Steer clear of the
Tenderloin at night, which is from the City Hall to the financial District (where the tall buildings are) from about market street Nob Hill to about the
Ghirardelli Chocolate Factory.
I doubt you will be anywhere near
.
The City is divided up into 'Districts'. For Instance the Mission District, South of Market, etc. Mission is Latino with a heavy Mexican Influence. South of Market is where the leather bars are found.
Don't look at a map and think its going to be easy to walk everywhere. San Francisco sits on several steep hills, those straight streets defy the ups and downs of the reality of the topography.
is Gay... Very gay. Lots of Gay Bars with Gay shops.
I can't recommend any restaurants, its been over a decade since I lived there, but if you just walk up and down most streets you will fine dining establishments all over the place.
Myself, I hung out more
area and
The Park (Golden Gate) and that general area.
San Francisco is really, really small for a city, one can walk the whole length and/or breadth it in a single day.
I lived South of Market and would walk to the Golden Gate park, only took a couple hours, taking my time.
There is an extensive Mass Transit system, including bus and light rail. I think it was the J train that rode all the way from downtown (Near the
) all the way out to the pacific, a decent junk of that was underground.
I worked at the Metro Hotel back in the day:
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-...ornia.html It was pretty decent then, its 4 star now.
I also worked at the Phillips Hotel
http://www.yelp.com/biz/philips-hotel-san-francisco One star, but it rents rooms by the hour. This latter has shared facilities (toilet/showers shared with everyone on the floor).
The metro is pretty pricey, the Phillips is dirt cheap....
So it depends on your budget, there is a place for every budget.
As for places to see, San Francisco has tourists information all over the net... In all honesty you can get a lot more data that way.
The Warf is a huge tourist trap - decent enough, pretty enough, but pricey and full of unruly mobs of out of towners.
As long as you steer clear of the Tenderloin area at night you should be safe enough to explore the city.