During our now 40 years of marriage, and living in Los Angeles, we've been to the Bay Area at least once a year, either to visit or go to a Cal football game (Go Bears!).

This trip was really for the sole purpose of going to two back to back concerts: The Go-Go's and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. And take in (again) the Paul McCartney photo exhibit at the De Young (we'd seen it a few years ago in London). Because of the very short trip, we did not drive up, but flew up to SFO, then used solely public transportation, and that's really the reason for this post.

Since when in the bay area, we use public transport a lot, once we turned 65 (some years ago), we sent away for Senior Clipper Card (used on all public transport in the Bay area), as it's about a 62.5 percent reduction on transport. We loaded our cards online and were ready to go. For the 3 days and 2 nights in SF, we each spent $18 that got us from SFO into the city, all around the city, and back to the airport.

40 years ago, when we drove up to SF after getting married, we found the Cow Hollow Motor Inn at Lombard & Steiner in the Marina area and, for most of our trips to SF, have stayed there ever since. We've been staying in their Suites for the last 20 years, which is where we stayed this trip. The suites (converted condos) are situated on Chestnut Street, with the Number 30 bus we've used a lot to get us to the wharf, North Beach, and Union Square.

From SFO to the Cow Hollow: We flew in from LAX to SFO on Southwest, arriving around 11 a.m.. From there, we took BART to Montgomery, then walked down Market to the No. 30 stop at Geary/Kearney to Fillmore, then walked a block to the hotel.

Our room was ready! Dropped our bags and headed out for a quick lunch at a relatively new ramen restaurant a few doors down from the hotel on Steiner. (We just returned from nearly a month in Japan, and DH became obsessed). We then checked out Chestnut to see what new places have cropped up since our last visit on our way to spend the afternoon at the Palace of Fine Arts. It was really a perfect day for the visit!

On Bus 30

Homage to Caillebotte, Man at Window

View from our room

Palace of Fine Arts

Something we don't see in L.A. anymore.

I am enjoying your report - beautiful photos!

Thanks, KT! Delay in continuing was work-related . . . taken too many pandemic make up vacations this year!

Back at the hotel and a quick change into my 80's concert attire (involving the Belinda Carlisle rhinestone bling), it was an easy trip back on the Muni 30 bus to 4th and Market, where we strolled down Market past the Powell BART station and further on to The Warfield, to see the Go-Go's. The outside of the theatre is fairly non-descript, but for the multitude of non-housed individuals in the area. The inside of this 1922 former vaudevillian theatre, however, is beautiful and preserved. The Go-Go's (who are no longer calling this their "farewell" tour . . . I've been to at least 3 farewell tours of theirs in the last 20 years!) were outstanding, as usual. The acoustics of this 2,300 seat theatre, however, IMO, were not as outstanding.

As we had not eaten, we thought we could get a bite on Chestnut (or even a diner on Lombard) after we got off the bus around 11:30 p.m., but nothing was open, except for a few bars that served no food. So we headed into our local dive bar, The Horseshoe, had a couple of drinks, chatted with the friendly bartender, then headed back across the street to the hotel.

Our suite at the Cow Hollow has a full kitchen. Having not eaten since lunch the day before, I went out on Chestnut in the morning, picked up coffee at Peets across the street, and bagel breakfasts at Noah's just under our hotel room, then later walked down Chestnut to purchase food at the local Italian deli to store in the refrigerator for later that day and the next day.

Discovered Muni Bus 28 . . . perhaps the best, or at least one of the best lines that takes one all over the tourist areas of San Francisco and ends at 19th Ave in Daly City, where one can pick up BART to SFO.
Bus 28 is truly a "tourist" bus, as people were headed to Fort Point National Historic Site, where you could visit Crissy Field, cross the Golden Gate Bridge, or simply admire it from below. It also heads over through Golden Gate Park, where we were headed to visit the De Young. We picked up the bus at Lombard and Pierce.

We've been to the De Young Museum many times, although I think our last visit was in 2017 for the "Summer of Love" exhibit.
We got two discounts: the senior discount, and having gone by public transport, showing our Clipper Card, we got another discount!

The De Young has a worthy collection notwithstanding any special exhibits, and definitely worth the visit. We went specifically to see the Paul McCartney 1963-64 "Eyes of the Storm" photography exhibit (seen previously at the National Portrait Museum) and the Matisse Jazz portfolio (which, if memory serves, we saw in Vancouver, Canada about 30 years ago).

Matisse Jazz

Chair from permanent collection

Beatles

On the bus

Fort Point stop - Golden Gate Bridge.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds were playing at the Bill Graham Auditorium on Grove practically across the street from City Hall.

We took the Muni 30 to Van Ness, then transferred to Muni 49, which goes all the way down Van Ness to the theater. And did the reverse later on back to the hotel.

We were meeting friends we met on a trip we took 10 years ago to the Greek Islands for an early dinner. They recommended we meet at Max's Opera Cafe (they are Opera buffs) on Van Ness, a short walk from the theater. The food and company were great! They do serve surprisingly large portions, so it's better to share. I was surprised at how reasonable the prices were, since restaurant prices around the Music Center in Los Angeles are over the top expensive!

The Bill Graham Auditorium that opened in 1915 is really the opposite of the Warfield: beautiful on the outside, and merely functional on the inside. Despite a capacity of about 8,500, the acoustics were surprisingly great. I've never been to a Nick Cave concert I didn't like, and this was no exception. He owns the stage, and his baritone vocals are powerfully stunning.


Bill Graham Auditorium

Nick Cave, Red Right Hand

Nick Cave

City Hall at Night.

Hi surfergirl—Thanks for this report. I’ve only been to San Francisco once, almost 20 years ago, but I still remember my visit fondly; I especially liked your photo of Fort Point, which brought back a happy memory of biking over the bridge, where I was lucky to have a similarly gorgeous day as the one you had taking the photo. Best wishes, Daniel