Access San Francisco (7th ed) [Paperback]

Rudy Maxa (Author)

Book Description

Series: 7th ed | Publication Date: December 1996

This guide to San Francisco includes the Fisherman's Wharf, the Coit Tower and the Golden Gate Bridge. Each city block is recreated with colour-coded entries that describe the restaurants, hotels, shops and parks, and cultural and historic sites of interest to visitors. Along with maps keyed to these entries, the guide features prices and quality ratings, notes on the city's history and architecture, and "Bests" sections in which well-known residents share their personal recommendations.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

A frequent contributor to the Washington Post, Travel & Leisure, GQ, and dozens of other publications, he often appears as a travel consultant on CNN and Live with Regis and Cathie Lee!, and can be found on-line in his column called "The SavTravs Weekly Hot Tips." He lives in Washington D.C. and New York City. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Access Pr; 7th edition (December 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0062771698
• ISBN-13: 978-0062771698
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,198,558 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Use this guide to supplement another one., September 23, 2000

By 

Soggyinseattle (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Access San Francisco (Paperback)

Having been to SF a few times before (some years ago), I purchased this guide as my only guide for the city. I didn't want to carry a big heavy book on my weekend trip and, more often than not, I found myself without the information I needed. The typical questions any visitor might have go unanswered and the information is spotty. For instance, the author gives a list of the primary local radio stations, including the radio dial numbers for them, but fails to tell the reader what some of the primary city bus routes are that run in and out of the center of downtown. And yet, looking at the maps throughout the book, you'll see route numbers on many of the streets depicted, but these refer to bicycle routes, not buses. Really, how many tourists are even going to think about riding a bicycle through probably the hilliest city in the world? The most obvious thing that is lacking is any information about the one thing that any visitor wants to know about: the cable cars (there is mention of the oldstyle electric buses or trolleys). Look in the index under "cable cars", and you won't find it. The basics about the cable car system are missing: what the cable car routes are, where does one get on the cable car (I knew that you can get on one at any stop if it's not full - good luck), and how to pay for the cable car ride (the operater collects the fare or looks at your day pass just before the car leaves the stop).

The restaurant reviews are handy, but again, uneven. My companions were eager to go to Fisherman's Wharf (one place I knew to be such a tourist trap that it was best left unvisited) and have dinner. Once we were there, we found the guide lacking in any mention of the most obvious places to eat in the heart of the Wharf. The author mentions one restaurant, Alioto's, but discounts the rest as simply not worth going to. So we went to Fisherman's Grotto, which I was apprehensive about, but it wasn't bad, certainly not haute cuisine. We were all pleased with what we ordered. I tried the sand dabs, a type of small flat fish caught in the Bay, which were nicely prepared and very delicate: lightly floured and fried in a little butter.

On the plus side: the maps are very handy, and easy to read. I did like the way the book was sectioned-off into the different districts.

Overall, the book is best suited as a supplement to a more thorough guidebook, but not the primary source for your trip. I just can't see how anyone can write a guide book to any city and fail to give information about key places that most tourists will want to know about.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A true insider's guide, February 24, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Access San Francisco (Paperback)

The very best part of this book are the SF residents' (Dianne Feinstein, Shirley Fong-Torres, Herbert Gold, Wolfgang Puck, William Stout and others) recommendations. Residency in a city affords one the opportunity to discover the best of the best -- and, oh, are these suggestions good. Plus, the suggested walking tours described in the back of the book provided the perfect amount of information, just enough to incite interest without giving away the experience. This book is so good that I'm ordering an updated copy.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Downhill, March 12, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Access San Francisco 10e (Paperback)

I have always thought this was the best guidebook series going, but since Richard Saul Wurman sold the series to Harper Collins the books have been getting sloppy. The writing has been taken over by "updaters" who don't check the facts. The updater's name doesn't appear until the outside back cover (in this case a woman named Linda Peck).

For instence: in the section on the Fairmont Hotel (p. 84) the writer states that the Crown Room has wonderful buffets, brunches and dinners. In fact, the Crown Room has been closed to the public for the last four years -favoring private functions and banquets which presumably bring in more money per square foot.

Excited that the book said the Crown Room was open, I e-mailed the Fairmont to make sure. They replied that it is still used only for private functions, with the exception of "holiday buffets" such as Easter, Mother's Day, and Christmas. (In other words, special days when they can fill the entire square footage.)

I know that things change in cities, and guide books have trouble keeping up with all the store-front restaurants that open and close. But we're talking about one of the world's most famous hotels -not to mention one of the world's best views which has now been denied to both guests and the public.

On page 21, a paragraph about the War Memorial Opera House says "(See the plan on the next page.)" The problem is that the plan is directly below that paragraph -not on the next page. If you take the writer at her word and turn the page, you are looking at a diagram of the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall instead.

Richard Saul Wurman's entire life has been dedicated to accurate communication. He has worked too hard to build this series to see new editions jammed together without proper proof reading.

Oh yes, with modern printing technology Harper's can just as easily print entire articles in the key color -just as Wurman did. The books look cheapened by having only the paragraph titles in color.