San Francisco, California | January 2024

San Francisco:

Weather:

Foggy and cloudy weather, 50's-60's. Rained a little bit too.  Bring a poncho and/or raincoat.

Transportation:

Uber. Some streets are so steep, the sidewalk is stairs. I can't imagine parking on those roads! In general though, it looks pretty tough to find parking spots. We used Uber the whole time. We actually put in a few stops so our Uber driver took us to all the famous places and waited while we got a quick photo.

Waymo - Also, self-driving cars through the Waymo app were in beta mode - invitation only. It's possible that they are in full service by the time you read this. They looked so cool!

Accommodations:

Courtyard by Marriot Union Square - We stayed at the Marriot. It's a couple minute walk to Chabad. The guy at the front desk was familiar with Shabbos - we got a room on the second floor and he walked us to our room Friday night and Shabbos day.

Keep in mind, it's pretty close to the Tenderloin area. When we landed at 1am, our Uber took us through the Tenderloin to get us to our hotel. Manhattan looks like paradise compared to SF. The homeless people, the crack, the feces... We slowly drove past, watching through the window, shellshocked. It looked like a scene from an apocalypse movie. Even the random 54 year old guest in the hotel elevator told us it was the scariest walk in his life. (He walked through... we drove through...very different experiences;)

Kosher Food:

Here is a list of Kosher stores provided by Chabad SF.

For Shabbos, we ate at the Chabad near our hotel. Once a month they have Happy Hour. Lucky us, it was Happy Hour week! Around 90 young adults were there. Such a fun vibe! Buffet style Friday night meal. Shabbos Lunch was a sit down meal with a much smaller crowd - like 30 people.

Havdala was complicated - the Chabad center closes after lunch. We arranged to go to one of the guy's apartment for havdala. (Thanks Johnny;)

Whatsapp Chabad at +1 (415) 987-8355.

Attractions:

Alcatraz Island - I always wanted to go to Alcatraz (as a visitor, not an inmate lol), so this was a dream come true! You take the ferry from the pier and do an audio tour. It was so so cool to walk through the same corridors as Al Capone and Machine Gun Kelly (the OG, literally). The ferry leaves a few minutes earlier than scheduled, so arrive early.

Golden Gate - You cannot miss this iconic landmark! We took an Uber to a lookout point. Got great photos... and then we were off to the next stop.  It's a bridge, don't get so excited lol.

Graffitti Alley

Lombard Street - The famous one-block section, claimed to be "the crookedest street in the world." You can actually drive down the street, it has 8 twists. Pretty random but cool.

Chinatown -  The oldest Chinatown in North America. Check out the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory at 56 Ross Alley.