SA members from the San Francisco Bay area are pleased to welcome everyone to the ASA Annual Meeting scheduled in the “City by the Bay” on October 13-17, 2007. Fall is the loveliest time of year, as the summer fog has cleared and the temperatures have warmed up … somewhat.

And all the cultural, artistic, natural, culinary, gustatory and athletic attractions are readily accessible by foot, public transportation, car and through the full program of tours and activities organized by ASA.

Touring the City by the Bay
Come take a turn around “The City” to discover its scenic and cultural wonders. Because San Francisco is a small city with a population of 780,000 and is concentrated geographically on a relatively narrow peninsula, nothing is very far from the downtown hotels and Moscone Center, the venue of the Annual Meeting.

Moscone Center Area
Right across Howard Street from Moscone Center is Yerba Buena Gardens (yerbabuenagardens.com), a gem of a green space featuring fountains, sculpture, the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (ybca.org) and the movie theaters of the adjacent Metreon (metreon.com). Also across Howard Street is the California Academy of Sciences (calacademy.org), the temporary home of the aquarium and natural history museum, while a new complex is being built in Golden Gate Park. Other museums in the immediate neighborhood include the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (sfmoma.org), the Museum of the African Diaspora (moadsf.org), the California Historical Society (californiahistoricalsociety.org), the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society (glbthistory.org), the Contemporary Jewish Museum (thecjm.org) and Zeum (zeum.org), an innovative multimedia children’s museum.

Union Square
Going farther afield, it is a short walk from Moscone Center to Union Square, the park at the very heart of downtown that is surrounded by specialty shops, department stores, art galleries and restaurants. Nearby is the San Francisco Centre, an indoor mall anchored by Nordstrom’s and the newly opened Bloomingdale’s.

Chinatown and North Beach
Of the city’s varied and colorful neighborhoods, the closest to Union Square is Chinatown, a 16-square-block area entered through the green-tiled gate on Grant Avenue, the main thoroughfare, which is lined with restaurants, souvenir shops, jewelry stores, missions, schools and theaters.

If you continue along Grant Avenue, just beyond Chinatown you will come to North Beach, an Italian neighborhood with restaurants, bakeries and coffee shops, which was once the hangout of the writers of the Beat Generation. Poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s City Lights Bookstore at 261 Columbus Avenue is open every day from 10 a.m. to midnight.

Alcatraz and Fisherman’s Wharf
Located at Taylor and Jefferson streets, Fisherman’s Wharf is home to San Francisco’s fishing fleet plus many colorful shops and seafood restaurants. Ferries leave from Pier 41 for tours of Alcatraz Island, the site of the former maximum-security federal penitentiary known as “The Rock.” Slide shows, exhibits, ranger programs and self-guided audio tours of the cell blocks are available — BUT be sure to wear comfortable shoes and dress warmly!

Golden Gate Park
Farther west in Golden Gate Park is the de Young Museum (deyoungmuseum.org), a dramatic three-level copper-clad building that houses collections of American and ethnic art. Nearby are the Japanese Tea Garden, the Conservatory of Flowers (conservatoryofflowers.org) and the San Francisco Botanical Garden (sfbotanicalgarden.org), in addition to miles of easily-accessible trails.

The Japanese Tea Garden at Golden Gate Park.

Lincoln Park
To the north is Lincoln Park, which has a public golf course with striking views of the Golden Gate Bridge and the Palace of the Legion of Honor (legionofhonor.org), a cultural gem built by Alma Spreckles to showcase European paintings and decorative arts. Lincoln Park also is the trailhead of the path around Land’s End, a spectacular walk that has hikers hanging out above the entrance to San Francisco Bay. The trail ends at the Cliff House, an elegant restaurant overlooking Seal Rock and the Pacific Ocean.

North of San Francisco
Heading north across the Golden Gate Bridge, the route takes us through Marin County to the 560-acre Muir Woods National Monument, home of many coastal redwood trees, the tallest living things on earth. Hiking trails range from a half mile to two miles in length and traverse both level and steep terrain.

Muir Woods National Monument.

Continue farther north to the wine-growing areas of Napa and Sonoma Counties. The town of Sonoma is, in the Spanish tradition, laid out around a central plaza. Lining the plaza are restaurants, wine-tasting venues, specialty shops, the Sonoma State Historic Park and the Mission San Francisco Solano. Nearby wineries include Buena Vista Winery, Cline Cellars, Gloria Ferrer Champagne Caves (gloriaferrer.com), Gundlach Bundshu Winery, Sebastiani Vineyards and Winery (sebastiani.com) and Viansa Winery. For literary historians, Jack London State Historic Park, encompassing the author’s ranch, house and grave, is located just a little farther north in the town of Glen Ellen.

South of San Francisco
Touring to the south of San Francisco takes us to Stanford University in Palo Alto. The university’s considerable collection of sculpture by August Rodin, including all the Burghers of Calais, was donated by Iris and B. Gerald Cantor and is housed in and adjacent to the Cantor Center for Visual Arts (museum.stanford.edu). Nearby is the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, a United States Department of Energy National Laboratory that offers guided tours (slac.stanford.edu/tours).

Performing Arts
San Francisco’s offerings in the performing arts — theater, dance, opera and music — are varied and numerous. The San Francisco Symphony (sfsymphony.org) and the San Francisco Opera (sfopera.com) begin their seasons in September. Half-priced tickets for the day of performance for theater, music and dance events are available from TIX Bay Area (www.tixbayarea.com), a Ticketmaster outlet located in Union Square.

Restaurants
Whatever your activity, San Francisco has a restaurant to fit your palate, price point and timeline. From five diamonds to fast food, you can find it all in walking distance of the downtown hotels and Moscone Center. Some of the neighborhoods feature excellent and reasonably priced ethnic restaurants that are worth seeking out.

San Francisco Visitor Information Center
For more information about touring in San Francisco, visit the San Francisco Visitor Information Center (onlyinsanfrancisco.com) located on the lower level of Hallidie Plaza at 900 Market Street. The center is open from Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on Saturday, Sunday and holidays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. from June to October.

ASA Orientation Program
ASA also is offering a free orientation session for information about tours and special programs on Saturday, October 13, at 9 a.m. in Moscone Center. Whatever the activity, visitors are advised to bring a sweater, light jacket or all-weather coat as it is usually cool and could rain. The weather is frequently warmer, however, outside the city. Hence the advice “to layer” — dress in layers so that the changes in temperature can be accommodated easily.

The Palace of the Legion of Honor.

Philippa Newfield, M.D., is an attending anesthesiologist, California Pacific Medical Center, and Assistant Clinical Professor of Anesthesia, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California.