We've written a couple stories (here and here) that might help you, but without really knowing what you're looking for I pulled out a few and added a couple that I think are good picks in SF proper:
Firestone Grill, Central Coast Brewing, Libertine Brewing, Woodstock's for late night pizza. Black Horse for coffee, or Kreuzberg or Scout for the fancy stuff.
Hmm, we're not big drinkers but I'll give it a try. Anything you'd recommend besides food/drinks?
Yes, Bishop's is a good hike. Also, Avila Beach is one nice option but there are a bunch.
You can get releases from most of the breweries mentioned here at K&L Wines and/or City Beer Store (both in SoMa, San Francisco). You would have to go to a Fieldwork location to get those — as someone said, the San Mateo one is probably the only one on your way — but they're definitely worth a pick-up. If you're looking for the juicy IPAs, Fieldwork, Humble Sea (if you can get it), Alvarado Street, and sometimes Temescal are some good bets. For the classic West Coast, always go with the Pliny the Elder or Blind Pig from Russian River. Those are usually delivered in San Francisco on Wednesdays I believe, though the latter single IPA is hard to find.
I liked the space as a venue for a small festival, and the lineup was kinda random, but definitely had some gems in there! The turnout on both days was fairly light compared to other fest’s I’ve been to in the bay, and I’m not sure how comfortable it would be for one of the larger fests here, but my friends and I were wondering if maybe Treasure Island Music Festival was considering the space for their anticipated venue change this year.
The layout of the fest was interesting; the main grassy area by the covered cement slabs and picnic tables in the center of the park would’ve been my first guess at where the main stage would be, but instead they set up the (~5) vendors there. The main (only) stage for the fest was instead placed down closer to the bay water, below the grassy field near the 2 story structure at the south end of the park. This was actually a great spot for the stage as it made for a gorgeous panoramic view of the performers on stage, crowd, and active bay all day in the background.
3 issues I had with the festival were that 1- drinks were restricted to within a certain area of the fest, and could not be brought into the main stage crowd area, 2- zero to minimal cell phone coverage at the whole event, and 3- the shitshow that was the lyft situation at the end of the night. The event only allowed attendees to enter and leave the fest via a shuttle from west Oakland’s bart station, or by taking an Uber/lyft. The lack of cell phone service + mass exodus of people at the end of the night (Saturday night) left hundreds of young people wandering around middle harbor road at 11pm trying to find service to call their lyft, and then trying to navigate in the dark to their driver parked in a sea of about 70 other rideshare drivers looking for their riders. The scene was poetically apocalyptic, and frankly, I’m just glad we survived. Def opted to leave early Day 2 and go the shuttle route.
All in all it was a decent fest, and I was happy to see some of my favorite artists perform at one of my favorite parks in Oakland. It was sweet to see so many people discovering the park for the first time, too 👍🏾
You nailed it — Treasure Island just announced they're using the same venue.
This one was actually probably Marvel's "Ant-Man and the Wasp." Some extras took pics of the actors on set there.
Not to throw a wrench in all this, but there's also Brewbies at Faction Brewing in Alameda. It's a big beer fest on April 21 that benefits the Keep A Breast Foundation (breast cancer). They usually get a pretty exceptional brewery lineup (this was last year's), and because it's for a good cause too it's a pretty popular one.
Anybody tried this, have recommendations, or know if anybody is distributing in bottles or cans?
I wrote this, and I've tried a few, but if you're not in Northern California, it will be hard to get them. I've only seen them packaged once so far (a collab called Three Cheers by Social, Cellarmaker and Temescal) but I've just heard that Bike Dog in Sacramento is going to be canning theirs. That brewery does some distribution through Whole Foods in California. That might be your best bet.
There is a red-eye sleeper bus (with beds) called Cabin that you can take from SF to LA. We had one of our writers take it and she didn't love it, but it's one new-ish alternative to the Megabus.
If you're planning on stopping all along 101, I'd just rent a car. It's probably your cheapest option, though you'll need to figure out where to put it in LA. I'd also suggest a stop in San Luis Obispo/Paso Robles/Pismo Beach or Santa Barbara. Beautiful beach cities.
This headline is not actually true - she told me they had already replaced the retainer by the time he found out about it. BUT she did ask that next time he comes to the Bay Area he poses for a photo with her and her orthodontist "for her records."
