The Castro is famous as a gay neighborhood, and yes gay people are obviously around, but they won't throw you out if you're not gay. However, you must stand at attention, and applaud all transvestites.
Starting at Market & 17th St, and working our way south toward 18th (let's keep things brief and skip the bars. You won't have any trouble finding gay bars around here...):
- Orphan Annie's on 17th, just off Castro. 24 hour diner. Get's crowded.
- Castro Theater - you might notice the neon sign. Ornate art deco interior, good selection of repertory films: best movie theater in town. Reference.
- That Thai restaurant on the second floor - good food, quiet atmosphere... try and get the window seats with a view of the Castro Theater.
- A Different Light - gay-oriented bookstore. One of a chainlet of three stores in different cities. Reference.
- Cliff's Variety Store - Spiffy hardware store with great window displays. Nice toy section.
Starting at the intersection of 18th and Castro, you can go anywhere. Don't be too distracted by the crowd off to your left, on the east side of the intersection, unless you're hunting for bear. For some reason they've settled on the goddamn Starbucks as their hang-out (guys: Castro Tarts! Spike's! Sweet Inspirations! Anywhere else...
Out that way you'll find a number of random things like the "Does your mother know?" sex toys store.
And if you push on a few blocks, you'll find the truly excellent Samovar Tea Lounge at 18th and Sanchez Street. (More info below in tea section).
Don't miss the Walgren's drugstore on the corner: it's open 24 hours and stocks a peculiar collection of surreal kitsch, a fair selection of sexual lubricants, and the usual run of snack foods. And yes, I hate big chains (I mean, chain-stores) but I like Walgren's. Making sense of this is an advanced topic which will not be covered here.
If you continue west on 18th Street, there's the 24 hour Cala supermarket , some assorted restaraunts (e.g. Firewood) and so on.
But continuing south on Castro:
- Escape from New York a pizza place which is cheap and not an insult to the name "New York".
- Across the street is The Sausage Factory: Could this be the hide-out of the beloved San Francisco superhero Dildo-Man? Reference. Basic italian food, dark wood interior, not too expensive.
- Back on the west side of Castro: Nirvana. An aptly named restaurant. And no, I don't mean that it's grungy, it's got excellent mid-priced pan-asian food. The best tables are outside in back (propane heaters make this work).
- Castro Tart's. My favorite independant coffee place in the area. Deserts are really good. They also do some great, inexpensive food, e.g. Vietnamese sandwiches. Highly recommended. Too bad they close a bit early (sixish).
If you hang a right on 19th Street, you'll see another good coffee place called Spike's. It's got some outdoor seating on a quieter street just off the strip. Their coffee urns are labeled with caffiene percentages. Open 6:30am-7pm.
And when you need to get out of here... well, like I said the 24 and the L run all night. 19th and Castro is a 24 stop, the L stops back at Market, down the escalator.
But if you're looking for an afternoon walk, you could just head east on 19th street: it skirts the edges of the hills, and takes you into Dolores Park, and beyond that lies The Mission and Valencia Street.