New York to San Fran, or the other way around?

[Bob Dylan]

Hi all.
It’s me, the OP again… Thank you all for your contributions that have been helpful and informative.
So thought I’d feedback with my booked plans thus far.
We are flying from Manchester England to Newark NYC with BA. We had some airmiles to burn off so have booked business class for both our outward in homeward flights.
We plan to stay in downtown NYC for 3 nights,..we’ve visited the city several times before so it’s really just for another look around and a few beers. We will then take the Amtrak to Chicago, and are planning on staying there either two, or three nights… Again, we’ve visited previously and so just want to have a pizza, beers, see the lake, and chill out.
From Chicago we will train over to San Francisco, perhaps probably for 3 nights. It’s then a train down to LA for either a three of 4 night stay before flying home.
We now need to work out hotels for San Fran, and probably LA,as we’ve pretty much firmed up on our NYC and Chicago accommodations.
I’d of course welcome any thoughts, or recommendations for hotels, or things to do, good pubs, restaurants et etc.
All the best to you all.
Cheers Karl

Nice trip!

If you've been to LA before I'd recommend that you consider skipping staying there due to the recent Fires and Mudslides.(0
Parts of the Area are like a War Zone with everything gone).

I'd recommend that you spend a couple of nights in Santa Barbara and/or San Diego instead.( both vety nice places)

You didn't indicate your budget for hotels but San Francisco and the other Big Cities have really increased their rates since COVID.

I f you have Points to use for Hotels, it helps alot just like Miles for Flights.

As for the Bay Area,lots of folks stay in Emeryville or Oakland, and take the Ferries or BART ( subway) across the Bay to the City, ( the Amtrak Station in both is close to the Bay.

I was just in San Francisco in July and it's still a Wondrful Place to visit,,as is New York and Chicago as you know!

 

[zephyr17]

If you've been to LA before I'd recommend that you consider skipping staying there due to the recent Fires and Mudslides.(0
Parts of the Area are like a War Zone with everything gone).

Damage from the fires is pretty much restricted to Pacific Palisades and Malibu, north of Santa Monica and Altadena north of Pasadena. Los Angeles/Southern California is a very big place and, while the damage from the fires is bad, the areas affected by the fires is miniscule in relationship to the entire metropolitan area. Stay away from the north side of Santa Monica and north side of Pasadena and you will not know anything happened. Hollywood, most of the Westside, the San Fernando Valley and downtown, just to name a few of the better known areas, are completely unaffected. In fact, 98% of Southern California is unaffected and did not burn.

There is no reason to avoid LA in general. Although hotel prices may be high right now due to number of people who got burned out.

 

[joelkfla]

In NYC, have you visited the NY Transit Museum? See subway cars dating back to 1907. It's a 5-minute walk from the Borough Hall station in Brooklyn. Currently open Wednesday thru Sunday.

Have you seen Grand Central Terminal?

 

[BCL]

Damage from the fires is pretty much restricted to Pacific Palisades and Malibu, north of Santa Monica and Altadena north of Pasadena. Los Angeles/Southern California is a very big place and, while the damage from the fires is bad, the areas affected by the fires is miniscule in relationship to the entire metropolitan area. Stay away from the north side of Santa Monica and north side of Pasadena and you will not know anything happened. Hollywood, most of the Westside, the San Fernando Valley and downtown, just to name a few of the better known areas, are completely unaffected. In fact, 98% of Southern California is unaffected and did not burn.

There is no reason to avoid LA in general. Although hotel prices may be high right now due to number of people who got burned out.

I hear this sometimes, but you're right that the reality is that it was really only a small portion of LA County that was directly affected. In addition to that, a lot of LA is heavily dependent on the tourism industry, so I'd think they would be appreciative that they still have tourists who bring in business that helps them keep their jobs.

 

[zephyr17]

In NYC, have you visited the NY Transit Museum? See subway cars dating back to 1907. It's a 5-minute walk from the Borough Hall station in Brooklyn. Currently open Wednesday thru Sunday.

Have you seen Grand Central Terminal?

Second for the NY Transit Museum. It is a must for any railfan.

 

[BCL]

As far as things to do, I'm a bit familiar. Obvious ride a cable car in San Francisco. One of the things I've done is take public transportation into San Francisco and get an all day pass on San Francisco MUNI, which is $5 if one doesn't need to ride a cable car. Any bus or Muni Metro light rail operator can sell them at the farebox. It's kind of odd because MUNI Metro stations don't sell them, although some of the F-line streetcar stops have machines that sell them.

Sorry - found that the day pass is now $5.50.

https://www.sfmta.com/fares/day-pass

Places to eat? I live in the East Bay, and frankly my favorite place to go by far is Cheeseboard Pizza in Berkeley. It's hard to describe, but it's always vegetarian (vegan options are available too) with the finest ingredients at almost ridiculously inexpensive prices considering the quality. And they charge exact 1/8 the price of a whole pie for just a slice (1/8). They also have live music. That could be combined with a trip to the UC Berkeley campus.

https://cheeseboardcollective.coop/pizza/pizza-schedule/

Also a special places called U Dessert Story. Hard to describe and I haven't tried it yet, but have walked by one of their locations (they're in Berkeley and San Francisco) and it looked incredible through the window. I think they pretty much require reservations.

https://udessertstory.com
https://www.californiaeating.com/new-blog/2019/10/8/the-never-ending-u-dessert-story

In San Francisco I have some suggestions. Chinatown is always kind of fun. My idea of dining there is whatever random takeout is available. Especially barbecue pork buns. I don't even know the names of most of the places I go to in Chinatown.

Possibly the signature food in San Francisco is New England style clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl. The clam chowder itself (which probably comes from a can) isn't really a San Francisco thing, but the way it's served is. In fact I just had one last weekend. There might be a few places that have it, but the idea came from Boudin Bakery. This is my photo from last weekend. It's a combination of the chowder in a bread bowl (costs $1 more) with a half pastrami melt.



It's available in several Boudin locations. I was at the Macy's Union Square where they have several dining options in the basement. But the signature location is in Fishermans Wharf, in the same building as their demonstration bakery. Their prices are a little bit higher, but it's a great location.

https://boudinbakery.com/boudin-at-the-wharf/



I also liked a place at Ghirardelli Square called Square Pie Guys. It's a place that serves Detroit style pizza. They have other locations, but this one is in a beautiful location.

https://www.squarepieguys.com

 

[Stevenz]

To dining options in SF I would add Columbus Ave in North Beach, lined with Italian restaurants of all kinds. I’m happy to dine no place else. But I’m boring. And Italian.

 

[Karl]

Wow.
You guys really are so kind and helpful. My wife and I genuinely appreciate the time you take to help and we will carefully look at your very helpful suggestions.
With regards accommodations in SF. Well we had not considered staying just outside of the city and taking the BART in,. It’s something we shall look at, Thanks Bob.
Thinking about Hotels in LA, my good wife is almost settled upon the Roosevelt in Hollywood, given we fly out of LAX and do not intend renting a car (you drive on the wrong side,far to complicated for us ) the Roosevelt is close to the Metro station and would represent ease and convenience for us. ??
Thank you Joe, yes we have visited Grand Central in NYC, what an extraordinary wonderful place, but never the transit museum in Brooklyn. Thanks for that one, something for us to look at indeed.
BCL, your food recommendations are really helpful. We do particularly enjoy Asian food,and so will almost certainly follow your advice and have a good look around Chinatown.Cheeseboard Pizza and U Desserts also sound very appealing and will be something we look into. Many thanks for taking the time that you have to offer such fantastic suggestions.
Steve z, my wife in particular loves Italian cuisine.We were not aware of the Columbus ave Italian area, …It’s very likely we shall be giving that a try.
For my part I’m a bit of a craft beer fan. Whilst not a knowledgeable one by any means I’d love to perhaps learn a little more by sampling some local offerings. Are any of you very helpful people able to recommend decent hostelries, where I may imbibe ? I’m thinking central, downtown areas, as we won’t have a car and so don’t wish to stagger too far back to the hotel.
Cheers all

 

[BlackDiamond]

Another attraction in NYC worth checking out if the weather is good is a walk along the High Line

 

[Bonser]

I've never used the San Francisco bus option. I think it's more convenient to use the Richmond (CA) station and take BART to/from the city. It's about a 45-minute trip to SF. Downsides: you have to haul your own bags through the BART system, there's no baggage service at Richmond, there's limited covering at station and if a westbound train is very late BART may be done for the night. But if the weather is OK, you're going eastbound and you've just got a roller bag, I think it's a better way to go (and I'm 65).
I prefer westbound going coast to coast because you pick up an hour each day, which gives you a better window for sleeping. Losing an hour the other direction really squeezes things.

I've used the Amtrak bus to and from Emeryville-San Francisco about 20 times and it's far easier than BART. Almost a seamless connection.

 

[Cal H]

Places to eat? I live in the East Bay, and frankly my favorite place to go by far is Cheeseboard Pizza in Berkeley. It's hard to describe, but it's always vegetarian (vegan options are available too) with the finest ingredients at almost ridiculously inexpensive prices considering the quality. And they charge exact 1/8 the price of a whole pie for just a slice (1/8). They also have live music. That could be combined with a trip to the UC Berkeley campus.

https://cheeseboardcollective.coop/pizza/pizza-schedule/

Here's a big second for Cheeseboard Pizza! My wife & I stayed in Berkeley last fall and CB was recommended by the hotel clerk. We ate half there, and took the other half back for the clerk... he was a very happy camper

Staying in Berkeley we took the BART to SF & back.

In Chicago, if you haven't eaten at the Walnut Room in Macy's I highly recommend it. Famous for the chicken pot pie and meatloaf. I honestly think when my wife & I went this past fall that it was the cheapest - and best - meals we had in Chicago. I had the cpp & wife had the ml.

http://macysrestaurants.com/walnut-room/

 

[Rasputin]

On our last visit, my wife and I enjoyed the Oakland Chinatown area much better than the San Francisco Chinatown which we felt had gotten a bit touristy.

 

[BCL]

For my part I’m a bit of a craft beer fan. Whilst not a knowledgeable one by any means I’d love to perhaps learn a little more by sampling some local offerings. Are any of you very helpful people able to recommend decent hostelries, where I may imbibe ? I’m thinking central, downtown areas, as we won’t have a car and so don’t wish to stagger too far back to the hotel.
Cheers all

Now you're speaking my language. The craft beer scene in the San Francisco Bay Area is spectacular, although quite a bit of it is hard to get to without a car. But there are breweries and taprooms in San Francisco which are fairly easy to get to by public transportation or by rideshare/taxi. I can't really do it justice since I haven't been to a lot of these places, but there are websites about them.

https://www.sftravel.com/article/best-breweries-san-francisco
https://sf.eater.com/maps/best-breweries-san-francisco

Living near Berkeley, I really love Fieldwork Brewing. It's hard to describe other than they do a rotating selection of different beer types. Their main brewery is in Berkeley in an industrial part of town, but they have taprooms around Northern California.

https://fieldworkbrewing.com

But the Mecca is Russian River Brewing. It's consistently considered one of the best beermakers in the United States. Their signature beer is Pliny the Elder, named after the Roman philosopher and scientist who was the first to scientifically describe hops. It's an 8% alcohol by volume American style IPA, which many would call a "double IPA". Many consider it to be the first of its kind that started a trend towards higher alcoho IPA in the United States. Once a year they also have a 10% alcohol beer called Pliny the Younger, named after the nephew of Pliny the Elder. People will line up for 3-8 hours to get that (and I have).

It's kind of hard to get to. The location I prefer is in Windsor, in what's more Sonoma County wine country. The building feels almost like a farmhouse style winey. The location (a brewpub and their primary brewery) is random and nearly impossible to get to without a car or an expensive ride. Their original brewpub and a separate brewery are in Santa Rosa, which is much easier to reach via public transit, although it will take a little bit of walking from the train station. The appearance of the brewpub is more dive bar, but the beer is just amazing. I'd had the beer before, but the first time I went there I got "The Rack" which was small samples of 18 of their beers. It's hard to see from this photo, but the name of each beer is on a bottle cap that's glued to the board. Which is really odd since the caps on their bottles don't have the name of the beer, which is only on the label. They have a wide variety of different beers including aged sours.

https://www.russianriverbrewing.com/santa-rosa-location/
https://www.russianriverbrewing.com/windsor-location/

If you have the time, I'd recommend going to Santa Rosa. It's a really nice ride there from San Francisco that can be done via ferry to Larkspur, followed by a train ride to Santa Rosa. The area around the train station is called Railroad Square, but it's named after the old train station. The tricky part is paying the fare. I think they still sell physical tickets for the ferry (Golden Gate Ferry), but the train only accepts tickets purchased virtually on their own mobile phone app or the Clipper interagency fare card, although there is a virtual version now for mobile phones on an app for phones with NFC features. There's also a combination $10 ferry and train ticket available on their app. The system is called the Sonoma Marin-Area Rail Transit (aka SMART). But just as a tourist I'd recommend the ride. The ferry between San Francisco and Larkspur passes by Alcatraz, although it also passes by San Quentin Prison. The train ride passes through a lot of Sonoma and Marin farmland next to the freeway.

I mentioned a lot of things, so here are the relevant websites. You might also want to learn how to ride BART, the public transit system that covers much of the San Francisco Bay Area. If you're interested in going to Berkeley you're going to need to ride it.

https://www.clippercard.com
https://www.goldengate.org/ferry/schedules-maps/
https://www.goldengate.org/sail--rail-10-fares/
https://www.sonomamarintrain.org
https://www.bart.gov

This video isn't as useful now, but it was the only video I could find linking ferry and train rides. I think when it was made, the train station in Larkspur hadn't been completed. Also - it shows the flipboard display (aka "Solari board") at the San Francisco Ferry Building.



Also - a warning about riding public transit. Many of the public transit systems are proof of fare, meaning you ride first, and then deal with fare inspectors. San Francisco Municipal Railway (San Francisco MUNI, which is mostly buses ironically) allows boarding in the back door of a bus, but theoretically a fare inspector could ask to see proof of fare at any time. When I rode on SMART, there was a fare inspector riding on every train. We were asked before the train started moving in Larkspur (the origin point). We had it on our Clipper fare cards, so the fare inspector used a scanning device to see that we had "tagged" our fare cards (for automatic deduction of cash value).

 

[Rasputin]

Yes, Russian River Pliny the Elder. That's the one!