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Alfredo,
Can We Stay At Your Place?
Accomodation
Tips
These
youth hostel tips come to you courtesy of Shari Porter, a user of these
pages who moved from Oregon to San Francisco.
American
Youth Hostels
- SF
International Hostel
- Fort
Mason (Near the Marina, I think)
- San
Francisco, CA
- 415-771-7277
- Golden
Gate Hostel
- Fort
Berry
- Sausalito,
CA
- 415-331-2777
- Shari
says that this hostel is about 3 miles from the nearest bus stop!
A good tip to know . . .
- Hostel
at Union Square (downtown SF)
- Montara
Lighthouse Hostel
- 16th
and Cabrillo Highway
- Montara,
CA
- 728-7177
- Pigeon
Point Lighthouse Hostel
- Highway
1
- Pescadero,
CA
- 879-0633
- Point
Reyes Hostel
- Golden
Gate Council Aministrative Offices
- 425
Divisadero
- San
Francisco, CA
- 415-863-1444
I don't think
it's part of the American Youth Hostel, but Shari wanted me to mention
that the Green Tortoise Hostel somewhere in the North Beach area is a
"party hostel". Does that mean it's not a hostile hostel, Shari?
(Ugh! Sorry! : )
Shari also
says to consider the Monroe Residence Club, which charges about $115
a week.
- 1870
Sacramento St.
- Voice:
415-474-6200
- Fax:
415-346-1870
My
own experience
Unfortunately,
as a local guy, I have very little knowledge of hotels and motels. Downtown
at least, the seedy areas are interspersed with the luxury areas. It is
safe to say that they are cheek-by-jowl, which makes it tough to guess
whether you will be on the nice side of the border.
The best
I can do is to offer the text below, which comes from some emails that
I sent to people who were wondering the same thing you are: Is this
a nice and safe place to stay?
Mind you,
the only reason I was able to answer the emails was because I was between
programming contracts. Usually, I cannot answer requests for information
like this except in some cases. Please see the FAQ
for more information.
Email 1
> i have
reservations
> as the best western civic center. is it nice? is it safe?
Is it safe?
I feel like Dustin Hoffman all of a sudden. :)
Well, the
civic center area is nice - city hall, the main library, the opera house.
Everywhere except Northwards, it's a little seedy.
9th and
Harrison. Mmmm. That's about 6 blocks south from civic center. It's
in the SOMA area (see
my home page), which can be nice and trendy. *Some* parts of SOMA are
the areas where people would go if they wanted illicit thrills, but
it also has fine hotels as well as the Moscone center, which is where
presumably the Mac convention is. Moscone is around 3rd, 6 blocks East
of the hotel.
> any
> information you could give me would be great. do you know any other
> hotels to try for $100 or less a night?
I'm sorry,
I really don't know hotels, being a local who lives here. Maybe the
email fragment below, which I have sent to someone else, might help.
By the
way, even though I'm a windows programmer, I still admit that the mac
is better engineered, both hardware- and software-wise. You can quote
me on that at the convention, you'll probably get a toast made to you
or something out of this accomplishment. :)
Here goes
Email 2
>
I've done a little research on hotels there and am at
> a loss on where to stay. Can you tell me if
the Andrews Hotel on
> Post St. would be okay?
Andrews,
eh? Phone books says it's at Post and Taylor. Mind you, I don't have
the first clue what it looks like, I just know the area. It's a busy
area one block from Geary Blvd, a major artery.
It sounds
like it's near some nice, big, generic hotels. About four blocks south
of it is the "Tenderloin"
area, a poor area of inner downtown.
The funny
thing is that in SF the poor area and the extremely wealthy area are
near each other, at least in downtown. Also, even the poor areas here
are decent-looking, not bombed out like New York. The area you'd be
at is near (s)Nob Hill,
but not too close.
> Why
am I telling you all this? :) I guess my question to you is
> what area should we stay in?
Hmmm, I'm
very sorry, I wish I could give more help than I am giving. You see,
as someone who lives here, I sure don't know hotels. Neither do my friends,
when they come to visit they stay with me. My place is rated tops, "Four
Cockroaches". :)
What area
to stay? A very difficult question, I don't know what your tastes are,
whether you like downtown life or not.
If you
want charming in a quiet, or at least nice, area I would look at the
motels/hotels in North
Beach, The Castro,
and The Marina.
The only little hotel in the Marina I've been in is the Edward II suites,
Scott at Lombard, 415-922-3000. It was nice, and three college women
who were visiting the city could afford it, so maybe it's not outrageouly
expensive.
I believe
Yahoo has a bay area section, and I think that'd probably be a great
resource for hotel names, at least.
If you
want something in the boonies of the city, at the edge of the ocean
in a very quiet, residential neighborhood ...check out Roberts-At-The-Beach
Motel, 415-564-2610. It's right next to the zoo (see my
map in the SF home page) and it might be cheaper because it's soooo
out in the boonies. Still, SF is a physically small city. If you took
the nearby Light Rail Vehicle, you could be downtown in 45 minutes.
> And
is there enough public
> transportation to get by without renting a car?
Yes, I
think so, probably. If you don't mind riding the bus during a vacation,
Muni is pretty good. 98% of the addresses in SF are within two blocks
of a Muni line. Also look at BART, our ultra-modern :) trans-bay tube
which covers the whole bay area. Goes under the bay and everyting.
You might
have to wait a little to get to places, but I think it's better to jump
in with the locals than to be hermetically sealed in a tour bus or a
car and not let the city touch you.
> Any
advice you could offer will be greatly appreciated. Thanks
> again!
Thanks
for writing!! Usually, my schedule doesn't allow me to respond to requests
like this, but, aw hell, you sounded nice. Anyways, the kind of email
you sent always makes my day, thanks again for writing. If you want
to, you could let me know afterwards how it went. Glad you're coming,
have a great time, and enjoy your stay!
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