San Francisco Access (Access Guides)

Having been to SF a few times before (some years ago), I purchased this guide as my only guide for the city. I didn't want to carry a big heavy book on my weekend trip and, more often than not, I found myself without the information I needed. The typical questions any visitor might have go unanswered and the information is spotty. For instance, the author gives a list of the primary local radio stations, including the radio dial numbers for them, but fails to tell the reader what some of the primary city bus routes are that run in and out of the center of downtown. And yet, looking at the maps throughout the book, you'll see route numbers on many of the streets depicted, but these refer to bicycle routes, not buses. Really, how many tourists are even going to think about riding a bicycle through probably the hilliest city in the world? The most obvious thing that is lacking is any information about the one thing that any visitor wants to know about: the cable cars (there is...Read more

The very best part of this book are the SF residents' (Dianne Feinstein, Shirley Fong-Torres, Herbert Gold, Wolfgang Puck, William Stout and others) recommendations. Residency in a city affords one the opportunity to discover the best of the best -- and, oh, are these suggestions good. Plus, the suggested walking tours described in the back of the book provided the perfect amount of information, just enough to incite interest without giving away the experience. This book is so good that I'm ordering an updated copy.

I have always thought this was the best guidebook series going, but since Richard Saul Wurman sold the series to Harper Collins the books have been getting sloppy. The writing has been taken over by "updaters" who don't check the facts. The updater's name doesn't appear until the outside back cover (in this case a woman named Linda Peck).

For instence: in the section on the Fairmont Hotel (p. 84) the writer states that the Crown Room has wonderful buffets, brunches and dinners. In fact, the Crown Room has been closed to the public for the last four years -favoring private functions and banquets which presumably bring in more money per square foot.

Excited that the book said the Crown Room was open, I e-mailed the Fairmont to make sure. They replied that it is still used only for private functions, with the exception of "holiday buffets" such as Easter, Mother's Day, and Christmas. (In other words, special days when they can fill the entire square...Read more