I visited “The Etruscans” exhibit at the Legion of Honor art museum in San Francisco. This is the most comprehensive U.S. exhibition on Etruscan culture in decades, featuring over 150 rare artifacts like bronze sculptures, gold jewelry, and the longest-surviving Etruscan linen text.
The Legion of Honor is one of San Francisco’s oldest art museums, located atop a hill overlooking the bay and the Golden Gate Bridge, next to the Presidio.
One of the prettiest drives in the country is the drive over the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco…when it’s not cloaked in fog. We start in the town of Sausalito and end in San Francisco’s Pacific Heights district, two of the most expensive pieces of real estate in the country.
Near City Hall, Tommy’s Joynt is an easily overlooked San Francisco landmark that doesn’t show up on most people’s radar. Opened in 1947, Tommy’s is the oldest Hofbrau in California.
Hofbrau’s offer beer and German-American comfort food. Large portions at reasonable prices (for San Francisco, that’s anything not insanely overpriced). Tommy’s is famous for its pastrami, turkey, corned and roast beef, made freshly in-house.
In addition to honest comfort food, Tommy’s offers a wall full of local and imported beers at its bar. In warm summer days, Tommy’s opens its rooftop biergarten. Opened by local singer and radio D.J Tommy Harris, Tommy’s served late-night grub to musicians finishing their gigs at local clubs and stages.
In 2020, rumors spread that Tommy’s was closed for good. Despite reopening after the citywide COVID shutdowns, viral social media posts still circulated that Tommy’s was closing or that the property would be sold to developers. I spoke to one of Tommy’s owners at the bar, and he completely dispelled the rumors.
A time-lapse drive through San Francisco over the Golden Gate Bridge to the picturesque seaside town of Sausalito, CA.
A moment of zen along Ocean Beach, in San Francisco, CA. Seagulls rest along the sea wall overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
On an ideal day along Ocean Beach in San Francisco, CA. In the distance, on the right of the screen, is the famous Cliff House restaurant.
The Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) is the subway system that runs through San Francisco, Oakland, and now to San Jose. They recently adopted an anime mascot character called Baylee and her three associates. On September 6, 2025 BART hosted its first Anime and arts festival, named “Lets Glow” at their Warm Springs station near Freemont, CA.
The event was free to attend. I drove in and utlized the ample free parking. I arrived before the official start time of 4:00pm, there were already over 300 attendees and more arriving via the regular BART trains to the station.
They distrubeted event passports that could get stamped at various sections of the event. There was an Itasha row with fun anime and video game graphics modified cars. There were huge crowds around the Artist Alley where local aftists sold their art and merch. There was exceptionally long line to buy BART Anime themed merch.
Lets Glow had probably 10 times more folks than the BART organizers anticipated. It was a fun taste for anime lovers but not much to do and see. Future events would do better to have a headline guest or guests like voice-over artists or J-POP bands.
My last drive on the Great Highway before they permanently closed it in March 2025. In 2024, a slim majority of San Francisco voters, approved Proposition K, closing the Great Highway to convert it into a public walkway and park. The majority of local neighbors voted against the closure.
Twin Peaks is a hill above downtown San Francisco that offers a panoramic view of San Francisco Bay, Downtown San Francisco, and the Golden Gate Bridge. This is a popular spot with locals and tourists. But if you are a visitor, be warned that car thieves are known to frequent the area, so don’t leave anything valuable in your car.
Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary is one of San Francisco’s most infamous and most visited tourist attractions. Yet, in all the years I’ve lived in San Francisco or visited San Francisco, I’d never gone to Alcatraz. Until now.
After it was closed in 1963 Alcatraz became a museum administered by the National Parks Service. The only way to visit island is via a commercial ferry service from Pier 33 near San Francisco’s Fishermans Wharf district. Entry to the Prison’s various museums and audio tour are included with the ferry ticket price.
The ferry has a snack bar and food for sale but no food or beverages are available on Alcatraz island. No food or drink is allowed to be consumed within the Prison museum but you can consume food and drinks onboard the ferry or at the dock waiting area on the island. In front of the Pier 33 entrance, there are numerous street food vendors vending sausages and hot dogs.
Arriving on the island, we disembarked on the dock which has restroom facilities, information displays, and a gift shop. There are Park Service Rangers who give talks at various times and locations on the island. Visitors can choose to follow these rangers or explore on their own. I and the majority of visitors chose the later.
Walking up the main road from the dock up to the prison, you pass through administration buildings, staff barracks, and facilities, some of which date from when Alcatraz was a coastal fort. Civil War era coastal battery canons are on display in various parts of the park. It is a reasonable walk uphill to the prison but those with disabilities can take a free tram up to the prison.
The prison’s former laundry building has been converted into a museum hall containing an exhibit on the 1969 occupation of the island by Nativist protestors. Their protest graffiti is still present (or reproduced) throughout the park on signage and on the island water tower.
In a morbid reminder, on the walk up to the former Maximum Security Federal Penitentiary, all visitors must pass the prison’s Morgue, a small building just outside of the main prison complex. Entering the prison, all visitors enter a large intake room where everyone is issued a complimentary headset and a digital audio player to listen to an Audio Tour.
The audio tour was well-produced and informative. It was narrated by guards and former prisoners of Alcatraz who gave personal insights as to life in the prison. Sound effects and ambient sounds created an immersive experience. The only issue was a poor user interface and faulty equipment maintenance that didn’t allow me to reliably pause, rewind and forward sections of the audio.
The prison interior was creepy and oppressive in a way that only old run-down brutalist 20th-century buildings. I knew prison cells were small but the 5ft x 5ft cells looked even smaller in real life. Most of the cells were closed to the public except for “The Hole”, the isolation cells in D-block where rule violators were sent as punishment.
The most unsettling part of the whole prison tour was at the end: the gift shop. The large gift shop was filled with Alcatraz logo wear, replica eating utensils, and table wear. Why anybody would want to make another human’s incarceration, even if that human was a criminal, something to “enjoy” in their home is disturbing.
