I have lived in North Beach for three years now. When I first moved in, the landlord made a comment about how I’d probably move after the lease was up that first year. She said that everyone who moves to the neighborhood as a new San Francisco resident really loves it here at first but then wants to get away from the tourists and the high rent costs and the North Beach life. She was wrong.

Of course, there are definitely things that I don’t love about North Beach (like the tour buses that drop people off outside my bedroom window at six am on weekend mornings). And I wouldn’t even say that North Beach is my favorite neighborhood; usually I go out in other parts of town. But there remain many things that I like about this historic neighborhoods. And there are a lot of things that are sexy to be found here, enough so that I would consider it one of San Francisco’s sexiest neighborhoods.

Here’s a look at what I think are the ten sexiest things to see/experience/go to/ enjoy in North Beach:

1. City Lights Bookstore / Vesuvio and Jack Kerouac Alley. This is one high-tourist area in North Beach that I actually think is worth spending some time at. The history of the Beat Poets makes the bookstore and the bar next door a place with rich stories behind it. On any given night, you can still run in to highly creative people hanging out between the shelves in the bookstore’s basement or drinking wildly on the second floor of the bar or making music in the alley between the two. The energy here is totally sexy.
2. The strip clubs on Broadway. Even if you aren’t someone who is particularly in to straight strip clubs, there’s definitely something sexy in the way the neon lights up the street here. There’s a lot of history in this area as well - dating back to the days of the Barbary Coast and continuing through more recent times when The Lusty Lady became an owner-operated strip club. Whether you want to partake of the Little Darlings, go back to the Roaring Twenties or just kind of marvel at the outdated signs on some of these places, there’s certainly something to be seen in this part of North Beach.
3. The saloons on Grant Street. Speaking of the Barbary Coast days, there’s still some hint of the old saloon-style drinking in North Beach. Head to Grant Street and you’ll find a few places where the beer and live music are flowing freely. It’s a rugged kind of sexy that I kind of like.
4. Live Worms Gallery. Also on Grant Street you will find that there is a cute little art gallery called Live Worms Gallery which frequently has terrific art hanging on the walls. The opening receptions here are always packed with people and energy and it’s not too difficult to find something sexy in the scene.
5. Saxophone players on the street. There are street performers who perform regularly in North Beach. Some are good, some are bad, most are mediocre. But the ones who take out a saxophone and fill the area with its sounds for a few pennies at a time are the ones that absolutely win my heart. I fall in love with this neighborhood again every time it happens around me.
6. The hum of the cable cars. I happen to think that the cable cars are probably the sexiest form of transportation to have ever existed. They vibrate subtly beneath the streets which, if you ask me, is far more sexy than those remote control eggs we’ve all heard about. They produce a hum and an energy that I find to be totally romantic. And they run right through North Beach.
7. Coit Tower. Sure, it’s supposed to be just a tourist trap and you’ll find lots of tourists here. But the view from up top is breath taking. The jungle of lush trees on the other side of Telegraph Hill is an adventure to explore. And the building itself is clearly a phallic symbol.
8. Lingerie shopping at OOMA. This little store over on Grant Street is filled with the sweet kind of lingerie that you can only find at a small boutique store. Totally sexy.
9. Sexy tours of the area. Several of the cities sexiest neighborhoods take place in North Beach including the Bawdy and Naughty Tour and the San Francisco Sexy Tours.
10. Late night espresso and tiramisu anywhere in the neighborhood. This is more about romance than pure sex but it’s what the neighborhood is all about. The whispered conversations that you have with a date before you head home for the night can be filled with nuanced sexuality. The traditions of other countries and other eras come forth in a kind of nostalgia that lingers in the air. It’s a sexy experience even if you end up enjoying it alone!

Yes, North Beach has the potential to be a very sexy neighborhood indeed if you’re in the mood to be seduced by it.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 28th, 2009 at 3:50 pm and is filed under Neighborhoods. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.