San Francisco: an atypical city in the panorama of American West Coast, with a vaguely European flavor, with a climate that is often unexpectedly unconventional, a metropolis with a thousand faces and a thousand identities.
This is confirmed by the many neighborhoods that draw a map not only geographic, but above all "emotional" of the city, each with its own peculiar character, colors, faces, shades, houses and inhabitants so different from each other.
The season is the right one: until November the temperature is usually mild, and you can move in complete relaxation between Castro, the rainbow district of homosexual pride, or China Town for a noodle soup, to Fisherman's Warf for the most original souvernir, or among the typical colored houses of North Beach .
But one of my favorite roads is definitely the legendary one Haight Street: you can't miss it!
The walk starts near Market Street and goes all the way to the entrance of Golden Gate Park, and is a must if you want to do the most bizarre shopping of your life.
It is no coincidence that the Haight Ashbury neighborhood was the emblem of Summer of Love of 1967, and since then not only have many rock stars left their mark on it, such as Janis Joplin, Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane and George Harrison, but it still keeps intact at every step that hippie and wild charm that makes it so irresistible.
The street is dotted with small shops, bars and restaurants, with multicolored and always original facades: there you can find everything and for all budgets, from vintage clothes and objects shops, to risky tattoo studios, from eco-friendly bookstores, to unobtainable vinyl shops , from sexy shops, to shops specializing in products derived from hemp.
If you walk along Haigth Street, therefore, and you need to refresh yourself from the efforts of shopping, you cannot miss Blue Front Café: it is run by a family of Greek Orthodox origin who offers a healthy and Mediterranean menu on the large colored blackboard behind the counter, seasoned with a truly relaxed atmosphere.
A must stop is atAmoeba Music, the very famous record store, where you can find independent labels of all genres, while for a 60's look absolutely enter the colorful Positively Haight Street, a fashion memorabilia shop from which you will surely come out with some hippie memorabilia. And then, at the end of the street and this electrifying alternative shopping experience, spread a soft blanket on the grass of the Golden Gate Park and enjoy the well-deserved relaxation from the emotions of the great Frisco!
