I fell in love with San Francisco at first site, the buildings and the light, so much grooviness to dig. The signature building style I call "Wonkatecture" -a kaleidoscopic hodgepodge of giddy pioneer freedom and gilded age excess. It's a modernists nightmare! A prime example is The Vedanta Society HQ, built in 1903 to house a religious sect which fostered a multifold path to God and reflected its openness architecturally. More more more.

Some areas of San Francisco are so steep that the sidewalk literally is a stairway; other times it’s just more interesting to have a stairway between streets… or a slide. I once saw a grown man with a briefcase matter-of-factly go down this slide and continue on his way down the hill. Why not?

For all your pie needs, from savory to sweet.

Adobe Bookshop brings me much happiness. Not only are there a zillion wonderful used books of all kinds, there is the man behind the books, Andrew McKinley. He is the heart and soul, and his wise, welcoming and super fun personality draws all sorts of colorful characters to gather and be eccentric.

At the midpoint of the Filbert steps, near tourist favourite Coit Tower, The Malloch is a streamline Moderne gem built in 1937. I discovered it after watching Dark Passage, a 1947 Bogart and Bacall film noir. Lauren Bacall's character lives on the third floor and Bogey holes up there. A Deco beauty cruising towards the Bay. It has the coolest lift ever.