What? What is that? Where am I? Who am I?

Avenues and streets

• Please, please please, do not confuse a "street" with an "avenue".
• 10th street is at the other side of the city from 10th avenue.
• Streets, in general, run East to West.
• Numbered avenues run North to South, and they are all on the residential western side of the city, in the Richmond and in the Sunset districts. Both of these districts are known locally as "the avenues" The Richmond and the Sunset lay along Golden Gate Park, which means along the western half of the city.
• Numbered streets are near the Mission and downtown, in the eastern third of the city.
• Named streets run . . .
• Every which way in parts of town other than Richmond or Sunset
• East to West in The Avenues (Richmond and Sunset districts) i.e. Ortega street, Lawton street
• Local people are so used to calling anything in the Richmond or the Sunset an "avenue" that they will refer to them as Ortega avenue or Lawton avenue. They are streets, however. I tell you this because it might come in handy when a formal street name is needed, like when you are addressing an envelope.

In the the Richmond and the Sunset , streets are alphabetical

• They run alphabetically, from North to South. Handy when you are good and lost.
• Therefore, near The Presidio, we start with Anza street, then southwards to Balboa, Cabrillo . . . across Golden Gate Park . . .then Irving, Judah etc, all the way to Yorba street near the Zoo.
• There are exceptions on either side of Golden Gate Park. On the north, GGP is bounded by Fulton Street, and on the South by Lincoln.

Richmond vs. The Richmond

• Richmond is a nearby city
• The Richmond is a San Francisco neighborhood.

Golden Gate…

• Golden Gate park is not next to the Golden Gate bridge. They're somewhat close to each other, but they don't touch.
• The Golden Gate Bridge is at the northernmost tip of SF
• Golden Gate Park is at the Western side of the city.

Surroundings

San Francisco is at the northern tip of a North/South peninsula. That Peninsula is about 35 miles long.

City size

SF is about 7 miles by 7 miles; it's roughly a square city (no pun intended)

Nearby Cities

• EASTWARD : "The East Bay", across the Bay Bridge
• Oakland
• Berkeley
• El Cerrito
• San Leandro
• Birthplace of adorable little Marsea.Abina of the little Girl Scout troop who came to SF and like the Castro and the Haight-Ashbury the best.  Hi sweetheart!
• Castro Valley
• Hayward
• Union City
• Fremont
• Newark
• Concord
• San Ramon
• Pleasanton
• NORTHWARD : "Marin County", across the Golden Gate Bridge
• Sausalito
• San Rafael
• Mill Valley
• Tiburon
• SOUTHWARD : Along the Peninsula
• Daly City
• Colma
• San Mateo
• San Carlos
• Menlo Park
• Palo Alto
• Silicon Valley consists of :
• San Jose
• Cupertino
• Mountain View
• Sunnyvale
• WESTWARD :
• Tokyo. The bridge is currenly out of service.

Islands

• Alcatraz Island

Now out of commision, it's a tourist destination. You can reach it by ferry.

• Angel Island

Basically, a biiiig mountain in the middle of the bay. Good for hiking, picnics, day-tripping. Ferries do not carry cars onto this island, just passengers.

• Farallon Islands

Off limits. Bird sanctuary, I believe. Treacherous shores make it life-threatening to try to reach them. Barely visible over the western horizon.