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    Open 10:00 am - 7:00 pm

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    Amoeba Music - Amoeba San Francisco used to be a bowling alley!

    Amoeba Music

    4.4(1.2k reviews)
    3.1 miThe Haight
    $$

    The size of Amoeba overwhelmed me, but positively. This place was easily way bigger than my local…read morerecord shop, let alone any record shop I've been to in the past. Amoeba offers a VAST collection of vinyls, DVDs, CDs, stickers, and magnets. My partner and I collect vinyls, and we didn't leave disappointed.

    I still remember when this location was Park Bowl, but that was (gasp) over thirty years ago when…read morebowling was still a popular social activity. I myself was on a bowling team named the Orient Express, and I wish I still had my red team shirt with the dragon on the back. But I digress as this has been an independent record store since 1997, an offshoot of the Berkeley store on Telegraph. Digital downloads be damned, this shop is focused on physical media...CDs, DVDs, cassette tapes, Blu-rays, and of course, vinyl. Even before picking up spares at Park Bowl, I recall that moment in my youth when I made the monumental decision to switch my record purchases from vinyl to CDs. Nowadays, vinyl is making a comeback among a younger generation looking for a higher quality, more realistic sound quality. I saw these Gen Z audiophiles flipping through the long LP bins in search of the elusive underground classic their stereophonic friends could appreciate and envy. Personally I could find nuggets of my own. Albums like The Very Best of Spike Jones (Photo 10) and The Complete 2,000 Year Old Man (Photo 5) resonated with me. I was happy to see individual LPs consolidated into boxed sets like the Linda Ronstadt retrospective. Beyond the music is the expansive DVD collection of movie titles both classic and obscure. There's also books and collectible merchandise like pop-culture lunch boxes and celebrity prayer candles. I'm not sure I need a candle that deifies Aubrey Plaza, but it's good to know where I can get one. RELATED - Exploring the Haight? Here's a collection of places I've visited and reviewed: https://yelp.to/Mq6DbbrGGJ

    Photos
    Amoeba Music - The Amoeba SF entrance.

    The Amoeba SF entrance.

    Amoeba Music - Sunset over Amoeba SF and Haight Street.

    Sunset over Amoeba SF and Haight Street.

    Amoeba Music - Vinyl wonderland!

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    Vinyl wonderland!

    AsiaStar Fantasy

    AsiaStar Fantasy

    2.7(13 reviews)
    0.1 miChinatown
    $$

    This shop have been here as long as I have lived. It's a…read morehuge part of SF Chinatown history. They sell traditional Chinese red envelopes with unlimited variations of designs, traditional Chinese New Years decorations and some tech stuff (aux plug or headphone plugs). Inside is a warm light (yellow), so colors/dye of decorations won't fade. It's a pretty huge space, they have red envelopes throughout the stores on very corner. Ranging and categorizing by events such as weddings, good luck, wealth, health, education, and they have a whole wall of customize last names. Today my mom bought a wedding envelope. That will be used for my cousins upcoming wedding. $3.95 and there's 2 inside. That's a pretty cheap price (Pricing depends on quality and design) Only con- The shop smells. It reeks of dry sweat and piss. There is no window installment. Idk if it's bad venting or no air conditioning or because they share venting with the chicken shop next door or because lots of homeless people piss in the alley... But they should find a fix. Because that is the #1 reason why they're not receiving business because customers aren't willing to stay in a smelly shop. And with more customers in there, the more stuffier it gets. While I was shopping today, 2 groups came in. One couple and a group of 6-8 young adults. The couple walked in and straight out. The group did a lap, complimented on the things but made fun of the smell, laugh and left.

    Came here last time looking for some nice looking Chinese new year decorations & I ended up buying…read morea little mini hanging Lucky rabbit with a Chinese Style gold design & a small sized hanging red lantern... If your here in the San Francisco Ca Chinatown Area as a visitor from out of town from the states or from another country... And looking for nice looking Chinese New Year decorations... Go to the Asia Star at the San Francisco Chinatown Ca USA Location!!!

    Photos
    AsiaStar Fantasy
    AsiaStar Fantasy - So many goodies to sell.

    So many goodies to sell.

    AsiaStar Fantasy

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    City Lights - The staircase leading upstairs to the main floor.

    City Lights

    4.4(815 reviews)
    0.1 miChinatown
    $$

    An amazing bookstore and so glad I asked chatGPT to give me some ideas for a stroll around SF near…read moreUnion Square. Well, ok, this place isnt close to Union Sq, about a mile away, but it was a perfect delicious end destination for a post dinner stroll! I like bookstores and I like eclectic, unique ones. I'll go to Barnes & Noble if I had no other choice, but my favorite bookstores are independent ones and ones where they carry very unique books you can't find elsewhere. This bookstore made my inner little nerdy self so happy. I immediately got lost up front looking at very recent publication by Ai Weiwei. I then wandered onto the main floor and found an entire section of Asian works, which you will not find at B&N. I also found books from Norwegian writers too which I had never seen before, which thrilled me. I then made my way up to their attic floor which is dedicated to poetry and seems I just missed Allen Ginsberg's Howl centennial celebration. Ugh! I then came back down and then proceeded to their basement section and again I was quite pleasantly surprised by the depth and breadth of Asian themed books they had. They had plenty of the Chinese classics in English and found so many different versions of Journey to the West, I was completely overwhelmed. And then, saw an entire section on Africa and I had to fight hard to not pick up a copy of a book titled Prison Letters, which is a collection of Mandela's letters while imprisoned. I ultimately settled on two books by Ai Weiwei as he has continued to inspire me to be proud, to not conform, to be brave, to speak up, to be authentically and unapologetically me, to honor my ancestry and to push boundaries and to fight for what matters. And it just so happens too that my Chinese give name is also Weiwei. I loved coming to this bookstore and it will definitely be on rotation for me when I am in SF again.

    I visited the City Lights bookstore up in San Francisco on my recent visit there. This bookstore…read moreharkens back to the Beat poetry movement of the 1960s. And when you walk in, you immediately get that sense of the power of words, the power of literature, and how they impact the community. Located right around the corner from Chinatown, we stop by when we were walking on Columbus Avenue. I had forgotten it was there, so it was great to visit this bookstore again. Hope to come again soon.

    Photos
    City Lights - Downstairs

    Downstairs

    City Lights - The upstairs location of the bookstore.

    The upstairs location of the bookstore.

    City Lights - The bottom floor that you have to go downstairs to.

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    The bottom floor that you have to go downstairs to.

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