Moving

22 San Francisco issues everybody should do in 2022

After spending most of the last two years in the fetal position, we’re daring to be optimistic in 2022 — believing this will really be the year we get to discover San Francisco again.

So, Heather Knight and I began dreaming up a list of must-do San Francisco adventures for 2022. We started with a Total SF podcast episode, and now we’re expanding it into this guide, adding suggestions from colleagues including urban design critic John King and wine critic Esther Mobley.

Next, we’d like to hear from you! We’re planning to include reader picks in a future update. Give us your suggestions for iconic San Francisco experiences by tagging @PeterHartlaub on Twitter or sending an email to phartlaub@sfchronicle.com with “SF 2022” in the subject line.

  1. Free
  2. Cheap
  3. Affordable
  4. Pricey

Cheap

Ride the 39 Coit Muni line end to end

Peter’s pick: The 39 Coit through North Beach is the shortest neighborhood Muni route and, after the cable cars, the best way to feel like a tourist in your own town. It’s filled with spectacular views, landmarks and iconic sights — and it costs less than one-tenth the price of any local tourist bus.

For the $2.50 Muni fare you’ll ride around Fisherman’s Wharf and Washington Square Park, past Joe DiMaggio playground and up to Coit Tower, where you can pay to go to the top or check out the 1930s murals inside the tower’s base for free. Be sure to applaud your Muni driver when they make that impossible-looking hairpin turn at the end of Telegraph Hill Boulevard.

Affordable

Join a yoga class at the San Francisco Botanical Garden

Heather’s pick: The Botanical Garden quickly became a pandemic MVP in 2020, as San Franciscans discovered the serene 55-acre park-within-a-park is a wonderful and safe place to feel lost in nature in the big city.

Along with annual events including the Flower Piano and magnolia bloom, the Botanical Garden offers vinyasa-style yoga on the main meadow the first Thursday of each month — free to members, $15 for others — led by vinyasa-style yoga instructor Nicolette Telech, who is also executive assistant at the Botanical Garden. Register here.

Free

Climb the Grandview Park stairs at sunset

Peter’s pick: The mosaic steps off 16th Avenue near Grandview Park should be one of the top tourist destinations in the city, but their distance from the hotels and most major transit lines have kept the 163-step stairway in Golden Gate Heights a quiet neighborhood place.

Walk up the steps just before the sun sets, look west over the Sunset District, and enjoy one of the most inspiring views in the city.

Cheap

Play a Wurlitzer orchestrion at Musee Mecanique

Peter’s pick: Musee Mecanique is known for clown-that-haunts-our-dreams Laffin’ Sal, a solid collection of vintage video games and strange electromagnetic machines from San Francisco’s Sutro Baths and Playland-at-the-Beach entertainment era.

But our favorite devices to plug quarters into are the orchestrions — carefully restored one-man-band machines from the early 1900s that play piano, flute, violin and drums. One of them even plays The Beach Boys’ “Surfin’ Safari.” Bring some change and discover which one for yourself.

Cheap

Have musubi from Avenues on the sand

Chronicle restaurant critic Soleil Ho’s pick: Ho chooses a quick stop at the breakfast/lunch spot Avenues San Francisco for its Spam or tofu musubi. The Taraval Street cafe near the beach also has avocado toast, banh mi and a three-cheese grilled cheese sandwich.

“One thing I really like to do is buy a musubi at Avenues in the Sunset and eat it on the beach,” Ho wrote. “(I don’t know) how S.F. that is, but it’s a lovely thing to do.”

Pricey

Watch “Dear San Francisco” at Club Fugazi

Heather’s pick: The city mourned when “Beach Blanket Babylon” departed at the end of 2019, but it turned out to be a blessing on multiple fronts.

It allowed the musical revue to bow out to full crowds before the pandemic changed entertainment — and it opened the doors for “Dear San Francisco,” a circus and music extravaganza that has plenty of local ties of its own.

“Ultimately, ‘Dear San Francisco’ is a love letter not just to the city but also to the human body,” The Chronicle’s Lily Janiak wrote in her review, “reminding even the much less lithe among us that our arms and legs are tools and shapes we perhaps forget to use creatively.”

Free

Bike on the Great Walkway with the wind at your back

Chronicle theater critic Lily Janiak’s pick: Janiak is known for biking everywhere — including occasional trips to watch Shakespeare in Ashland, Ore. She recommends a bike ride on the Great Highway on a weekend or holiday afternoon in the direction of the prevailing winds.

“You’ll feel like you’re barely expending effort, so smooth is the ride,” Janiak says. “You’ll have a dorky smile plastered on your face, and you won’t be able to pry it off, but don’t worry — everyone else is in the same sitch.”

Affordable

Ogle the Exploratorium cow eyeball dissection

Peter’s pick: The Exploratorium’s half-century-old recipe for education and fun has yielded one of the strangest traditions in the city: watching a cow eyeball dissection. Since the exhibit launched in the mid-1970s, generations of Bay Area youth have crowded around as Exploratorium “explainers” cheerfully take apart cow eyes with a scalpel.

Cow eyeball dissections happen most days at the Exploratorium; schedules are available upon arrival.

(And look for other Exploratorium classics including the discover-in-the-dark Tactile Dome, designed by August Coppola AKA Nicolas Cage’s dad.)

Free

Hike to McLaren Park water tower

Peter’s pick: Officially the La Grande Water Tank, this blue tower in the northwest corner of McLaren Park next to the Excelsior neighborhood marks the most underrated view, in the most underrated park in the city.

Through what seems like a visual trick using mirrors, you can see the Pacific Ocean, Sutro Tower, Marin Headlands, downtown San Francisco and the western span of the Bay Bridge all from the same point. We discovered this on the latest Peak 2 Peak walk — an annual hike through San Francisco for members of WalkSF. You can access the water tower quickly from Excelsior Avenue or John F. Shelley Drive near the McLaren Upper Reservoir — but we recommend a stroll through the park, starting at the Philosopher’s Way trailhead at Visitacion Avenue and Mansell Street.

Free

Explore the Lands End Labyrinth

Chronicle business reporter Roland Li pick: Li, who is also a photographer and an MVP contributor to our best discover-S.F. projects, picks one of the most mysterious and rewarding hikes in the city. The 35-foot-diameter labyrinth made out of rocks, at the end of Lands End Trail, was created in 2004.

“The Lands End Trail has surprises around every corner, with views of shipwrecks, gun batteries and the Golden Gate,” Li says. “The hike culminates with the mysterious labyrinth, which appears both of the earth and otherworldly.”

Affordable

Hop the ferry to Treasure Island

Heather’s pick: Ferry service from the San Francisco Ferry Building to Treasure Island should start any week now; at first on a 48-passenger aluminum boat that offers faster access to a neighborhood with incredible views and huge potential for growth.

Heather Knight made this pick with Treasure Island’s new wineries in mind; the ferry stop is walking distance to Sottomarino Winery and VIE Winery. Or stroll north along Avenue of the Palms and visit Mersea Restaurant, which offers burgers, tacos and other comfort food in a kid and bike-friendly setting that includes a putting green and plenty of patio seating.

Free

Earthquake shack hunt in Bernal Heights

Peter’s pick: After the 1906 earthquake and fire, more than 5,600 earthquake shacks were built in San Francisco parks to house the newly homeless, and many were later moved throughout the city and Bay Area.

Miraculously, there are dozens left today in San Francisco, with the largest cluster visible in Bernal Heights. Use our detailed earthquake shack map to take a walk through this hilly neighborhood — and let us know if you discover any that aren’t on our list.

Affordable

Catch the Christmas concert at Grace Cathedral

Heather’s pick: Heather Knight chose this holiday tradition, which goes back 75 years, and focused for decades around the Grace Cathedral Choir of Men and Boys, but now includes a brass and organ presentation, the jazz and storytelling-infused Soulful Joy concerts and a children’s program.

The Nob Hill cathedral returned to live performances for 2021, and tickets remain affordable — most are between $5 and $25.

“Every Christmas I think of this and every year I don’t do it, so this year I’m committing,” Knight says. “Of course, I’m going to get there on a cable car.”

Free

Amble through Crane Cove in Dogpatch

Chronicle urban design critic John King’s pick: While the Warriors captured the biggest headlines moving into Chase Center, there’s another big ticket addition to the recently transformed neighborhoods in Mission Bay and Dogpatch.

King explains: “The last thing you might expect south of China Basin is a sandy beach with large lawns perched between Mission Bay and a ghostly drydock, but that’s the scene at this surprisingly seductive park that opened last year alongside Pier 70. If you haven’t been, you’re overdue.”

Pricey

Bring a friend to a “Golden Girls Live!” performance

Peter’s pick: “Golden Girls Live! The Christmas Episodes,” drag performances of episodes from TV’s “The Golden Girls” presented by Oasis SF, has been a favorite since its 2007.

The entire vibe at the Victoria Theatre in the Mission District is off-the-charts positive, with Christmas carol sing-alongs, post-performance photos with the cast (including D’Arcy Drollinger as Rose and Heklina as Dorothy) and generous wine pours from the bar. Raise a toast to Betty White, and make this your new tradition.

Free

Pay respects to Mr. Iguana at the Presidio Pet Cemetery

The Presidio is filled with fun adventures, whether it’s the base’s still-operational bowling alley, the Walt Disney Family Museum and Presidio Theatre, the 14-acre Tunnel Top (opening soon) or just throwing a Frisbee on the vast lawns of the parade ground.

But the most San Francisco spot in the park is the Presidio Pet Cemetery, a 70-year-old final resting place for hundreds of dogs, cats, birds and at least one lizard named Mr. Iguana. The small fenced-in cemetery and its strong Stephen King vibes are free to anyone who wants to pay respects and check out the charming headstones.

(There’s no room for more pets, but you can spread your dearly departed’s ashes any time.)

Affordable

Eat a hoagie from Palm City Wines on the beach

Chronicle wine critic Esther Mobley’s pick: It’s a special kind of hive mind that two Chronicle food and wine section critics, independent of each other, chose something delicious to bring to Ocean Beach. Mobley picked her pairing from Palm City Wines — star of a recent Best Day Ever.

“The best hoagie at Palm City is the roast pork — it has pickled pepper aioli, broccoli rabe and Point Reyes Toma cheese,” Mobley says. “They usually have colorful cans of very hoppy IPAs from great breweries like Humble Sea.”

Free

Stroll through Salesforce Park

Chronicle urban design critic John King’s pick: King recommends Salesforce Park, one of San Francisco’s newest public parks in the Rincon Hill-area “East Cut” neighborhood (we’ll never get used to that name). It’s filled with walking paths, amphitheaters, board games and a water feature that “chases” the buses running below.

“No other city has gardens and meadows floating amid towers 70 feet in the air, atop a three-block-long transit center,” King says. “The name, by the way, is the result of a sponsorship deal: Thank the landscape architecture firm PWP and Pelli Clarke & Partners architects for downtown’s most stress-free retreat.”

Affordable

Experience the chaos at a Neo-Futurists performance

Chronicle theater critic Lily Janiak’s pick: The Neo-Futurists perform energetic and unexpected productions “rooted in chance and chaos,” with new works onstage at PianoFight every Friday and Saturday night 50 weeks out of the year.

“(It’s) a show with audience participation you’ll actually want to participate in, because it’s not scary, just fun and collaborative,” Janiak says. “You’ll walk out feeling like you want to be a theater artist, too.”

After mostly digital shows in 2020 and 2021, look for live performances in 2022.

Free

Climb the Filbert Steps in Telegraph Hill

Chronicle urban design critic John King’s pick: King calls the Filbert Steps “a time-worn fave,” and we need a few of those on the list. The staircase is a secret even to some longtime San Franciscans, starting on Sansome Street near the Embarcadero and ending at Coit Tower.

“Walk the Filbert Steps from Levi’s Plaza north to the top of Telegraph Hill,” King says. “Every step and all the surroundings will remind you why this city is like no other, all its problems aside.”

Pricey

Sit in the most S.F. seats at Oracle Park

Peter’s pick: General rule for San Francisco baseball tickets: The more money you spend, the less you feel connected to the city.

Our favorite seats aren’t in the Club section or behind home plate, but high up on the right field line in View Reserved, between sections 304 and 308. They’re among the cheapest seats on the resale market, but you get the best views, with McCovey Cove, the Bay Bridge and Yerba Buena Island and a little bit of the city skyline. Nothing feels more omniscient at a baseball game than seeing the batter and the kayaks waiting for a splash hit.

Free

Explore the Visitacion Valley Greenway (on the Crosstown Trail)

Peter’s pick: We love the entirety of the Crosstown Trail, the 17-mile walk through San Francisco that starts at Candlestick Point and finishes at Lands End.But our favorite wonder on the trail is the Visitacion Valley Greenway, a tiered series of gardens, stairs, artwork and creativity that spans six blocks; each one making an increasingly strong case for Vis Valley as the most underrated neighborhood in San Francisco.

Credits

Lily Janiak, John King, Heather Knight, Roland Li, Esther Mobley

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