If You're Going To San Francisco: Pacific Heights

One day, when we're somewhat older and much, much richer we dream of living in Pacific Heights. It will be magnificent. We will stake our claim to a sixth floor walkup condo for 2.1 million dollars. In the mornings we will plop ourselves down in one of the many cafes and watch the denizens of The PH go to yoga or pilates, the women all sporting sunglasses the size of welding masks and the same hay blond dye job, the men in their pink or lavendar button-ups and chinos wrinkled just so.

Go to Pacific Heights to get a taste of the good life, San Francisco style. The area lacks the clothing stores of Hayes Valley and the furniture stores of The Mission, but all told the piecemeal collection of various boutiques make for a good morning's worth of shopping. By the way, most of the good shopping here is for women, there's nary a decent men's clothing or shoe store to be found.

The best clothing in the neighborhood can be found at sister stores Blu (2259 Fillmore Street) and Cielo (2225 Fillmore Street). These stores collect the best European fashions (Cielo stocking the more upscale items) under two roofs, simple as that.

The best in window on the block belongs to HeidiSays (2426 Fillmore Street) which stocks pretty, perky women's clothing. Nearby is a branch of the Erica Tanov empire (2408 Fillmore Street), which is chock full of earthy but stylish clothing that are oh so perfect for Northern California.

Zinc Details is the preeminent design shop on the block and is now actually two storefronts, one for accessories (1905 Fillmore Street) and the other for modern furniture (2410 California Street). Look out for an occasional selection of vintage tableware and accessories that you're not going to find in other stores.

Hydra (1919 Filmore Street) is just about the most cool, creative bath store we ever did see, an original inspiration for the Jargol shopping guide. Someone on the founding team must have been a set designer what with their giant tubs or ducks of paper mache cakes. Even if you can never see yourself buying anything, take a peek inside.

Detours

Do yourself a favor. Show up early to Pacific Heights, head directly for Boulangerie Bay Bread (2325 Pine Street, usually just known as Bay Bread) and buy yourself a couple of croissants. It's not just that Bay Bread makes the best croissants and sweet treats in The Bay, it's that no one else comes even close. While Bay Bread outlets are sprinkled in most of the nicer neighborhoods of San Francisco, the Pacific Heights location is the flagship, where the breads and croissants are actually baked.

Now that your croissant and cup of coffee and walk up a few blocks north to Alta Plaza park, one of our favorites. The tiered pyramid park has tennis courts and a play area, but more importantly it has benches with some of the best views in the city. The southern view puts the whole city at your feet while the northern view gives peaks of the Golden Gate bridge. On a foggy day where all but the top level of the park is enveloped the scene is pure magic.