A View to Kill from Potrero Hill

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Have you exhausted all the tourist destinations in San Francisco? Been all over North Beach and the Embarcadero and done the cable car thing? If you’re looking for something different and uniquely San Francisco– not to mention, a killer workout for your calves and glutes – check out Potrero Hill! Located on the south-eastern side of the city, this progressive neighborhood boasts a lot of truly local delights including the Anchor Steam brewery, breath-taking top-of-the-hill views and SF’s crookedist street…no, it’s not Lombard!

On Potrero Hill, you can relax in the sunshine while watching the fog roll over the rest of the city thanks to the Twin Peaks mountains that shield the area from the cold. Largely industrial and residential, Potrero has its own peaceful feel and the main drag, 18th Street, features some great shops, bars and restaurants. Potrero isn’t far from all the action of the Mission, the Financial District and Soma either. Well-connected, Potrero is near Caltrain, the 101 and 280 freeways and plenty of bus lines.

Potrero is rife with hidden gems that require some know-how to discover, including community gardens, random stairways and killer views of the whole city. But look no further because this guide will help you make the most of your stroll in one of the city’s coolest neighborhoods!

Interested in learning more? Download my latest guide on the StreetMosaic travel app, a collection of GPS-enabled, theme-based travel guides. Travel recommendations by travelers for travelers! Note: the app is still in beta and is only available on the iPhone.

Here are a few teaser photos for your enjoyment:

The view from 19th St and Mississippi St

The Benches Park on San Bruno St and 18th St

The Potrero Hill Community Garden (with a nice view of the Mish and Twin Peaks)

Turn that wanderlust into a career overseas

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After spending most of my career pitching journalists and bloggers and prepping company spokespeople before interviews, it’s nice to see my name in print for once :)  My good friend Leslie interviewed me about my experience working abroad in London for two years and her article has been posted to Brazen Careerist. Leslie is carving a nice little niche for herself providing consulting services to those looking to expand their businesses in California, Chile and China (a few of the places she has lived), so it was great trading stories about our unique experiences abroad!

As Leslie explains in her article, there are many ways to launch a career abroad. In my case, I secured an inter-office transfer from the San Francisco office to the London office of the PR agency I was working for at the time. Obtaining a long-term visa is quite the challenge these days given high unemployment rates as a result of the economic recession and the controversy of outsourcing, offshoring and giving foreign workers jobs over nationals. Perhaps I’ll cover my visa woes in another post – but I’ll balance this out with some inspiring tidbits from the best two years of my life.

In the meantime, check out how I made the jump across the pond below:

Get a job with a global organization and convince them to transfer you to an overseas branch

Natalie Tan worked in the San Francisco office of international PR agency Burson-Marsteller for a little over a year before she transferred to the company’s London office.

“I had a great study abroad experience in Paris and really enjoyed vacations outside of the U.S., so I always knew I wanted to work abroad at some point,” Natalie explains. “During my interview, I was upfront about international opportunities being a key factor in my decision.” She sought out global assignments, like coordinating press tours and analyzing global coverage.

During an early performance review, Natalie and her manager made international office transfer a long-term goal. “I really had my heart set on Europe so I focused my search in that region.” Natalie worked out of the London office for a week, alongside colleagues she’d previously met over email. She later moved to there.

After two years in London, Natalie returned to San Francisco and joined a global technology company. When wanderlust struck again, she traveled through Europe and Morocco, and is now looking for a more strategic and analytical role, ideally in the travel industry.

Read the full article here: http://blog.brazencareerist.com/2011/12/14/how-to-launch-your-career-overseas/

Mount Hood and Portland, Oregon

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I recently attended my cousin’s wedding in the beautiful and historic Timberline Lodge in Mount Hood, about 60 miles outside of Portland, Oregon. Sitting at an elevation of 5,960 ft (1,817 m), this National Historic Landmark is also famous for serving as the exterior of the Overlook Hotel in The Shining. A perfect location for a more active wedding, the Timberline Lodge had something for everyone. There were plenty of bars and restaurants to choose from within the lodge, common areas with connected fireplaces, nice spas and lots of event space with breathtaking views of the mountains…and you could practically ski down to the hotel lobby!

Check out the view of the ski lifts from one of the restaurant/bars:

 

Mount Hood hiding behind clouds

 

A better view of Mount Hood

We stayed in a cabin a little further down the mountain, in the Alpine Village in Government Camp

If you’re in the Mount Hood area, check out the bar at Charlie’s Mountain View or the diner at the Huckleberry Inn.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to explore much of downtown Portland as most of my time was spent at various family and wedding activities in Mount Hood. It was great to relax and meet up with family, many of whom I hadn’t seen in at least five years, though!

However, I did compile a below list of sites worth seeing, divided up by the different quadrants of the city. With 37 breweries operating in Portland, this list pretty much pays homage to the largest craft brewing market in the US. I hope to return and spend more time in the city using this list as a guide/giant brewery tour route!

South West- South of Burnside and west of the Willamette River, this sector includes the downtown core.

  • Bailey’s Taproom, 213 SW Broadway. Offers 20 constantly rotating taps, plus one beer engine, encompassing the entire range of beer styles with emphasis on Oregon breweries. Located in downtown Portland, convenient to most hotels, mass transit, events, nightlife, restaurants and welcome to both microbrew fanatics and the uninitiated. One of the most eclectic selections of beer around and encourages enthusiasm for the unfamiliar. (Closed Sundays) $10.
  • Pioneer Courthouse Square, 701 SW 6th. This public square is affectionately referred to as Portland’s “living room,” thanks to its popularity as a gathering place and as a site for public festivals and events. In past years, the site was occupied by a school, a hotel and a parking garage. Not until 1974 did the city obtain the land and create the beautiful space that exists today. Open since 1984, the square hosts activities year-round, including special outdoor concerts and city celebrations. Much of the funding was through private donations; as a result, you’ll see bricks imprinted with the names of donors throughout the space.
  • Portland Building and Portlandia, 1120 SW 5th. No downtown building has drawn more notoriety than the Portland Building, designed by postmodern architect Michael Graves to house city government bureaus. This blocky, pastel-coloured edifice is considered the world’s first major structure in the postmodern style. Towering above the main doors of the Portland Building is Portlandia, an immense statue representing the Goddess of Commerce (Portland’s supposed patroness). This crouching female figure with one hand extended and the other grasping a trident is, at 12m (36ft), the second-largest hammered copper statue in the world, beaten only by the Statue of Liberty herself.

South East – South of Burnside and east of the Willamette River.

  • Hair of the Dog Brewing, 61 SE Yamhill St. A microbrewery that achieved a weird sort of notoriety for high-alcohol-content beers, including “Dave,” which had an astonishing 29% alcohol by volume. (It’s no longer produced.) Originally not a brewpub, a recent relocation closer to the Willamette River has added a taproom (W-Su 2PM-8PM), and its beers can also be found around town at such places as Higgins and the Horse Brass.
  • Le Bistro Montage, 301 SE Morrison. This beloved Creole nightspot under the Morrison Bridge has long, white-clothed community tables, aggressively oddball waiting staff, oyster shooters, streetwine cocktails and legendary macaroni and cheese.
  • If you’re looking for a free drink while walking around downtown, look no further than the Benson Bubblers, a series of ornate drinking fountains scattered throughout the downtown area, made of copper and in one-bowl and four-bowl variations.

North – North of Burnside, east of the Willamette River and west of Williams Avenue.

  • Widmer Brothers Brewing Company, 929 North Russell Street. A bright brewery and Gasthaus pub in an industrial neighborhood. The brewery offers free tours and tastings on Friday and Saturday afternoons. The Gasthaus has a wide-ranging menu that features German specialties. Widmer is best known for its unfiltered wheat beer, Hefeweizen, but it has roughly a dozen beers on tap, including Drop Top Amber, Widberry, Cherry Bomb, Snowplow Stout and seasonal and limited-edition selections.

North West – North of Burnside and west of the Willamette River, this sector is immediately north of downtown and includes the Pearl District, Old Town, and the Northwest district.

  • Pearl District, 1015 NW Everett St. This neighborhood is dotted with high-end galleries, boutiques and home-decor shops – don’t miss Powell’s City of Books. On the first Thursday of each month galleries stay open longer and people fill some of the Pearl’s streets amid a party atmosphere. And on weekends, visit the quintessentially Portland Saturday Market.
  • Bridgeport Brewing Company, 1313 NW Marshall Street. Housed in a converted rope factory in Portland’s trendy Pearl district, BridgePort’s brew pub is undergoing a complete renovation and is scheduled to reopen in February with an artisanal bakery, a restaurant and two-level bar. BridgePort beers often draw on the hop fields of Oregon’s Willamette Valley. India Pale Ale is BridgePort’s flagship beer, but the brewery also produces beers like Blue Heron Pale Ale, Ropewalk Amber Ale and the seasonal Ebenezer Ale.

For more interesting Oregon beer facts, visit The Oregon Brewers Guild.

Exploring Downtown Los Angeles

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Like most visitors in Los Angeles, I’ve hiked up to the iconic Hollywood sign, perused through the celeb handprints near the Grauman’s Chinese Theater, soaked up the sun in Santa Monica and (window) shopped on Rodeo Drive. I’ve been to the City of Angels a few times and my favorite part of each visit was viewing the downtown skyline from different vantage points, including the Getty, the Hollywood Hills, and Griffith Park. As much as I like to avoid rush hour traffic and the hustle and bustle by admiring the downtown skyline from afar, I finally made my way down to the city’s core to see it up close and personal.

The inspiration for my visit? The 2009 indie hit 500 Days of Summer, of course! Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel, the movie also gave Downtown LA a prominent role and changed my view of the city as being dirty, crime-ridden no-man’s land.

“There’s a lot of beautiful stuff here, too, though. I don’t know. I just wish people would notice it more.”

This quote from Tom (Gordon-Levitt) definitely rings true. The sad fact is that downtown LA’s beauty often goes unnoticed, but if you take the time to look, you’ll quickly uncover the the artistic, historic and surprisingly stunning side of one of America’s most famous yet under-rated city centers.

To start, I found this handy map to identify landmarks from the movie and navigate my way through the city. The sites are within a mile radius of each other so the self-guided tour only took a couple of hours at a very relaxed pace. Naturally, I also detoured to some additional must-sees that weren’t in the film along the way.

First stop was the Civic Center Mall where Tom’s dance scene was filmed (Temple between Hill and Grand).

Dance Scene at Civic Center Mall

Unfortunately, the fountain was under construction so I had to improvise by visiting the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion behind the Civic Center Mall, which admittedly had an equally nice plaza and fountain.

Further down Grand is the metallic amalgamation of the Walt Disney Concert Hall, which is definitely also worth a look.
Dorothy Chandler Pavillion Walt Disney Concert Hall

A few blocks down and over is Angel’s Knoll (W 4th St and Olive St), the park that overlooks the city’s historic core and houses Tom’s bench. There is even a commemorative plaque to help you identify the right bench. On this particular day I was able to catch a hipster artist sketching the view.

Angel’s Knoll is accessible by a staircase next to the charming Angel’s Flight (the shortest railway in the world at 298 feet), off of Olive Street and via the rear of Cal Plaza. It’s only 25 cents a ride and was reopened recently after some safety upgrades were made.
Angel's Flight

Next, I walked down to the 1927 Fine Arts Building on 7th Street, which Tom pointed out to Summer during their walking tour date downtown. After all, a key component to really appreciating any city is to look up!

Last but not least, I stopped by the 1893 Bradbury Building (304 South Broadway, at 3rd Street), which was featured in the last scene of the movie. The interior of the building that is a marvel with a skylight that illuminates the polished wood, open cage elevators, marble stairs and ornate iron railing details that make this landmark such a unique treasure from the pre-war era.

There are a lot of hidden gems in Downtown LA that are worth discovering. So get out of that car, put on some comfortable walking shoes and explore!

California Coastal Hiking: Torrey Pines Beach Trail

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One of my favorite things about San Diego is the beach, and this weekend I got to enjoy one of the city’s most scenic North County beaches without my bikini…

After a delicious cinnamon brioche french toast brunch at the beachfront Pacifica Del Mar Breeze Cafe, my sister and I decided to go on a spontaneous hike in the nearby Torrey Pines State Reserve to take advantage of the gorgeous weather.

From the North Entrance, we worked our way to the top of the hill to the Lodge and then started our descent to the beach below along the scenic Beach Trail. Donning flip flops, we still able to move around quite easily while enjoying the breathtaking views of the ocean, cliffs, wildlife, greenery and parasailers overhead.

Torrey Pines has a great range of easy and moderate trails, especially if you’re looking engage in some sort of physical activity before you spend the rest of your day laying out on the beach.

Only 3/4 mile in length, the Beach Trail was not at all strenuous, but it provided us with a good way to walk/stroll off our meal.

One piece of advice before you go: wear a hat. There are lots of seagulls and other flocks of birds that like to fly overhead…and they do not stop for bathroom breaks!

View from the top (with a lone torrey pine)

Sandstone cliffs

Can you really take the European Tour from home?

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I was feeling nostalgic about Europe, and after surfing the net for a bit, I learned that Google today launched new Street View images of historic sites in Italy and France (like the Colosseum, Santa Maria del Fiore and Fontainebleau) from all angles.

Fontainebleau

I’m currently strapped for cash and in limbo at the moment (definitely a topic for another post), so I can see the appeal of taking this virtual trip around the world without leaving the comfort of my own home. But it’s certainly no substitute for the real thing!

Had I just Googled my Euro-trip in 2005, I would have missed out on the flirty advances of Italian men on the way to the Colosseum and the French techno twins dancing wildly to the Scissor Sisters in the otherwise tranquil gardens of Fontainebleau. Priceless!

What I’m wondering is: how did the Street View trikes capture images without a tourist in sight? Unfortunately, I couldn’t avoid capturing swarms of people during my visit to Fontainbleau:

During my mini European staycation today, I also discovered that virtual travelers can also get their art fix through the Google Art Project, which offers gigapixel images of some of the world’s most well-known art pieces from museums around the globe. Beats the high entry fees of some of these venues, but if you do end up going to the museums, you can definitely maximize your time by identifying which pieces you want to see up close and effectively navigate your way through each venue.

It’s amazing how you can can easily see the wonders of the world for free and at the click of a mouse, but hopefully these sorts of technologies will ultimately inspire people to get out there and do some good old-fashioned traveling.

After all, without going to these historic sites and museums, you won’t capture and personalize your own experience, kinda like this one (taken in the Louvre in Paris):