7 Best Sights in San Francisco, California

You don't have to be a connoisseur of Asian art to appreciate this newly expanded museum, whose monumental exterior conceals a light, open, and welcoming space. The fraction of the museum's collection on display (about 2,500 pieces out of 18,000-plus total) is laid out thematically and by region, making it easy to follow historical developments.

Begin on the third floor, where highlights of Buddhist art in Southeast Asia and early China include a large, jewel-encrusted, exquisitely painted 19th-century Burmese Buddha and clothed rod puppets from Java. On the second floor you can find later Chinese works, as well as exquisite pieces from Korea and Japan. The ground floor is devoted to temporary exhibits and the museum's wonderful gift shop. During spring and summer, visit on Thursday evenings for extended programs and sip drinks while a DJ spins tunes.

This imposing 1915 structure with its massive gold-leaf dome—higher than the U.S. Capitol's—is as close to a palace as you'll find in San Francisco: the classic granite-and-marble behemoth was modeled after St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Architect Arthur Brown Jr., who was also behind Coit Tower and the War Memorial Opera House, designed an interior with grand columns and a sweeping central staircase. The 1899 structure it replaced had taken 27 years to erect, but it collapsed in about 27 seconds during the 1906 earthquake.

City Hall was seismically retrofitted in the late 1990s, but the sense of history remains palpable, and you can learn about it on a free tour. Some noteworthy events that have taken place here include the hosing of civil-rights and freedom-of-speech protesters (1960); the assassinations of Mayor George Moscone and Harvey Milk (1978); the torching of the lobby by angry members of the gay community in response to the light sentence given to their killer (1979); and the first domestic partnership registrations of gay couples (1991). In 2004, Mayor Gavin Newsom took a stand against then-current state and federal law by issuing marriage licenses to same-sex partners.

Across Polk Street from City Hall is Civic Center Plaza, with an outdoor café, flower beds, and a playground. This sprawling space is generally clean but somewhat grim, as many homeless people hang out here.

Fascinating and futuristic, this 2,739-seat hall is the home of the San Francisco Symphony. The glass wraparound lobby and pop-out balcony are visible from outside, as is the Henry Moore bronze sculpture on the sidewalk. The hall's 59 adjustable Plexiglas acoustical disks cascade from the ceiling like hanging windshields. Concerts range from typical symphonic fare to more unusual performances, such as singer Al Green and film screenings with a live orchestra performing the score.

Topped with a swirl like an art-deco nautilus, the library's seven-level glass atrium fills the building with light. Local researchers take advantage of centers dedicated to gay and lesbian, African American, Chinese, and Filipino history. The sixth-floor San Francisco History Center has fun exhibits of city ephemera, including a treat for fans of noir fiction: novelist Dashiell Hammett's typewriter.

Locals know this plaza for two things: the farmers' market held on Wednesday and Sunday—cheap and earthy to the Ferry Building's pricey and beautiful—and the many homeless people, a consistent presence despite numerous efforts by the city to shunt them aside. Brick pillars listing various nations and the dates of their admittance into the United Nations line the plaza, and its floor is inscribed with the goals and philosophy of the United Nations Charter, which was signed at the War Memorial Opera House in 1945. The food-truck gathering Off the Grid (offthegridsf.com) livens up lunchtime on Tuesday and Thursday.

After San Francisco's original opera houses were destroyed in the 1906 quake, architect Arthur Brown Jr. was commissioned to design this stunning Renaissance-style building. Named in tribute to the city's soldiers lost in World War I, it was inaugurated in 1932 with a performance of Tosca. It has since played host to two major historic events: the drafting of the United Nations charter in 1945 and the ceremony six years later in which the United States restored sovereignty to Japan. Modeled after its European counterparts, the building has a vaulted and coffered ceiling, marble foyer, two balconies, and a huge silver art-deco chandelier that resembles a sunburst. The San Francisco Opera performs here from September into December and in summer; the opera house hosts the San Francisco Ballet from December through May.

Performing- and visual-arts organizations occupy much of this 1930s structure. Herbst Theatre (415/392–4400) hosts classical ensembles and dance performances. The street-level San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery (closed Sunday and Monday) displays the works of Bay Area artists; admission is free.