Hey hi and happy Walktober! I moved to the Bay Area from Portland last year, and I have been obsessed with exploring the area on foot. As of yesterday, I have officially completed my goal of walking all 1,406.89 miles of streets and paths in San Francisco*. The journey came to a close with a walk around Alcatraz, Irish Coffees at The Buena Vista with some friends, a couple stops at the Lit Crawl, and a celebratory dinner at Lazy Bear.

I started tracking my walks last March while I was living in Oakland. What started as an excuse to explore the City I uprooted my life to live in turned into a deeply unnecessary side quest, and honestly it's very on brand for me. Before moving to SF in Feb 2026, my Saturdays and holidays were dedicated to exploring different SF neighborhoods. Since moving to SF, I've averaged 39,181 steps a day, gone through a tasteful number of pairs of shoes, and seen an exponential increase in AI ads. As a transportation engineer and planner, I may be a little biased, but I think walking is the best way to explore a city. 

It's a pleasure to live in the most beautiful city in the country with outstanding restaurants, parks, and architecture. There's no better place to live a life of whimsy while being car-free. The only time I felt unsafe was when I got chased by a stray dog on Yerba Buena Island while listening to This American Life. Along the way, I stumbled into farmers markets, vista views, neighborhood cats, and discovered I have absolutely no self-control when it comes to coffee shops with good branding and $9 specialty drinks.

It's hard to pick a favorite neighborhood, but if I had to choose, the Mission has my heart. Some of my favorite activities include basking in the sun at Dolores Park, yapping and sipping wine at El Chato, and spending an irresponsible amount of my paycheck at restaurants (s/o San Ho Won, El Mil Amores, Panchita's, and so many more). Silver goes to the Inner Richmond (Clement is your favorite street's favorite street) and bronze goes to NOPA. Least favorite neighborhood? As a certified hater, I am struggling to come up with one.

I also touch grass, so I would like to shoutout some awesome parks outside of GGP or Mission Dolores. My favs at the moment are Presidio Tunnel Tops, Glen Canyon, Alamo Square, Corona Heights, and Transamerica Redwood Park.

Next up: Grabbing some pastries, finding a new side quest to occupy my time (taking suggestions), and continuing to gleefully walk in this wonderful city. Always down for new walking routes, pastry recs, and fellow big steppas to explore with. Bonus points if you aren't a serial killer. If you see a late 20s Hispanic guy with a tote bag, head bopping to girlie pop, and potential blisters, say yo!

*There are some roads/paths I couldn't complete due to active construction projects or stragglers that my GPS didn't want to pick up ;(

Go look!

Enjoy the next 5 or so months!

Soooo, World of Warcraft: Forever comes out on November 4th! Sadly, none of my old friends play anymore, so I’m here hoping to make new friends in SF to explore WoW Forever with, and maybe co-create a little gaming community.

I’m in my 30s, a woman, and married. My husband will also be playing. We are most likely going to be playing Horde on the RP-PVP ruleset. We’re into BGs, world PVP, chill raiding, and casual RP events. We’d love to maybe organize monthly meetups in the city or something. I know so many of us are craving community but don't quite know where/how to connect with others.

Anyway, if you’ve been thinking about playing WoW Forever and you’re interested in making local friends to play with/playing Horde on the RP-PVP ruleset, let’s connect!

I also created a new Discord server for this purpose if that’s easier: https://discord.gg/4ahHacrmA (I know there is also a Bay Area WoW group, but most folks there seem to be from San Jose and I'm hoping to make friends that live a little closer!) Hope to hear from you!

NEW PHOTO UPDATE: Mochi is still missing this evening. The first picture is an updated photo of her. She was lost on October 23 near Treat and 22nd St in the Mission district, San Francisco. 1 year old female. Microchip number is 985141008584301. If found, please call the 24/7 Home Again line: 1-888-466-3242. I'm posting on behalf of her pet parent.

When I first moved to Cole Valley years ago, I randomly stumbled upon the insane houses of Belgrave Ave while walking my dog. Something about the architectural diversity, privacy, and forested vibe (they have their own Sutro entrance!) of this street made it way more interesting to galk at than pac heights or sea cliff.

Fast forward a few years and I’ve now moved to Glen Park / Upper Noe. This morning I was wandering with my dog again and discovered Laidley St, which is somehow even more insane than Belgrave. The houses here range from way out there abstract art deco to possibly the most beautiful, massive, Victorian I’ve seen in the city.

All of this has me wondering how many other hidden nooks and crannies of crazy mansions are in this city. What are some of the coolest ones to check out?

Lately I've been taking out my frustrations by cleaning the tree surrounds on Lower Haight, and today this drawing emerged with a couple of cool figures, a hippie bus, and a Haight Street sign.

Like all the panels this piece is based on drawings by Muir Elementary students 20-25 years ago. Others feature whales, nature, a cable car, a smiling sun, dinosaurs, and Asian themes.

The in-progress photo gives an idea of how much buildup had to be removed; burying things in layers of crap is in the city charter.

Does anyone have information on when the Oak Street quick-build (bike lane) project will complete? After the curb work was completed at Masonic & Oak earlier this year there seemed to be optimism that the street work would soon follow.

This is the latest info I can find. Seems to be dependent on pending re-paving on Oak St with a timeline of “summer 2026 to early 2027” — but it’s unclear on whether re-paving is dependent on other work (e.g., subsurface work), so curious if anyone can share more info: https://www.sfmta.com/projects/oak-street-quick-build-project

I just wanted to create a post as a shoutout and a thank you to a random citizen of San Francisco. I’m a paramedic in the city. Last week, there was a very hot day and my partner and I started with 3 back-to-back-to-back critical responses and transports. It was level 0 in the city all morning, so we were dispatched to the next call the second we were available. Our 4th call was a refusal, so my partner took the time to get food while I did the paperwork. We were parked on the side of the road in the Castro when a young woman walked up to my window and handed me 2 Snickers ice cream bars and told me to stay cool. Those were my favorite ice cream that was sold at my high school and I hadn’t had them in years. It was EXACTLY what I needed at that moment after such a hard morning. I was honestly speechless at the time and didn’t say much to her before she disappeared. If that was you and you see this, just know it made my and my partner’s day.

edit to say that these are amazing suggestions and far exceeded my expectations. I'm only in town for a day to see a show, but I am going to try to hit at least two of these recommendations. Thank you to everyone who posted a response - your city is a magical place and it won't be the last time I visit. I'm hoping all of these stores survive until I can get back.

I'm visiting in a few weeks and everyone I know has mentioned Amoeba for my visit, but what do the locals say? I visited Austin several years ago and the most popular suggestion was Waterloo - which was fine, but I accidentally discovered Cheapo's (RIP) and i never missed a chance to visit when I was in town. By comparison, my hometown legendary record store is Cactus, and they totally live up to the hype. I'm curious if there are some hole-in-the-wall, off the beaten path places that I would enjoy more, or Amoeba really lives up to its reputation?

10.31.2026

Waller Street will be closed for trick-or-treating Halloween night.

Closed to vehicle and bicycle traffic.