This is one of my favorite pieces of San Francisco architectural art at 6th and Howard diagonally from IC San Francisco.

The neighborhood requires caution. My first visit to the IC San Francisco in March 2008 occurred the morning after a man was beaten to death by the Examiner newspaper building on Mission and 6th while returning home around 12:30am from a late night market with a carton of milk. A security guard at the Examiner called 911, but response was too late.

The Examiner building is what you pass if walking 6th street back to the IC San Francisco.

I try to approach the IC San Francisco from 4th and Howard.

Lots of dodgy streets around there, as mentioned. S.F. has a pretty bad homeless problem, IMO.

Of course, the odds that anyone will actually bother you, even on a dodgy street, are very small. The risk is there, however, so it all depends on your own risk tolerance.

FWIW, and IMHO, homeless in S.F. appear to be, on average, significantly more aggressive than homeless I've seen in other big cities. There are quite a few genuinely crazy ones. One coworker of mine was assaulted (and died a week later), and I have a friend whose mother was assaulted and suffered permanent physical damage, both by crazy homeless in S.F. in broad daylight.

I think it's important to know and stick to the safer routes. Even one particular street might be fine on one block and dodgy on the next.

erdehoff,

Isnt the cable $2.00 plus $3.50?
link to fare:
http://www.sfmta.com/cms/mfares/fareinfo.htm#cablecar

You are most likely okay during the daytime/light hours, but at night it is not safe to walk around there so take a cab. My son was actually held up/robbed at gunpoint in this area at night, but it was very late at night. Just be careful.

it's a line of old streetcars that go from the wharf up Market st so it's just the regular MUNI fare.


http://www.sfmta.com/cms/mmaps/indvmaps.htm

The cable car is $5 per ride. No free transfers allowed.

The F streetcar is treated like a Muni bus or light-rail vehicle. $2 per ride, and free transfers are allowed.

Thanks for all the help. Will get on a streetcar at some point definately.

My summary of all your help is:

Walk from the holiday inn on 8th street by either walking to Howard Street and directly to the Moscone.

Walk to Market St from the hotel and then walk down 4th to the Moscone.

Don't walk up and down 5/6/7th.

What about walking down Mission St. How's that?

The intersections of 6th and Market, 6th and Mission and 6th and Howard are all very bad places by San Francisco standards. I don't walk through any of them if I can avoid them. If I had to choose, I would walk down Market St. because there are likely to be other tourists on that stretch (often looking very lost and a bit frightened). On Mission or Howard it will just be you and the crack heads.

ok, might use the free buses laid on when I am going to/from the Moscone to the hotel then.

I've just booked up my tickets for Alcatraz (very reasonable price IMO from the official website) so I now need to get to the pier 33.

Am I right in saying I walk up to market street and get on the F line streetcar and then get off at Bay St.

Yes, that's right. Give yourself plenty of time. The F is very slow.

Im working on promoteing a film about people who work for the airlines,.,.,.,ITS CAlled Up in the Air.,.,.,/}{}{

movies are fun to watch on the plane

about the farms of wine

A safer alternative to walking down Mission St. through the 6th St. area is to take the 14, 14L, or 14X buses, which run up and down Mission St. and generally stop at every block (depending on the variety of "14"). Cost is $2, and free transfers are allowed.

Don't miss the self-guided audio tour. It's really good.

If you're in a hurry, you may want to avoid the F, as it's slow. There are other bus lines that will get you close to the same pier -- check the systemwide Muni map. Also, you can use nextmuni.com to get real-time arrival times for each bus/train route, e.g., on your BlackBerry. Very useful.