how to spend a perfect solo day in san francisco
a city neighborhood guide to hayes valley/civic center
Reader, I am in a great mood.
It’s Saturday and I’m lying on a picnic blanket in my yard. It’s hot enough that my skin and hair feels warm to the touch after 10 minutes outside, but not so hot that I feel sweaty. I could fall asleep to the smell of jasmine blooms and the metallic twinkle of the neighbor’s wind chimes. Everyone in the Bay Area seems to be a in a great mood lately, because spring is in the air.
Yesterday I had what I would consider a perfect solo afternoon in San Francisco. Here’s my itinerary of where I ate, shopped, and people watched in the Civic Center/Hayes Valley area. I plan to write more Bay Area city/neighborhood guide newsletters this spring and summer, so follow along for all the hyperlocal recs!
This newsletter covers:
where to go for your next leisurely 2 hour lunch
the best jeans I tried on at APC
a tucked away boutique that carries Simone Rocha and Cecilie Bahnsen
spots to know for sweet treats and baked goods
+ seeking your theories on why SF men are a leading demographic for baseball cap sales…
9am: Have breakfast with my mediocre homemade matcha and admire the blooming tulips I got from Monterey Market.
I’m new to making matcha, and currently experimenting with the hojicha and ceremonial blend from Rocky’s. It’s quality stuff—very aromatic and rich—but I’m still struggling with the milk part. Like what kind of milk to use, how to get the barista level foam, how to get the ratios right.
10am: Dentist appointment. It’s just a routine cleaning and goes smoothly.
11am: Get to the BART station. Of course, the Milbrae train departs right as I’m tapping in, so I have to wait another 15 minutes for the next one. Grumble. I tighten my trench coat around my neck as the gust of train-arrival wind hits.
12pm: Get off at Civic Center and walk down Market Street to Zuni Cafe.
I’m very familiar with this stretch of the city, because I used to work in the City Hall building before COVID-19 hit. As I pass by my old lunchtime haunts, I think about how distant that existence of writing policy memos in Everlane loafers feels now.
I couldn’t get a reservation but luckily, they’re able to accomodate my walk-in party of one. The hostess seats me between a pair of “ladies who lunch” tables. Everyone is gossiping with white wine, caesar salad and shoestring fries.
I order the same but opt for the english pea bucatini instead of the fries because I am a hoe for seasonal produce.
And ugh, the lunch is SO leisurely and indulgent. I stare the yellow awning between sips of my riesling and feel the warm air waft in from the side door propped open with a firewood log. The women to my right turn out to be a group of wine judges, and they’re talking about how drinking for competitions is an endurance sport and their tips for getting through 5-6 hours of wine tasting.
This is the second time I’ve eaten at Zuni, and it’s always a fanciful experience, perfectly paced for a lazy 1.5-2 hour lunch.
1:15pm: Saunter over to the APC store in Hayes Valley, where I have an appointment to try on their denim styles and pick out a gifted pair. I am walking down Gough at a snail’s pace because (1) I am very full and (2) I am not in a rush.
I try on all the jeans and they are all too long on me, but Aubrey the store manager reminds me that they offer hemming. My favorite dark wash jeans I own would have to be the Studio Nicholson Neive and the Auralee Hard Twist (here’s a pair on TRR), so I’m mentally comparing every style against these.
Ultimately, I liked the straight leg Domino style the most—they fit veryyyyyy similar to the Auralee pair, down to the permanent crease down the front. The wash is just a bit darker, and the pant leg is a little bit wider at the hem.
Making sure I can bend and lunge in them.
The raw denim runs small, so I sized up to 27 from my usual 26. I also folded the hem up by about 5 inches. They’re getting tailored and will be mailed to me next week.
My favorite tidbit of the APC store visit was actually my chat with the store manager. I asked him what the clientele was like in the SF store and what product categories do the best in terms of sales. His answer surprised me.