San Francisco

You're in Chinatown to take a walking tour when you suddenly find out that one of your fellow walkers has been kidnapped, or "shanghaied," and is being whisked down to the wharves to be placed on a boat bound for the Far East. Your mission is to save her from a cruel fate. So instead of the usual stops in front of monuments with plaques, you'll embark on a mission through the city to find clues from shady characters on the street and in moody bars and swanky restaurants.

Shanghai San Francisco is a cool walking tour that lets you see Chinatown, North Beach and the Financial District from a new perspective. Created by Joseph Tomasini and Daphne Lehr, Shanghai S.F. adds outdoor theatre and sketch comedy to the requisite stops at eating, drinking and shopping spots. The tour is 2.5 hours long and starts at the base of Coit Tower, meaning you'll be walking downhill all the way, so don't worry about huffing and puffing.

Shanghai San Francisco takes place every Saturday, with five tours starting between 12:30 and 2:30 p.m. Tickets are $40.

The sizable Russian population in San Francisco is evidenced in the many old-school eateries in the Richmond District. Try Cafe Sadko (2229 Clement at 23rd Ave.) for vareniki (boiled dumplings) and kishka (sausage), and check out nearby Moscow and Tblisi Bakery (5540 Geary at 20th Ave.) for Russian and Georgian sweets and deli offerings to take away. Hungarian and German sausages rule at the Haight's tiny Rosamunde Sausage Grill (545 Haight at Fillmore; pictured), and the wait is worth it.

This is the last stop on our three-week international food tour of San Francisco, but really just a jumping off point into your own adventures in eating! It's a small world after all, and you can pile it all on your plate here.

Alfred Hitchcock fans will appreciate how the plot of the play The 39 Steps, now playing at the Curran Theater, doesn't stray too far from Hitch's classic 1935 film "The 39 Steps." But while the film was a thriller, the play also plays it for laughsand throws in references to other Hitchcock classics like "Rear Window," "The Birds" and "Vertigo." See if you can spot the ubiquitous Hitchcock cameo, too.

"The 39 Steps" started in London and quickly became a smash hit; now it's finishing up a two-year run on Broadway, and kicks off San Francisco's "Best of Broadway" season for 2010. The plot: A man with a boring life meets an exotic woman who says she's a spy. He takes her home but when he wakes up to find her murdered, he also finds a mysterious organization called "The 39 Steps" hot on his trail. There are 150 characters in the play, and they're all played by just four actors who step in and out of thick accents without a loss of breath. You'll be amazed by the costume changes when you're not laughing at the gags.

The 39 Steps plays at the Curran Theater (445 Geary St; 415-512-7770) until January 3. Tickets are $35 to $80.

I can't deny I love to shop. But bottom line–it's part of my job. Discovering, the latest and loveliest local labels is, after all, the raison d'être of this blog. Sharing the gems I find with other shopping enthusiasts and visitors to SF is the payoff. And, thus, I bring you my most recent crush: Little 'Umpa Designs, which makes the most charming and sustainable textiles.

As I was trolling for stylish new goodies at the Stockings & Stilettos shopping event, I was drawn to the adorable and colorful vintage-like handkerchiefs, bandannas and scarves hanging from a clothesline. The sweet prints include "Just a Pig and a Flower" (exactly that), "Radish," featuring the vegetable atop the words from "Taste" (a book about the history of English food) and my favorite (pictured here) "Cars-California," drawn by the designer's talented daughter.

The hankies and bandannas can be used strictly for style or for more functional purposes, i.e. sneezing into or as a napkin. Victoria, the designer/owner couldn't find her own organic, quick-drying fabrics so she came up with her own. (Hello, Ms. Industrious.) And, in case you're wondering, "umpa" means acorn in the Native American Miwok language.

You can find Little 'Umpa Designs at Crown and Crumpet in Ghirardelli Square and August in Mill Valley. The online store will be open soon.

Sometimes you just need a cheap beer, a quiet and dark place to hunker down with a bike messenger chum, and, uh, free bacon.

Pop's -- so many a Mission District rockers' fave hang -- delivers. No Web site, no attitude -- just plenty of bargain-priced brews and bevvies. We're talking an unheard-of $1 Hamm's and one-buck High Life on, respectively, Tuesdays and Wednesdays; $2 Tecates and tall cans of Bud; and $6-ish pitchers of Pabst -- as well as something you never really knew you needed: Pop's brings home the free bacon on Mondays. Thanks, Pop's! (And we haven't even gotten to the photo booth, table-top Pac Man or the occasional garage-rock DJ night-cum-hot-dog-barbecue.)

Pop's Bar
2800 24th St., SF
(415) 401-7677

You know you want to par-tay like it's 1999. Alas, you're just about a decade -- and a day -- too late: "The Art of Prince" opened last night, Dec. 11, at San Francisco Art Exchange, highlighting works by the Minneapolis maestro's main artist Anthony Malzone. Still, I bet you can sally into the gallery anytime to see the, ahem, Prince prints at this show presented by the artist's official Web site, Lotusflow3r.com.

And if the visuals doesn't satisfy, there's always S.F.'s recurring "Prince vs. Michael Jackson" party, which pits the hits, rarities and remixes of the two musical giants against each other for one precious thriller of a monthly. Look for P vs. MJ on Dec. 19, Jan. 16 and Feb. 20, at Madrone. See you under the cherry moon.

"The Art of Prince" is on display at San Francisco Art Exchange, 458 Geary, SF. (800) 344-9633, www.sfae.com. "Prince vs. Michael Jackson" happens Dec. 19, Jan. 16 and Feb. 20 at Madrone, 500 Divisadero, SF. (415) 241-0202, www.madronelounge.com

When a radio station puts on an arts and crafts festival, you know it won't be your typical stall of ceramic booths. KPFA, the Berkeley-based public radio station, lets you groove to folk, funk, hip-hop and soul while you shop for hand-made holiday gifts. Its' 39th annual Crafts & Music Fair takes place this weekend at the San Francisco Design Center (take the free BART shuttle to the show from the Civic Center stop).

Browse the booths of 220 artists who were selected by a jury of their peers to show their wares here, from clothes and body lotions to sculptures and toys. The music starts Saturday at 11 a.m. with a youth ensemble from the Berkeley Jazzschool Institute and ends Sunday afternoon with Latin funk band Carne Crude and a spin with DJSantero. All this for $10 admission, which goes to support KPFA's news and music programs. Not a bad way to get some holiday cheer.

The KPFA Crafts & Music Fair is at the San Francisco Design Center (635 8th Street; 510-848-6767) this Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. $10 admission; free for ages 17 and under.

Dave Eggers, the author of "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and "What Is The What," is a literary and publishing wunderkind who picked San Francisco as his headquarters. His next gig: saving the newspaper business. He and his pals just published The San Francisco Panorama, a one-time-only edition of a newspaper. But what an edition it is. And it's for sale right now exclusively in San Francisco.

Eggers has gotten top writing talent to contribute articles, like Stephen King giving his take on the World Series, and Nicholson Baker evaluating whether newsprint or Internet data centers has the biggest effect on the environment. You'll need more than a morning commute to read through the 320 color pages, including a 96-page section on books, a 110-page magazine, pull-out posters and a mouthwatering food section (my favorites are the Mission District restaurant guide and Momofuku chef David Chang's recipe for a perfect bowl of ramen). It's not all word-intensive: the comics section is a classic, with contributions by Art Spiegelman and Dan Clowes. And there's a kids' page for the tykes to get their news, funnies and movie reviews, too.

Will this save newspapers? Not sure. Eggers put a lot of time and money into the Panorama, which is why it's just a one-shot deal. But it's definitely a great read you can savor for days, maybe even a collector's item to remember the days of print.

The Panorama costs $16, and it's selling fast -- many San Francisco bookstores report that they've sold out of their issues and need to order more. If you're walking around the city this weekend, here's a list of S.F. bookstores selling copies, or pre-order a copy at the McSweeney's Store.

Here's a good way to score as much as 50 percent off of tickets to a hot show. Sign up to become a member of Goldstar, an online company that offers half-off admission to live entertainment events, everything from sports outings to sushi-making classes. Think of it as Ticketmaster for the budget traveler. Goldstar says it's not a ticket broker but rather a partner to entertainment venues who, when their seats aren't filling up quickly, enlists Goldstar to sell discounted tickets to its members.

Goldstar is offering discounts on some of the San Francisco events I've reviewed recently. For instance, tickets to the Cirque du Soleil's new show, "Ovo", is priced between $60 and $95, but Goldstar is offering them for $36 to $57 for January shows. "The Hard Nut," a modern take on "The Nutcracker," is regularly priced at $36 to $52, but GOldstar's tickets are 50 percent off.

Of course, there are a few catches. Goldstar charges a tfee between $5 and $7.50 for each ticket. You probably won't see discount shows for Friday and Saturday nights but plenty for Tuesday evening and weekend matinees. And tickets go fast, which is why it's a good idea to sign up for Goldstar's e-mail of weekly events that comes out every Tuesday. If you're looking for something this weekend, prepare to buy your tickets immediately. Or you can just track a show and see whether it's offering tickets on a date you're available. Then you can leave a review of the event you attended to let other Goldstar members know if it's even worth a half-off ticket.

Besides San Francisco, Goldstar offers event tickets in Boston, Chicago, Washington, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York, Orange County, San Diego, San Jose, and it just started in Seattle.

You gotta admit that corduroy pants with horizontal wales are pretty genius. They're called Cordarounds. They're made in San Francisco. And they're cool. Seriously.

Every design is made in small quantities–and they come in both medium and lightweight fabrications in lotsa colors. The men's cords fit loosely (but are not baggy), and the oh-so-touchable horizontal thin wales (always a good conversation starter) are surprisingly subtle and non-butt-enlarging.

Cordarounds are chockful of other hip details, too, like their simple but seductive side pockets that reveal a peek at the contrasting lining, which ranges from eye-catching hues to more ornate and funky patterns. The final touch that never fails to hook style individualists: the signature small (but bold) red tab that sits on the bottom of every left pant leg.

While pants are the label's bread and butter, the reversible corduroy smoking jackets–with, what else?, horizontal ridges and fab contrasting linings–are also fantastic pieces that will enhance any guy's wardrobe.

Cordarounds are sold online. Shop for yourself or your guy. And ladies can wear 'em, too.