Sure, standing around in the stairwell of 49 Geary drinking champagne during its First Thursday gallery openings can be fun. But it's not a great way to see the best artwork this city can offer (unless you view getting trampled as a form of crowd-sourced, contemporary performance art). Switch... More >>

Every San Franciscan has a list of local activities they haven't done that the average visitor to this city probably has. For us, that was Beach Blanket Babylon, the North Beach musical revue famous for its huge hats and culture-skewering whimsy. The show comes recommended by seemingly every... More >>

This might shock you, but San Francisco has a debaucherous past. Once home to less than 500 people, as soon as James Marshall found gold in them thar hills, the population began to double every 10 days, creating a Boomtown full of saloons, sailors, slummers, and sinners. This was an era where... More >>

Anyone who has neglected to visit the California Academy of Sciences is severely missing out, and not even because of the famous undulating grassy roof. One of the first sights to greet visitors is also one of the best: the Mangrove Lagoon holds those vicious angels, the stingrays and the... More >>

Mural people are nuts. Wall paintings never last and can't be purchased, and the people who go specifically to see them are often the hoi polloi who know nothing about art. How can muralists expect to survive in the art world? The answer: They don't. The folks who make their work on outdoor... More >>

To our recurring surprise, many locals never get the idea to visit Alcatraz, because traveling by boat to an island to walk around cellblocks is just something they don't like do. How come? Because tourists get that idea, every day, by the shorts-wearing boatloads. Here's your solution: The... More >>

Alcatraz -- "The Rock" -- is one of those tours that you have to take at least once, whether you're local or just visiting. The abandoned prison sitting on an island about a mile and a half off the city's north shore was home to some of the most infamous names in crime, including Al Capone, it... More >>

Mel Ramos makes the kind of paintings you're embarrassed to encounter while strolling through SFMOMA with your family. Currently one of the elder statesmen of California art, his technical chops and his ability to represent the human figure cannot be contested. It's just that penchant of his... More >>

When it comes to innovation and sheer volume, the Bay Area literary scene is unrivaled. What other city devotes an entire month to literature (Litquake) and a dedicated pub crawl for the written word (Lit Crawl) every year? We’ve been known to hold readings in abandoned apartments (Live... More >>

In the beginning it was, of course, Ohlone Indian. Then it was Spanish-Ohlone. Were there Russians? It was Italian. Then it was Irish and German. As far as we can tell, the Mission District was never Chinese, but this is San Francisco, so why shouldn't it have been? It was Mexican, and then it... More >>

Comedians are “always depressed,” we hear. After we’re done fervently hoping it isn’t true, we wonder how “funny” and “depressing” ever came to be separate categories, especially post-Mitch Hedberg. At Previously Secret Information, they aren’t, sort... More >>

Mondays get a bad rap. It's a day often associated with depression, anxiety, and melancholy in pop culture. Think of "Monday, Monday" by the Mamas & the Papas, "Manic Monday" by the Bangles, and of course the memetastic "Sounds like somebody's got a case of the Mondays" phrase popularized by... More >>

Buried deep down in the very core of our hearts is the passion to perform. We secretly want to dress in 1960s get-up, strap on a ukulele, and do Tiny Tim covers. No? Maybe that's just us. However, we can all agree on the burning desire to perform and create art. The hard part (besides mustering... More >>

Hedwig, of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, doesn’t typically place others’ whims above her own, even if those others are her audience. But last summer’s sold-out Boxcar Theatre production of the glam rock musical forced the petulant but witheringly witty diva to hear the cries of... More >>

In ancient Rome, the god of fertility was honored in February, with ceremonial love lotteries and mock-floggings with a bloody goatskin. Even those are a pale reflection of truly bizarre courtships that unfold in the natural world. For example, the common garden snail is a hermaphrodite that... More >>

Didn’t your momma ever tell you it was rude to talk during the movie? Unless, that is, the following conditions exist: The movie is godawful, you’re parked on a couch with someone who shares your bad attitude, and you’re a world-class wit. That last prerequisite is usually the... More >>

Sketch Tuesdays, founded in 2006, is a monthly event where 20 or so local artists hang out and make their art on a small scale. When the artwork is completed it becomes available to purchase by the audience mingling nearby -- and often for cheap! If you like the funky fresh art up on the wall... More >>

“We’ve all done some fucked-up shit,” says Dixie De La Tour: going home with the wrong person, getting in over our heads in a BDSM scenario, sitting through that timeless, endless feature Nightmare Date II: The Boundary-Free Zone. We’ve all also been blown away by indoor... More >>

They're squat, fat, and prone to a myriad of health issues. They resemble miniature Ewoks and can be heard blocks away by their heavy snorting and grunting. Of course the people of San Francisco want to dedicate one day each month to this creature, the pug. Pug owners, enthusiasts, and friends... More >>

During the last Summer Olympics, nearly 70 million Americans watched Shanghai’s opening ceremony -- it was an impressive if somewhat eerie phantasm (a gymnast ran on air, the weather was controlled by scientists, and a little girl was given a “suitable” face to match her... More >>

Have you ever seen a Gritchen in your kitchen? Or dared to dance with the One-Legged Zantz? We can’t think of a better time to start than during the final days before Christmas. Long out of print, Don’t Bump the Glump was Shel Silverstein’s first and strangest collection of... More >>

The unGoogleable inheritor of the Trannyshack art-drag scepter is known as Some Thing; each Friday brings a new theme via semi-pun. It could be simple, such as Some Thing Good, or it could be A Li’l Sumptin’ Some Thing, which is funny but what are you going to wear? The first show... More >>

The Audium was started in 1965 by composer Stan Shaff and equipment designer Doug McEachern. Shows are Fridays and Saturdays, and you have to be there on time — they lock the door. The room fits 50 people or so. There are chairs arranged in a semicircle. There are something like 180... More >>