

OK Guys.....You've came through as usual. To answer the first few replys...no, I'm not driving cross country. Although it would be cool to do. I printed out all these great sugesstions and will use them as a guide. Thanks Bros. Talk to ya when I get back to NY. L8TER, Paul.

 

Wow!
I have to agree with aharte on this one. My wife and I have probably driven one of our Corvettes up to San Francisco 150 times in the last 10 years......really! If it's a nice sunny day I'll park the car on a downtown street, top down, alarm on. NEVER had a problem. Don't forget how tourist based this city is. If there 100 people on the sidewalk you can bet 99 of them are visiting from another city. S.F. is a very user friendly city, used to lots of pedestrian traffic at all times of the day and night. I've also used the public transit there and found it pretty accomodating for a large American city.
Enjoy your trip to San Francisco, maybe we'll see you there!
Greg

 

What is 74FLCONV's problem? every time I see one of his posts he is putting someone down or trying to impress someone. doesn't he understand the Forum attitude?

 

Then he'll never get to meet you Dawg!

:D

 

Apparently not...

Trying to impress whom? You?

D. Ocean
Miami, FLA

 

I do not have a negative opinion of SF. It was/is a great place to live...just wouldn't want to own a car there again!

D. Ocean
Miami, FLA