San Fran or Bust – Cont again

San Fran is fabulous. The hills, the history built on those hills. But as a Vancouver resident, is somewhat of a template of cities like Seattle and Vancouver. I expected a Granville Island or Pike Place. I expected a Chinatown, complete with unrecognizable dried thingamabobbies, and I expected a downtown shopping district. But what I didn’t expect was the vastness of these districts.

We got up this morning, in our two bedroom haven to the sound of dumptrucks. We headed down to Fisherman’s Wharf –a must see by everyone I talked to. Honestly, I wasn’t too impressed. Very taupe. Tourist traps do nothing for me. And the sight of Starbucks and In and Out Burger on the wharf seemed sacrilegious. The area replete with metallic street performers, cheesy tee shirt shops and knock off sunglasses. Who buys this crap? I was on the hunt for a decent cup of coffee and a real fisherman’s wharf. Like where locals go to buy their produce and seafood. We finally found a little aisle of realness, with cheap (er) seafood for sale and not a clown in sight.
We were lured into an old style seafood restaurant for lunch where Jason had his first (and last) crab and sourdough bread sandwich that made him feel sick. The restaurant was great though. A real 1930s, Italian mobster feel and a gorgeous view of the Golden Gate Bridge (on a clear but windy day).

Fisherman's Wharf - L'il bit Bored at...

We left Fisherman’s wharf shortly after, in search of coffee – as any true west-coaster would. Amazed at the lack of coffee houses in San Fran. How do they function? There’s barely any Starbucks here! And we don’t even like Starbucks! Found coffee in the Italian district, near our hotel. The area is chocked full of coffee bars, café’s and exotic car repair shops. Very European feel. Beyond the Italian district is Chinatown, which I’ve been dying to see since I was doing my thesis. This is THE Chinatown. The largest and original overseas Chinese community in North America. And it is RAW – dirty, chaotic and overcrowded – with laundry hanging from balconies and the scent of fish permeating the air.

And it goes on for miles and miles. What Jay and I realized, after changing streets to avoid going up a hill (because we’re lazy), was that we were in the real Chinatown. The Fake Tourist Chinatown was one street over. The one with the clean streets, streams of lanterns like garlands between the buildings, and fantasmical jade and cherrywood sculptures showcased in storefronts.








Chinatown - Uncut
Miles down the road, and with an abrupt end to Chinatown signaled by a small Chinese arch, we arrived in Union Square. Shopping. Up.Scale… Chinatown - Hollywood style
Kenneth Cole, Chanel, Betsey Johnson, Tiffany, stores with buzzers and guards and brass doors that are polished daily.

We went to Macy’s. The Men’s 5 level mall. That’s right. 5 levels entirely devoted to men. The biggest Macy’s on the west coast. We went up to try on some new suits for Jason. And it was there that I realized, that we, as Canadians, are being ripped off. The average suit at Harry Rosen in Vancouver is $800-1000. Average. At


Macy’s? $250-400. For the same quality and same service. Almost cheaper to fly down to San Fran to buy a suit. Isn’t that sad?

Kissing herself in a Macy's dressing room

We loved the vibe in Union Square. Pretentious, yes. But lot’s of fun – and so markedly different from the other areas we walked through today.

Stopped at a little Italian gem of a restaurant in the Italian district for dinner that was totally family friendly. Toscana - on Columbus and Union Street. Kids menu, highchairs, crayons (that Lily eats on a regular basis) and a cool server dude with white nail polish. Jay and I reminisced over dinner of the days of wearing white nail polish just because we felt like it, over a bottle of fabulously under priced wine. Then headed back to the hotel at 7. We stopped a liquor store for another bottle of wine. Because what else are you going to do if you’re kid goes to sleep at 7:30pm? We bought a Ravenswood wine that sells for $40 at home for $7.75. Canadians - Ripped. Off.

I’m staying in San Francisco forever. Ha ha.