When you travel around a whole handful of countries, you probably try to explore everything that you can in the time that you have to be in those places—out every night, up and wandering around early in the morning, chatting to whoever will give you the time of day, etc.—and I do that too.
And when you live in a city like San Francisco for as long as I have, you probably try to explore every nook and cranny of such a relatively tiny (geographically speaking) city. But if you’re actually me in that situation—where you live in a city like San Francisco for seven years or so—you tend to just say to yourself, “forget it, I live here. I don’t need to explore it all right now” or something like that. You stick to what is home-y.
For better or worse, this has been my experience living in such a multicultural, exciting city such as San Francisco: I dip my toes in the night life, I try new cafes when I’m feeling energetic, I talk to coherent people on the bus, sometimes. (I do like talking to bus drivers and I make it a practice to say hello, if not carry on a long, life-changing conversation with each one who drives me around this fine city. They’re good people.) Mostly, though, I stick to the two neighborhoods that feel like home to me and the Sunset district is one of those.
The Sunset district—besides the dorms at SFSU—was my first real community in San Francisco, and it still holds a special spot in my heart. People talk down on the Sunset but those people are wrong. The Sunset is the least-city part of the city, which is probably why I like it so much. The streets are easy to navigate if you can spell and count, the sprawls of residential blocks are broken up with little pockets of activity, and, I mean, you’ve got Ocean Beach—the salty air, the surfers, the beach vibe that you’d be hard-pressed to find anywhere north and especially east of the Sunset.
This week I spent quite a few hours roaming around the Sunset. See, I experienced something I hadn’t experienced in awhile: failure. And when I say, “I experienced” it, I mean my sweet, sweet 1996 hatchback experienced failure. (He had a busted hose, it wasn’t his fault…)
I went to get my baby smogged at a gas station on 19th and Taraval and after a disappointing failure, we (the car and I) headed down Taraval to pick up some parts from O’Reilly’s. That’s when the nostalgia set in. I realized how much of my life I spent in that part of town: taking the L in- and outbound, walking to friends’ houses, going to dive bars, trekking down to Ocean Beach to catch the sunset, and generally just growing up and collecting memories all along that small section of a big city.
Taraval (and Noriega and Lincoln) are the larger veins that run east and west through the Sunset and, as an individual who lived around 19th and Taraval and then 42nd and Taraval, you could say I know Taraval pretty well. So I’ve put together a collection of ten places that I think are noteworthy (and that give me “the feels”—a word that I just learned recently from some crazy ladies and am trying to use in my vocabulary). I’ll work my way from east to west, beginning near the eastern slope of T-val and ending up, well, I’ll let you guess…
(Also, honorable mentions to places not on Taraval but that also gave me “the feels”: Larsen Park on 19th & Ulloa; Stern Grove on 19th & Sloat; Sloat Gardening Center on Sloat & 45th; The SF Zoo on Sloat & 47th; and Sunset Supermarket on Vicente & 40th--okay the market doesn't give me "the feels" but it's a great market that I recommend to folks in the area.)
1. Guerra Quality Meats (click location names to be cleverly taken to their website)
490 Taraval St, San Francisco, CA 94116
This is a great little neighborhood butcher. When I was obsessed with cooking the two things I can cook—curry and jumbo—I would go to these guys to get my meats. They’re always super attentive and the quality is about 100% better (at a pretty equivelant price) than, say, the Safeway half a block down the road. Shop local! Hooray!
2. Parkside Farmer’s Market
555 Taraval St, San Francisco, CA 94116
Man, I love this spot. Everyone who works here is super friendly and, not only do they have wonderful prices on fresh fruits and veggies, they also have an eclectic mix of Mediterranean food. I'm a fan. Oh, and bonus points for the only produce store that I've ever known to have Mediterranean music playing on their website...
3. Seniore's (order online here)
2415 19th Ave, San Francisco, CA 94116
This spot is two shakes away from the corner of 19th and Taraval and is a Sunset staple. My roommate and I lived about 100 feet away from this place for a year so we got to know the guys and they got to know that we like pesto by the slice (because we weren’t idiots who bought whole pizzas or we’d be obese idiots. But I’ve since ordered whole pesto pizzas to my place in Glen Park …shhhh). Best memory from here: getting back from a wine tasting in Napa and witnessing my friend Aaron (guy) order, wait for, and consume his pizza wearing a purple wig and acting like absolutely nothing was out of the ordinary. It was a beautiful thing. Anyway, Seniore's is open late. They’re reasonably priced. They’ve got great pizza. Do it. Trust.
4. Grandma’s Saloon (Grandma's doesn't have a website. Weird. Their Yelp site is here.)
1016 Taraval St, San Francisco, CA 94116
(Photo coming soon. Sorry, Grandma!)
When I lived at 19th and Taraval I used to come here to play pool with the roommate, play cribbage with the ginger I adored or play some twisted “adult” version of “guess what’s different” (I don’t know the technical term for that game…) where you would click things like a missing strap on a lady’s dress or a mismatched towel beneath some fit pool boy (yes, parents, this is what your children do when they go to college…). They have a friendly—if not a bit raspy—staff, a pool table, a jukebox and a caricature of someone’s grandma above the bar, which somehow gives them more street cred.
5. The Parkside Library
1200 Taraval St, San Francisco, CA 94116
I realized most of my little stops on the walk down memory lane are either bars or food establishments. But, kids, libraries are very important so this one has made the list. This branch was renovated in 2010 and is small but bright and cheery. This branch is also located in Mccoppin park, which is a nice plus. There are lots of benches, trees and always a few children monkeying around on the playground. If you don't have a library card you are a fool. Get one (if you don't already have one...), borrow free books, get coffee at the French Bakery on Taraval and 21st, find a bench and enjoy!
6. El Burrito Express
1601 Taraval St, San Francisco, CA 94116
There is nothing like wrapping up in some layers on a sunny day in the Sunset, grabbing a delicious burrito from El Burrito Express (check out their menu here) and walking down to the beach. They've got LOTS of options for the whole range of Mexican food-lovers and walking to the beach from here will make you feel like you deserve such an amazing meal.
7. Kingdom of Dumpling
1713 Taraval St, San Francisco, CA 94116
I live in a very small apartment. This place is probably smaller than my apartment (okay, probably not…). This place is about the size of someone’s living room (yeah, that's probably right). However, what they lack in square footage, they make up for in deliciousness. There are a few dumpling places on Taraval but this is the one that you want. Yummy dumplings and spring rolls and lots of energy from the staff and the other patrons. I took my mom to this spot once and she was a little spooked by the small interior but once our food arrived, she was a believer. You will be too.
8. Parkside Tavern
1940 Taraval St, San Francisco, CA 94116
I can only really vouch for the Bloody Mary’s at this place. They’re no Zeitgeist Bloody but they’re pretty tasty—they lean more towards a full salad Bloody with all the fixin's, which I appreciate. They also have a pretty extensive menu with lots of pub fare as well as what always looked to be a pretty impressive brunch spread. I’ve stumbled out of bed and over to this place a few times to meet with friends who wanted to watch soccer (okay…?) and nurse hangovers. Solid establishment and they seem very heavily invested in supporting the local teams as well as showing the international "football" matches.
9. O’Reilly’s
2150 Taraval St, San Francisco, CA 94116
Adding this one to the list is kind of a joke but it was the many trips to O’Reilly’s over the last few days that brought me back to the Sunset so I had to give them a little credit. Can I also just mention that they have multiple, knowledgeable, helpful women working here? I love that. Also, when I was relatively new to car repairs, my partner at the time said he would change my car’s oil. (He's a sweetheart.) It was a very nice gesture so I thought I'd go and get all the supplies before he arrived. I went to O’Reilly’s and picked up two whole quarts of oil for my car and neglected to pick up, I don't know, an oil drain pan? Ayiyi. … I have learned so much since then.
10. The Riptide
3639 Taraval St, San Francisco, CA 94116
Last but certainly not least, the Riptide. This place is my second favorite bar in San Francisco and, while a lot of that is just the residual nostalgia that's been built up over six (oh sorry, five) years, it's also just a really great bar. They’ve got Open Mic on Mondays, Ladies’ Night on Thursdays, Bingo every other Saturday, and live music and fun food offerings on different days of the week. What part of that sounds not totally awesome? (Check out their schedule here.) I have many good memories from here but one of my favorites was coming on a Monday with my friend Johannes all the way from Helsinki (check out his music blog here) and listening to him perform.
Grand Finale: Ocean Beach
The last stop on the Taraval tour… Ocean Beach. What a wonderful little part of the City, right?
Walking/biking lane just east of the Great Highway
