StyleCity San Francisco

Rating:
Summary: Elegantly captured essence of San Francisco
Review: This is the only "shop-listing guide book" that I keep ready for visitors, which I supply along with a MUNI map and a selection of history and walking tours. In other words, this book cannot stand alone for a visitor.

Included are great photographs, and it works well as a starting point for discussion regarding what to do and see in the city.

The choice of listings in this book is excellent, varied between well-known and not-as-well-known shops. The short writeups of the neighborhoods contain all the useful bits, and the specific location information is well written and generally provides a enough insight that you come away with the impression of knowing just enough to be dangerous (or make conversation, or ask questions.) This is a good thing.

That said, while the listings and photos are high quality, they don't really mesh well together, particularly in the "Street Wise" neighborhood section. It's hard to get a feel for the neighborhoods from the photos alone, and what each actual photograph refers to is not always obvious.

If you know someone who is familiar with the city to look through the book with you, or you already know the city's basics, or you just want to be reminded of how wonderful of a city San Francisco is, it's hard to go wrong with this choice.