Customer Reviews

The Other Guide to San Francisco

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The Other Guide prepares you for San Francisco by introducing you to the mythology that built it: The Barbay Coast, Beat Generation, Rolling Stone magazine, Irish Coffee, and KSAN. Yet it doesn't read as a docu-book. Hansen's witty, friendly style makes it a good read whether or not you're planning a trip.

Having The Other Guide along is like having your favorite funky-uncle showing you the City.

I hope he decides to update it. Some of his favorite spots have been reincarnated. But the legends never die.

Written more than twenty years ago, most of the information contained within this guide is still highly usable. The Other Guide is more about what makes (and has made) this city hum, rock, and dance, than about tourist destination-spots. Yet it points the way to some of San Francisco's most interesting cracks and corners.

You'll learn about the Barbary Coast, The Patti Hearst saga, Haight Ashbury, the Beats, the earthquake, Levi Strauss,The Its It, progessive rock-radio, Rolling Stone Magazine. . . . all in bite-size, yet highly informative, segments.

One of my favorite sections is "50 Famous San Franciscans Favorite Restaurants"--an entertaining way to get to know all of the cities culinary offerings.

Hansen knows and loves the city and entertains us with his wry sense of humor and unique perspective. One only wonders, with all the 'tales from the city' that continue to write themselves, why he hasn't updated the book.