San Francisco’s Best Kept Secret

A bit of background for you before you begin: we here at cityseekr are based in San Francisco. Not surprisingly this means a large majority of our staff in the office all live here and, of course, they love it. And don’t get me wrong, I think it’s a pretty cool city too. However, we also have a small but ever-present constituency of residents and natives of right across the water in the East Bay (myself included), and sometimes our spot gets a bad rap and is thoroughly under-appreciated here in the office.

It has become clear to me that many, if not the majority of San Francisco residents look down on their easterly counterpart and often express these superior opinions much to the chagrin of us proud East Bay folk. I mean, sometimes trying to get San Franciscans to cross the Bay Bridge (or BART under it) can be like pulling teeth! So I, being a proud Oakland native and resident, have decided to step up to the plate in defense of the East Bay. Hopefully I will prove that while SF may always be the big boy on the block as far as Northern California is concerned, the East Bay is most definitely nothing to be scoffed at… and in fact if they believe the stereotypes they use as excuses not to go there, they should probably be scared to do so.

Lake Merritt

Okay. So we all know what San Francisco is famous for and why people visit. You got your Golden Gate Bridge, you got your Coit Tower, and you got your Fisherman’s Wharf. But what you also have is this: PEOPLE. Lots and lots of people. Everywhere you go. Wanna cross that bridge? Be prepared to cross it at a snail’s pace due to the hundreds of other tourists with the exact same idea. Wanna go to the Wharf? Be prepared for overwhelmingly giant crowds and overwhelmingly jacked up prices. The city is, essentially, one big tourist trap. Now many of you may be thinking, so what? All those people are there because it’s worth seeing. True, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t many other things worth seeing and doing outside the city as well, off the beaten track – a method that has become very popular these days. Continue reading →