A veteran San Francisco arts institution that recently moved from its home in the Mission to the bottom of the San Francisco Chronicle Building. Their gallery regularly puts on exhibitions that are relevant, accessible, and often straight up delightful. As opposed to some of the more buttoned-up galleries, Intersection’s penchant for participatory pieces is met with a regular crowd that tends to be game for participating, which always makes for a good time.

Shopping area in Japantown connected by an outdoor plaza with a Japanese Pagoda. The malls feature some good food spots and as well as Kinokuniya Bookstore.

One day when I was walking around in the hills behind my house, I happened upon this bizarre street. It was as though someone had taken postmodernism and tried to make it into a block of houses. Each one has its own internally complete theme, involving strange colors and sculptural elements attached to the outside walls (gold eggs, wisps of wrought iron). This led me on subsequent walks to name them: the Corbusier House, the Barn, the Preschool Blocks house, the House of Wicca… and so on.

#1 in the city for old book smell and creaky wooden floors. Too small to find anything specific you’re looking for, good enough that you’ll find something else instead.

This place makes my heart sing. I’m so happy it’s only 2 blocks away. This teeny tiny little Cuban restaurant/bar is always warm, welcoming, and vibrating with visual over-stimuli. Surreal toy sculptures cover every square inch, and I always find something I’ve never seen before while slurping down my sangria.