Secret San Francisco: The Unique Guidebook to San Francisco s Hidden Sites, Sounds, & Tastes

by David G. Armstrong

San Francisco is two The pretty tourist mecca of glossy travel brochures, and the layered, flawed, intoxicating city that San Franciscans actually live in. Secret™ San Francisco is for those travelers who want to go beyond the postcard photo-ops and tried and untrue tourist destinations to explore the vibrant neighbourhoods, intimate hideaways, and out-there adventures that make San Francisco so much more than pretty. Secret™ San Francisco was written to help you lose yourself in the city and come to know it the way locals do. So you’ll fall in love with San Francisco, but your love won’t be blind. With Secret™ San Francisco,  take a walk on the city’s extreme-and-proud-of-it wild ‘Secret Cop Bars,’ ‘Secret Vibrators ’n Stuff,’ ‘Secret Taiwanese Pearl Drinks,’ ‘Secret Not of This Earth,’ ‘Secret Swank,’ ‘Secret Revolution,’ ‘Secret Sam Spade & Dashiell Hammett.’ Only in San Fran! Tourist traps? San Francisco has plenty. Armstrong levels with you about them, and tells you where to find the secret treasures buried in the tackiest of traps. Got laundry to do? Chill out with California craft beers while your clothes chill in another kind of suds. Need a makeover? Buy clothing by the pound and get your hair and nails done while sipping cocktails. Afterwards, go dancing at the all-night danceterias. Feeling peckish? Secret™ San Francisco dishes out huge portions of food and drink in the American city with the most restaurants per capita. Smack your lips over San Francisco’s most elegant expense-account Valhallas, no-frills, ultra-cheap joints, and muticultural delights. Lick your way through saffron-rose and cardammon flavours at an ice-cream parlour and swim without shame in the glorious grease and pillowing starch of white-trash food at a unique bistro. It figures that a book about this great food town begins with ‘Secret All You Can Eat’ and ends with ‘Secret Wine.’ One more We also show you where to find the rarest commodity of all in a compact city clogged with SUVs and pickup trucks on a parking space.

296 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2001

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

David Armstrong's book is almost 20 years old, many of the places have moved (the Jewish Museum and the Cartoon Art Museum) and many have closed (Comics and Comix, Black Oak, Plumpjack, KGO radio, Blockbuster Video) and some which should be in here aren't (Jeffrey's Toys, Alexander Book Company, Books Inc) and, though he mentions "the twelve galaxies guy," he doesn't give Frank Chu credit for having a name.
Still, if you find this in a thrift store for a buck its worth picking up, i'll be passing it along to a friend newly arrived in the Bay Area.
The weird thing about the book is the series title and publisher, i don't think there is a secret place in here and the press is Canadian w/a grant from the Ontario Arts Council.