Roscoes, that's it - not Popeye's.

See, we need more localistes.

How hard is it to get to Chinatown from the hotel?

Chinatown's easy. Either bus, MUNI metro or walk the three long blocks to Powell and Market, and get on the cable car.

Alternately, bus or MUNI down the five long blocks to the corner of Market and (I believe) Third Street, and catch the 30 Stockton. Goes through Chinatown, comes out in North Beach. I seem to recall the 15 does, as well.

t does shimmy

Also? Just ordered swag! Wheeee!

Aimee, the 30 Stockton is One Of Those Buses - legendary here in town. I remember one day, the asian driver was arguing with the elderly asian woman who'd got on right in front of me; apparently she wasn't grokking the concept of the X on the front, which meant it was an express, not making all the stops. They were talking to each other in their own language, getting faster and louder, and finally he just yelled at her, in English "Lady, look - this is the Stockton Express, not the Shanghai Express! You getting on or you getting off?"

I love that route. It goes from the Giants ballpark (go slide down the Big Giant Soda Bottle with Em, she'll love it, it's open to kids and free) through SOMA, crosses market heading north, Chinatown, North Beach, and up into the Marina.

This place is run by people who used to be affiliated with Roscoe's so it's much the same experience:

The House of Chicken 'n Waffles
444 Embarcadero West (at Oak), Oakland, (510) 836-4446

The menu boasts dozens of combination plates, all named after favorite customers, but the basic building blocks are right there in the place's name: crispy fried chicken and waffles (that could be crisper). Open late -- on weekend nights till 4 a.m.

But, I should note that y'all are going to be in San Francisco within a five minute cab ride of North Beach, which not only has literally dozens of great Italian restaurants, but Helmand the Afghanistan restaurant and a Chinatown (couple blocks over) with several world class eateries including Yuet Lee which is one of the best Chinese seafood restaurants in the country. Plus great restaurants in the Haight and the Mission and pretty much everywhere near to you, in all the flavors you like. You could spend two hours round tripping to Oakland for waffles, or you could take a 15 minute Muni train ride to the Haight to have gingerbread pancakes at Zazie's. And then you could explore the Haight. (Tons of cool clothing and shoe stores. Amoeba. New and used record stores. Thrift and vintage fashion stores.)

Considering the limited amount of time, it seems less wise to spend a ton of time commuting to food elsewhere when the food nearby is so good. (Though of course, an East Bay jaunt is very worthwhile - though I'd tend to point people towards Berkeley over Oakland.)

And not to put the kibosh on going to the Winchester Mystery House which is certainly worthy of investigation, but Saturday during the day is probably the main day for most people to explore the F2F city and if you are driving down to Winchester that's pretty much all you'll do that day. That'll be at least 3 hours of car commuting - maybe more.

Which again - not to dissuade, but the advantage of San Francisco's urban density is that in three hours you can see a lot of things more interesting than the freeway between San Jose and SF. (though not necessarily more creepifying than Winchester)

So, in brief: do whatever will bring you the most fun. But factor in the commuting vs. lots of local things element. You won't exhaust San Francisco in a weekend (or a week).

Hec (or any other locals), have you experienced the SF Ghost Hunt or know anyone that has? Just wondering if it's worth the $$.

Hec (or any other locals), have you experienced the SF Ghost Hunt or know anyone that has? Just wondering if it's worth the $$.

I haven't done the ghost hunt, but the two tour thingies I've always heard great things about were the annual Scavenger Hunt (which won't be happening during the F2F) and the Noir tour in Nob Hill which is run by a guy who really knows his history about Dashiell Hammett and gives a fantastic tour (in a trenchcoat) of all the places Sam Spade lived and worked, as well as Hammett, plus bits about Frank Harris and other early 20th century SF based writers.

I gotta second David on the Winchester House thing. It's a long drive, which depending on how you go can be long, trafficky, and slow (although less so on the weekends). And there's a ton of stuff to do in the city.

Besides, vids on Saturday! Should probably settle on a time at some point...

Oh, also? SF has fantastic dim sum.

And Cha Cha Cha in the Haight (and the Mission) has yummy sangria and great Caribbean small plates. Fried plantains, yum. (LAistas will be unimpressed, as there's a Cha Cha Cha in LA.)

Well, I come to SF a few times a year and have been meaning to do the Winchester House for quite literally at least 15 years. I'm arriving late Thursday night and am planning on doing some wandering in SF on Friday. The thing with the Winchester house is that I now have a decade of dropping it off the list because it's a drive out of the city. It's either do a drive out of SF or plan a completely different trip up just to go to Winchester House.

Anyone who wants to come along my car will hold five. Kristin has claimed one seat. The house opens at 9:00 AM on Saturday and I'm even happy to get up early to go down and do the tour. If we're there when the place opens then chances are we'll be back in SF by mid afternoon.