The last big stop on my American road trip was, of course, San Francisco. If you hadn’t noticed already, 70s style is kinda my thing, so I was dying to visit the home of hippies. By the time we reached San Francisco my compulsion to photograph everything had died down a little (can you believe it) so I have slightly fewer snaps from this part of the trip. I loved the painted ladies – Victorian townhouses decorated in a variety of pastel colours. There was a lot of construction work on the street opposite the houses, so it was hard to view them from a distance, but there is so much beautiful architecture throughout San Francisco to make up for it.
The Japanese Tea Gardens also found a special place in my heart. Despite all the “tourists with selfie sticks” (as a to-cool-for-school guy muttered at me, carrying my two cameras and a go pro on a selfie stick tucked into the jacket around my waist) it was delicate and serene and soothed me of my home sickness. We made friends with the koi carp and drank green tea under the cherry blossom trees. James found comfort in South Indian curry, his favourite thing in the world. I have never seen him so happy as I have in Udupi Palace (see photo above!) The food in San Francisco was generally amazing – I couldn’t get enough of the vegan brunch at St Francis Fountain. I’ve had a longing for coffee (‘a cup of Joe!’) from a glass, round bottomed jug in a diner ever since overdosing on Twin Peaks and Gilmore Girls. Unsurprisingly, there aren’t a huge amount of authentic and vegan friendly diners in California, but I found it in San Francisco. I loved the diverse influences on different Californian cities – there’s clearly a thriving Mexican community in LA and the East Asian community has a big presence in San Francisco. Cha Ya Japanese was an amazing experience, as was the fully vegan restaurant we stumbled upon in Chinatown. Loving Hut is one of my favourite chains and I was delighted to find they served Thai Iced Tea which I have been craving (and failing to recreate) ever since I returned home.
Another reason I was so excited about San Francisco is because we met up with Tori here, a good friend of mine from my MSc who lives in the States. As a Bay Area local it was handy to have her to show us around even though she was unfortunately sick for some of her visit. We walked along fisherman’s walk to see the seals, along Lombard Street, the “crookedest street in the world”, up Colt Tower, to City Lights bookstore and through Chinatown. I had been trying to restrain my vintage shopping needs for James’ sake, but in San Francisco we spent a long lazy day browsing the vintage and thrift shops along Valencia Street and Mission Street. San Francisco is heaven for thrift shopping. There were so many gems, so cheap. If only I had more room in my suitcase! I also fell for the pricier Wallflower Boutique, filled with beautifully curated vintage, handmade brands and 70s denim. In there, I finally found a nicely fitting pair of denim cut offs. Bring on summer so I can I wear them!
We drank a lot of beer and decided we prefer pubs to fancy after work beer bars. I made a meal of trying to tip at the bar. I was planning to tip when we left like you do at a restaurant but I think the bar man expected a tip every time he served me a drink, so he was kind of cold and I felt awkward. The whole tipping thing really gets me. If only everywhere paid a living wage and then I wouldn’t have to go through the torture of figuring out these unfamiliar social norms, haha. I stocked up on American Apparel undies to take advantage of the lack of import mark up. Little did I know that AA, the only sweatshop free brand on the British high street, would soon crumble.
Honestly, San Francisco was a dream but I didn’t fall for it like I did with LA. It was a total surprise to me – everyone had told me I would hate Los Angeles. We met some of the nicest people in San Francisco (shout out to the waiter at Patxi’s Pizza who was so confused by my ordering a “half” beer he just gave me one for free – safe to say we did remember to tip him) but also a lot of cool but self-conscious and unfriendly shop assistants. It is definitely the most European-feeling of all the American cities that we visited and I feel like that has something to do with it. For me, it wasn’t as unusual and unexpected as Southern California. That’s not to say we didn’t have a blast – San Francisco is still on my list of the best trips of my life. As usual, there is much else I would like to see if I returned. I love that San Francisco’s a city you can explore on foot or by bus and we spent most of our time there wandering around, rolling down hills and making friends with dogs.
Thank you for following along with my holiday stories – my next California post will be my last! Keep your eyes peeled for photos from Monterey, the Madonna Inn and Beverley Hills.
Such great pictures! I think I’d really like the vibe of SF over LA personally but I wouldn’t know until I got there like you. Seems like you both found great places for food, but I think the cities you went to are great for vegan options anyway. South Indian curries are the *best* curries, and that’s what we have in Malaysia too ^_^ I can’t stomach the thicker and milky curry we have in the UK, it’s just not for me!
I thought so too but I think it depends which part of LA you go to. It’s such a big city! Obviously, there’s the whole Hollywood / celebrity / very wealthy vibe going on there but we didn’t do many of the big tourist attractions like studio lot tours so I feel like we didn’t experience any of that. Venice is so laid back and full of new age hippies and psychics and surfer dudes and I loved it! I’m not sure I’ve tried Malaysian curries, but they sound delicious
san francisco seems so pretty – i love your photos! need to catch up with all yur other posts as well. and i was just telling someone i can never figure out tipping in different places. i never tip and think it’s such a pain to figure out how much to give, haha! xx
Thank you! It’s so tricky, hotels are the worst and I never want to offend someone by giving them the wrong amount – it’s just so hard to navigate xx
Such stunning pictures Jess! As soon as I say the first one I wondered if those were the painted ladies. The food sounds incredible too!
Thank you
You would love the food Laila, you have to go!!
The whole place just looks like your aesthetic to a tee, how interesting that you didn’t warm to it as much as you did LA! But then I suppose it isn’t all that surprising – it’s the people that you meet that make a place feel like home, I find.
x
I know haha, I was thinking if i lived there I’d never run out of outfit photo locations! The people are the most important part you’re right, and I suppose that’s the hardest element to control when you’re travelling! There’s also a very visible amount of inequality in San Francisco – I suppose it exists in LA too it’s just less noticeable. x
San Francisco is my favorite city in the USA, and tied for my top cities in the world. I loved looking at all your photos. I wish I had this blog and was more into photography when I was there. My aunt and uncle live there so I have to go back. I’ve never been to LA, but it doesn’t seem like a place I’d like. I was kind of surprised to see that you really liked it!
What is a “half beer?” When I was in SF I wanted a diet coke but there were no drinks on the menu, so I asked, “Do you have pop?” Pop is what we call soda in Cleveland. The waitress gave me the weirdest look, so I asked, “Diet Coke?” Then she understood.
You’ll have to go back soon so that you can blog about it! Give LA a chance honestly – Venice beach is one of my favourite places in the world. The weather’s beautiful, the pace of life is just so relaxed and everyone’s so happy. People would chat to us on the street as we were walking past and I really liked that. And the food! On our last day we were contemplating going to the walk of fame but skipped it to have one last afternoon on Venice beach.
Haha, in the UK you can get a beer either in a “pint” or a “half” glass, which is just half a pint. It’s just like ordering a small vs a large glass of wine, but we managed to completely confuse the poor waiter. We call soda pop in the UK too! It’s interesting that there’s a difference in language across the US, I wasn’t aware of that!
Yeah, I’ll definitely give LA a chance. I know a lot of people who like it there.
Ah! Okay, that makes sense about the sizes. I didn’t know you called it pop! That’s awesome!
San Francisco really is such a welcoming and beautiful city. I love spending time up there, as it is quite different form LA where I live! I have to agree with you though, I ultimately like LA better!
I’m jealous that you’re from LA – that’s the dream!
Ah so fun to see this one since we went there too. I just looooved the Japanese garden. I could have stayed there all day it was so gorgeous.
I’m so glad that you enjoyed it too! Sounds like you had a great time. For me it was a bit too bustling, but I am still glad that we got to visit. XO – Alexandra
Simply Alexandra: My Favorite Things
I loved it so much! I actually didn’t find San Francisco too busy although that might have been the time of year we visited. The tea gardens were packed though! xx
I would love to go to SF! Sadly my hubbie refuses to consider a flight longer than 3 hours with our boys!
Oh I totally don’t blame him. Maybe when they’re a bit older!
Beautiful photos! I have no idea why but over the last few months San Francisco has been working it’s way up to the top of my ‘places I need to visit’ list. Fingers crossed I get to to go soon!
I hope you get to go – I think you will love it!
Thanks for sharing, your pictures make me want to drop everything and go to the airport to take the next plane to San Francisco. I love the architecture, and by the happy look on James’ face, I need a big plate of that curry!
Doesn’t sound like a bad plan! Honestly, James has tried so many curries and I think this was his favourite