San Francisco/Haight District

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The Haight, a district of San Francisco, is commonly divided into two areas: Upper Haight (sometimes known as "Haight-Ashbury"), and Lower Haight.

Geographically, Upper Haight is between Buena Vista Park and Golden Gate park. Lower Haight is bounded by Webster St. on the east, and Divisidero St. on the west. The block between Fillmore and Steiner is the largest concentration of activity in the Lower Haight.

Table of contents

1 Get Around

2 Eat

2.1 Upper Haight
2.2 Lower Haight

3 Buy

4 Drink

5 Stay safe

Get Around

If you are walking really fast, it will take about 20 minutes to walk from Lower to Upper Haight- and it will be good exercise with the hills.

Several buses run the length of Haight St., as well as streets running parallel such as Fulton and Hayes.

The N-Judah muni line also runs parallel to Haight St. several blocks to the south. An easy way to access (Upper) Haight St. from downtown is to take the N-Judah outbound to Cole St., then go right.

Eat

Upper Haight

All You Knead, 1466 Haight Street (one block west of Masonic), 552-4550. 8AM-11PM every day. A cavernous space filled with fishtanks and comfortable booths, All You Knead serves up huge and hearty brunches as well as casual diner-style dinner meals. Eggs benedict and variations thereof are a specialty. $5-15.

Cha-Cha-Cha. Popular Cuban tapas place. Good sangria. Typical wait is 1 hour on weekends, and they don't take reservations. Great bar, always crowded with a fun 'artsy' crowd.

Citrus Club, 1790 Haight Street (at Shrader), 387-6366. Su-Th 11:30AM-10PM, F-Sa 11:30AM-11PM. This is an excellent noodle house with dishes chosen from all Asian traditional cuisines. Portions are generous in the extreme, with an emphasis on flavor over presentation. Decent prices and an unpretentious decor and a hip clientele make for a pleasurable group meal. $8-$15.

Kan Zaman, 1793 Haight Street (at Shrader), 751-9656. M-Th 5PM-12AM, Sa 11:30AM-2AM, Su 11:30AM-12AM. A popular Middle Eastern restaurant, success has made Kan Zaman a difficult restaurant. Reservations are practically mandatory, with wait times up to 2 hours on weekends. The hazards come with a payoff: Kan Zaman has fine food at reasonable prices, of course, but the atmosphere is raucous and exciting. Belly dancers perform nightly, and a postprandial hookah pipe shared around a table is de rigueur. Definitely a night on the town. $15-20.

Squat and Gobble. popular for breakfast and lunch, crowded on weekends. Great crepes, and outdoor dining on the back patio when the weather is nice.

Pork Store Cafe extremely popular breakfast spot. Always a line on the weekends. Very inexpensive, and friendly diner atmosphere and food.

Lower Haight

India Oven. 233 Fillmore St. This Indian restaurant is on the expensive side, although it is pretty good.

Thep Phenom. 400 Waller Street. Sometimes called the best Thai in San Francisco, call ahead as this restaurant can be very busy. Or walk in with a small party and have a Singha in the back while you wait to be seated at a family-style table.

Kate's Kitchen. Breakfast - southern style.

Rosamunde Sausage Grill. Every type of sausage under the sun. Get your beer next door from Toronado.

Bean There. Steiner at Waller. Good coffees with a nice selection of pastries, bagels, and focaccia bread. Great place to hang out and read a book. Outdoor seating.

Axum Cafe. 698 Haight St @ Pierce, This Ethiopian restaurant is very affordable. Try the vegetarian sampler. If you are hungry, order for two. Wash it down with an Ethiopian beer (2 kinds).

Buy

Upper Haight has more shopping and variety of shops than Lower Haight, with a great record store Amoeba, book stores, fabric stores, shoe stores, with several free clinics, holdovers from the '60's.

Drink

Lower Haight has a higher concentration of bars

An Bodhran: Irish pub.

Mad Dog in the Fog, 530 Haight St., This is an English pub where you can come to watch soccer on TV or go out back where you can smoke.

Toronado, 547 Haight St. This bar has dozens and dozens of odd beers on tap. Come through the dutch door and if there is no room in the front bar, there is a back room with tables.

Noc-Noc. 557 Haight St. This is one of the only bars in the city that allows you to smoke inside. Although this is technically illegal, they spite the law. A very artsy atmosphere. You can get many Trappist monk beers here.

Molotovs. Leans towards rockabilly crowd.
The Top. Dance club and bar - Great place to dance, small, fun
Nickie's, Dance club and bar
Movida. Beer, Sake, people, music

Stay safe

Lower Haight can be dangerous late at night after the bars close.

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