San Francisco can be summed up in two words, our 'gay mecca'.
It remains the centre of LGBT equality in the United States and is still famed World-wide for its history in the emergence of gay rights. San Francisco became a magnet for America's counterculture. Hippies flocked to Haight-Ashbury in the 1960s, reaching a peak with the 1967 Summer of Love.
The Castro is the results of the gay movement and remains in place to this day - the area is marked by large rainbow flags and probably one of the largest fortified gay communities in the World.
San Francisco also has its own Financial District and Union Square, the shopping and hotel district. Along the main waterfront is the infamous Fisherman's Wharf and this is where Alcatraz can be accessed from.
Cable cars carry residents and tourists alike up steep inclines to the summit of Nob Hill, once the home of the city's business tycoons, and down to Fisherman's Wharf, a tourist area featuring Dungeness crab from a still-active fishing industry. Also in this quadrant are Russian Hill, a residential neighbourhood with the famously crooked Lombard Street, North Beach, the city's version of Little Italy, and Telegraph Hill, which features Coit Tower. Nearby is San Francisco's Chinatown, established in the 1860s.
The Mission District is predominantly working-class and populated by immigrants from Mexico and Central America, but is also gentrifying. Haight-Ashbury, famously associated with 1960s hippie culture, is now heavily gentrified, although it still retains some bohemian character.
San Francisco was the setting of the TV series and renowned books - Tales of the City by Amistead Maupin, who recently followed up the series with new novel Michael T Oliver Lives.
Culture
San Francisco is a non-stop city, you will get the most from staying in Union Square although it is much more expensive. It is worth doing your research of the City before you go.
While the cable cars are easy to use and take you all around the city it can become as confusing as any city.
The Castro will keep you occupied for the nightlife but there is gay venues scattered around the city, many of them very traditional from the 1970's and reminiscent of gay TV programmes.
One thing to be aware of, the number of homeless. The streets are lined night and day with homeless people - while it is a sad sight it is not worth giving them any begging money, otherwise all your spending money will be gone second night in.
It can feel very lonely in San Francisco is you choose to travel along so arrange to meet people or fill your diary with events before you go.
Equality
San Francisco is the most liberal city in the USA and many can be as free to express their sexuality as Canada, UK, and Spain however there are still parts that experience prejudice but it is unlikely that you will find yourself alone at any time during your stay - the city is always busslting, at all hours.
Currently, the state of California permits domestic-partner registration that is similar to civil unions found in other states. This grants same-sex couples all state-level rights and obligations of marriage—in areas such as inheritance, income tax, insurance and hospital visitation but does not apply to "federal-level rights of marriage that cannot be granted by states".
The country still does not have the same equality protection as Canada and the UK.
Travel Information
San Francisco is reasonably easy to walk around, but you are advised to be extremely careful - there are many muggers and thieves that could chose you as a victim.
The city has a brilliant tram system, or well-known with its better name 'Cable Cards', that will take you up-down-and-around the city with trams every few minutes.
There are also the odd bus, but tram is the favoured public transport.
There is also the reliable BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) and CalTrain commuter train systems that reach suburban cities around the Bay, as well as SFO and OAK airports, plus, it's nearly an identical experience to that of MUNI.
BART will also take you to San Francisco's surrounding and equally quirky cities where you can either go to Berkeley and join an ultra-liberal movement or go to Oakland and join a gang, the surrounding cities easily match San Francisco in sheer strangeness.
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