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They offer walking tours of the Civic Center, the Tenderloin, the main library, and City Hall, free of charge. The tours highlight the history, architecture, culture, events, and folklore of the area.
San Francisco City Guides (SFCG) is a nonprofit organization that offers dozens of different walking tours of San Francisco presented by trained, volunteer guides. Topics range from history and architecture to local legends throughout the city, some of which are seasonal, with May and October being the busiest months for tours. Tours are free but $20 donations are suggested when reserving online and again at the end of tours. Those donations provide around 80% of the organization's finances. Tours are rain or shine, tend to be less than a mile long and last 1.5 - 2 hours.
Sài Gòn Nhỏ
A tiny two-block strip of Larkin St houses an active Vietnamese American community where the many shops and restaurants are Vietnamese-owned and -operated. Little Saigon functions as a both a Vietnamese commercial and cultural center, and there are some excellent restaurants and stores here, even if the community has increasingly moved on to less stressful parts of town.
Built in 1917 as the city's public library building, this building is a fantastic blend of "Beaux Arts" and modern design elements. It was designed by renowned architect Gae Aulenti (architect of the Musée d'Orsay, Paris). Inside, you'll find many interesting architectural details including the grand staircase, loggia, vaulted ceilings, the great hall, stone floors, period light fixtures, an oddly interminable escalator, and inscriptions. The museum is one of the largest and newest museums of Oriental art. It has circa 15,000 artifacts covering 6,000 years of Asian history. The Asian Art Museum hosts many special exhibits as well. The cafe on premises also has some decent food, though pricier and somewhat more tame than better places a short walk away.
This gallery exhibits art of the realism movement (particularly academic realism) as well as "Beat Generation" art works.
The San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery supports a diverse range of Bay Area "Visual Art" culture by supporting artists projects through collaboration with community organizations, commissioning contemporary art, and curated exhibitions. They also have display art in Cafe Valor in the Veterans Building lobby, as well as in City Hall.
A small museum dedicated to the history of the Tenderloin, with exhibits on the neighborhood's cultural history. Guided walking tours of the neighborhood are also available.
This grassy plaza is at the heart of the Civic Center and its tree-lined central avenue visually draws the eye to the imposing structure of City Hall. Protests and demonstrations of all political persuasions are frequently staged here. There is a parking lot underneath the plaza, which used to actually be a subterranean convention center that held some of the earliest Apple events back in the 1980s.