San Francisco Haight/Ashbury

It’s still a nice neighborhood but it has a lot of millionaires and baby strollers and Teslas so be careful. I operate lots of the machines at Free Gold Watch and I don’t have to do that — I have an awesome, busy, real job in SF. I do it because it’s the greatest place to play pinball on the planet. It’s a welcoming community within a welcoming community. Say hi if you see me in a machine!

if youre going to san francisco
be sure to wear some flowers in your hair
summertime will be a love-in there
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I love Free Gold Watch. You will too. I go there whenever I'm in the City with some time to spare. The surrounding neighborhood is perfectly fine- young couples, dinks, some urban wealthy.
A few blocks away is your Haight- Ashbury. I've driven through there a lot, but never had the urge to walk around. More eclectic, kinda artsy, maybe trying too hard to live up to its former self. But I don't see dangerous, especially at 2 in the afternoon.

We stayed in an airBnB there last year, a couple of blocks of Haight. On the fringes of Haight St for a couple of blocks there are a bunch of people with their pet dogs and no home (or toilet) but even around them we never felt unsafe. Everywhere else is very gentrified.

Free gold watch is great.

So don't worry about Haight-Ashbury. If you want to freak your new brother out, suggest meeting him at Mission /16th St BART station.

I've never felt unsafe in that area. Los Altos hills is *the* most expensive area to
live in the SF Bay area so suspect his judgement is a bit jaded.

Some things to do in SF: Musee Mechanique on Fishermans warf. Pins and
arcade games but far more interesting are the nickelodeons. Just behind
that is the USS Pampanita which is a WWII submarine. Wandering around
China Town and exploring the food and shops is a blast.

Have a great time. SF is a great city to walk around in. Golden Gate park
is one of the best in the country IMO.
Steve

Your brand new kid brother don't get out much.

Pretty sure last time I was at the Haight they had a GAP.

Certainly a lot of scary dirty shady hippies peddling their addictive wares! There's a Ben & Jerry's store for instance!!!

How long are you going to be in SF? Where are you staying?

Not sure a 50+yo whom you have never met, who lives in a wealthy town 30 miles from SF and thinks Haight St is dangerous is going to make the best city tour guide. There are much worse neighborhoods in Indianapolis. The worst thing we encountered there were Faux-Hippies, (who looked like they got their outfits from Abercrombie complete with new Birkenstocks and the latest iphones) but still felt the urge to beg for change.

IMHO SF needs to be explored on foot. The city has one of the easiest to navigate bus/trolley systems, we purchased the 7-day unlimited MUNI passes and they worked great. I also put 50 miles on my fitbit in 5 days without even trying - not a lot of fat people in SF

This is a must-see arcade/museum

San Francisco is great. Just watch your step:

https://www.openthebooks.com/map/?Map=32504&MapType=Pin&Zip=94103

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