Book Description
San Francisco is spoken of in the same breath as Paris, Venice, and Rome, and has earned the slogan "America's Favorite City" for its openness, dramatic beauty, cultural amenities, the diversity of its neighborhoods and population, and its icons - the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, cable cars, Fisherman's Wharf, and fog. It sits on the tip of a peninsula on the edge of a continent in one of the world's most seismically active areas-no wonder there has always been a "sitting on the edge" mentality here. The city appeared instantly - just add gold and stir! - when precious ore was discovered in the nearby hills in 1848. All of that rich history is captured in Travelers' Tales San Francisco along with clear portraits of today's city. In these true stories you will explore the North Beach of the Beat era and beyond with Herbert Gold, discover true romance on a cable car with Michele Anna Jordan, uncover the real Mission district with John Krich, marvel at the city's wild light with Andrei Codrescu, gumshoe through Sam Spade's San Francisco with Don Freeman, and learn what it means to be a "quintessential San Franciscan" with the late Herb Caen.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"More like spying on the natives than reading a travel book, the eclectic personal accounts collected in Travelers' Tales San Francisco illuminate many Bay Area experiences...." - Margaret Weir, San Francisco Chronicle Notable authors include: Herbert Gold, Meredith Maran, Richard Rodriguez, Herb Caen, Andrei Codrescu, and Michele Anna Jordan.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

What better way to prep for a journey than by reading interesting stories about one's destination? As glimpsed here through the eyes of beatniks, hippies, surfers, "lavender cowboys" and talented writers from all walks, San Francisco comes to vivid, complex life. One short story takes the reader surfing in monstrous waves at Ocean Beach; another, through an incredible history of SF's gay culture linked with a tour de force tale of AIDS and devotion. The diverse memoirs range from a dim sum disaster in Chinatown to the hot tub scene in Elgy Gillespie's wonderfully funny debut ("But letting boldness be my friend, I dropped the towel and plunged right in, with one smooth movement and an almighty splash, only to find that nobody was noticing anyway"). A far cry from a traditional guidebook, the tales also delve into the city's nitty-gritty, with accounts of pit-bull fighting, earthquakes, bad trips in the '60s and the dangers and thrills of a glory hole. Carefully chosen Herb Caen bits, news clips and historical details (the bullfights that once took place outside Mission Dolores Chapel, for example) mesh with the fiction pieces and poems to weave a rich fabric of place and time. For either San Francisco first-timers or third-generation natives, this compilation opens many windows on the city and offers great escapist reading. Maps and graphics not seen by PW. (June)

Library Journal