Book excerpt: - The ultimate insider's guide to San Francisco - Features fascinating and unusual places not found in traditional travel guides - Part of the international 111 Places series with over 650 titles and 3.8 million copies in print worldwide - Appeals to both the local market (nearly 7 million call the Bay Area home) and the tourist market (over 22 million people visit San Francisco every year) - Fully illustrated with 111 full-page color photographs - New revised and updated edition San Francisco: the home of hills and valleys, of dreamers and trailblazers, of hippies and hipsters. From the gold rush to the Golden Gate, the City by the Bay has always basked in the glow of its colorful and celebrated history and world-renowned landmarks. But for those who live and love on this compact seven-mile by seven-mile metropolis, San Francisco is a treasure trove of unusual neighborhood sights and places that sparkle with the allure of hidden pleasures and local lore. Discover a stairway that transports you from the depths of the ocean to the heights of outer space; take a spin class amidst the grand elegance of a repurposed 1920s movie palace; or slide down a century-old sundial that sits at the center of what was once California's first racetrack for cars. This is the real San Francisco. Strung together, the 111 experiences gathered here tell the B-side story of the city once romantically known as the Paris of the West.