If you start down in the Mission at 24th Street and Valencia (by Muddys), if you head up the hill on 24th street, you will eventually land in the somewhat problematic neighborhood of Noe Valley. The temptation is to write this off as an upper-middle-class yupster baby-carriage hell, but actually it's not as far gone as places like Union Street or Chesnut Street, and it certainly has some saving graces.

On Church street, a few blocks south of 24th is Lovejoy's, a pretty authentic British tea place which also sells antiques (and yes, the title is an intentional reference to the books by Jonathan Gash)... though it's gotten quite a bit more prissy in recent years, and they now have a somewhat obnoxious *per person* (not per table) minimum charge.

Along the 24th street strip, there are a few independant bookstores, (the Phoenix and the Tattered-Cover -- though that's now re-located around the corner on Castro), and a really good newstand/magazine place.

There's also a good bagel place, Holey Bagel which does a better job than Katz's on pumpernickle.

Several blocks up 24th Street, on your right you'll find "Global Exchange", a non-profit fair-trade import store. Ethnic stuff, with the goal of getting more of the money to the original artists out in the ethnicities...

And a few blocks after that, a little before Diamond, there's the excellent "San Francisco Mystery Bookstore" on the left (new and used books, though unfortunately it's completely lacking in cats).

A good way out of Noe Valley would be to grab the 24 hour 24 bus at 24th and Noe, which you can ride over the hills to the Castro or the Lower Haight. Alternately, you can take the J downtown from Church and 24th.

The 24 hour donut place at 24th and Church is pretty good by the way. Too bad the J isn't a 24 hour line... but walking over from the 24 line on Noe isn't that big a problem.