My daughter and I have a "Love-Haight" relationship…. | the urban mountaineerthe urban mountaineer

I think it’s the distinct historical neighborhoods that collectively make up the super-eclectic vibe that pulses through the city of San Francisco. EsEf definitely exhales with a diversified force like no other city I’ve known. Its core is the roots of a rich history and these neighborhoods are the extension of one of the best cities ever to live in or at least be a part of. It’s a soft and subtle fusion of anything and everything that is possible and more on a fast track of vibrant urban movement.

To me, they are the many corners and secret niches of a remarkable Victorian mansion connecting all the rooms as a whole but each having their own unique décor and I want to see them all!

Recently on one of my bucket-list city adventures I skated around the edges of one of these neighborhoods, the Haight-Ashbury. I was playing around with one of my friends on one of those self-guided city tours…the little yellow minicar tours (yeah, I know soooooo touristy but hey it was self-guided and I needed the help). To our surprise we actually had a lot of fun (pretty much laughed the entire time). Unfortunately, our schedules really didn’t allow the time to stop, park and walk around so we were forced to be tourists in a hurry with barely enough time to buzz through the city and listen to some satellite voice give us the quick skinny as we made our way around in a motorized three-wheel wonder.

Part of our tour took us through some of the well-known neighborhoods within the city, The Haight/Ashbury being one of them. The Haight is known as THEE hippie-hood especially the lower Haight. I’m sure this must be an exaggeration but I’ve read that back in the 60’s Haight and Ashbury was possibly the most famous intersection in the world…still checking my facts on this one but it sounds pretty cool so I almost want to just believe it. It is a fact thought that the Grateful Dead (among other musicians) called this neighborhood home (Ashbury street to be specific) and that’s pretty cool. I will say though, regardless if it was at one time the most famous intersection in the world or just a really super cool hood in EsEf, the colorful and free-spirited history of this nugget found truly intrigued me.

I had to go back when I had more time to savory every bit of its artistic gems but I couldn’t do this one alone. I would wait to tour this hood with my daughter, the walking-talking-peace-sign of a human because, who could appreciate this hood as much as me than her? So I waited….and waited, ever so patiently I waited until she finally had a break from school and I took her there.

It was a day tour that started with a ferry ride into the city and from the ferry building we walked…up a lot of steep hills…and walked some more but we knew it would be well worth it. Like finding a canteen filled with water in the desert we felt completely rewarded when we finally landed in the Haight. I will say though, we landed there with pretty high expectations of peace, love, hippi-ness, great food and of course vinyl records.

Needless to say we were not disappointed, all of the above mentioned found and more! The Haight filled our senses with colors, sounds, music, lots of house music and urban art…it pervaded every nook and cranny with such intensity there was no question as to which neighborhood we were in and we loved it completely.

There were so many of people combing the streets and the shops. You’ll need a little patience if you visit the Haight on the weekends because the streets and sidewalks are packed with tourists and yes many panhandlers. The Haight has a hippi-peace love and charm essence that is clearly encompassed with an edgy grit wrapper. I found it an interesting place to hang during the day but I don’t think it’s a place that could convince to me return for an evening. I would say breakfast, brunch and lunch but I’m still not sure what may lurk there in the night.

There are more stores and restaurants to mention here in this post but trust me when I say, one should not get bored hanging in this hood often. My daughter and I have been back a couple of times (our favorite place to eat is The Grind). I suspect this is now becoming one of our rituals that happen during her school breaks or at least as long as she has room on her ears for piercings. I for one am done with piercings, I let her talk me into getting my belly re-pierced during our last visit but that’s it. She might be able to talk me into a very small tattoo though one day….maybe.