South of Market District (SoMa), San Francisco

It's a small museum around the corner from the MoMA with more inside than you'd first imagine.
The museum is located at 655 Mission Street, where the Ansel Adams Center used to be before it closed in 2001.
Right now, they have a show of Mary Blair's work, an artist who did concept art for Disney in the 50s and 60s, Edward Gorey's set and costume designs for the Broadway production of Dracula, local artist Lark Pien plus a history of cartooning and animation.

It's open daily from 11am to 5pm, closed Monday. General admission is $6, $4 for students and seniors, $2 for children 6-12 and Free for children 5 and under.

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IF you visit the SoMa district of San Francisco, you can eat a five-course meal while you sit on an oversize bed and watch a performance artist stretch the definition of theater. You can drop in on a penguin feeding or paddle a kayak in search of floating baseballs in the bay. This stretch of the city south of Market Street, long known for its alternative art and music scene, has matured into a mix of trendy restaurants, gritty bars, swank hotels and warehouses reworked to stage live music.

It starts from the Embarcadero to Eleventh Street, between Market and Townsend. The neighborhood is a patchwork of warehouses, swanky nightspots, residential hotels, art spaces, loft apartments, furniture showrooms and the tenacious Internet companies that survived the tech market collapse. Although a lot of building has gone on in recent years, it is still not densely developed. You can walk several desolate blocks before suddenly finding a hopping restaurant.

The area around Market and Third Street is more well heeled, influenced by the nearby Financial District and conventions at the Moscone Center. Several of the city's arts organizations are located here, including the SF MOMA, the Center for the Arts at Yerba Gardens and the California Historical Society. The western end of the district is the most industrial, and is dominated by huge wholesale marts and superstores like Costco and Bed, Bath & Beyond.

Plus my FAVORITE Hangouts like View Lounge, Wish Bar, Metreon, Yerba Buena Gardens, Thirsty Bear!

SFMOMA - Museum Store and Caffe Museo has possibly the best cookies (peanut butter, chocolate chip).

METREON - Warning: You will lose complete track of time in the mulitmedia mall: the Discovery Store, Sony, PlayStation, Miscrosoft, Things From Another World, PortalOne (pictured here), IMAX theater, 20 movie screens, and "Where the Wild Things Are" (an interactive exhibition based on Maurice Sendak's characters).

Deciding what to eat is never a problem at Metreon. If the weather is nice, check out the Esplanade Gardens of the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. 101 Fourth St. (415) 369-6000.

YERBA BUENA CENTER FOR THE ARTS - 701 Mission St., San Francisco. (415) 978-2787.

THE ROOFTOP AT YERBA BUENA GARDENS - home to Mo's Grill, billing itself as having the "best burger with fries." The crown jewel of the rooftop just might be the carousel. Designed in 1906 by Charles Looff, the painstakingly restored menagerie features chariots, galloping camels, giraffes and jumping horses with real horsehair tails. Check out the At Play gift store. Innovative and educational toy options abound, such as Mechanimal Kits ($20), Phenakistascope ($26) or Bozart Toys' Marionettes ($30). And there's fun for the whole family at the Yerba Buena Ice Skating and Bowling Center. Fourth St. at Howard.

This is a great place to stop for lunch either before or after a trip to the SFMOMA. Its a great green spot where you can see the amazing buildings relax to the sound of the rushing water from the Martin Luther King Memorial and have lunch.

Ansel Adams Center for Photography
Ansel Adams was born in San Francisco (1902-1984). A commercial photographer for
30 years, he made visionary photos of western landscapes that were inspired by a boyhood trip to Yosemite. Apart from his photographs, the center holds a number of excellent photography exihibitions.

South of Market (SoMa) and City Front District
South of Market, also known as 'SoMa,' is two square miles of hot nightclubs, fashionable restaurants, experimental theaters, discount shopping outlets and art galleries. Bordering SoMa to the east is another emerging area known as the City Front District, encompassing the Steuart Street area north of Justin Herman Plaza and the Ferry Building.