10 Unique Places in San Francisco to Explore in 2021

San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen once said "San Francisco…a poem without meter, a symphony without harmony, a painting without reason-a city without an equal."

This magnificent City by the Bay as it's often called has some of the world's most famous iconic structures and sights in the world that first-time visitors shouldn't miss like the Golden Gate Bridge, infamous Alcatraz Island, Lombard Street, and its famous trolleys and streetcars.

But, it's the off-the-beaten-path hidden gems of San Francisco that provide some of the most awe-inspiring moments and unforgettable memories.

No one knows their town better than the locals. Which is why we chose a tour with EXP-1-Experience First. Various tours throughout the city and environs are available but our Full Day Highlights walking tour enabled us to explore San Francisco's eclectic and diverse neighborhoods through immersive and authentic experiences we wouldn't have had otherwise. San Francisco is a fascinating city always ready to surprise and here are those hidden gems that shouldn't be missed.

Visitors to Chinatown not only get to see how fortune cookies are made and nab a free sample, but they can customize their own fortune to be added to a fresh-baked treat.

The smell of fresh-baked cookies wafted through the air as we entered the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory, tucked in a Chinatown alley just off the main drag. Made entirely by hand, the cookies come in several varieties including vanilla, strawberry, chocolate, and even green tea.

It's weird, it's bizarre, it's free, and it's a whole lot of fun for kids of all ages. Musée Mécanique, an antique penny arcade and artifacts museum located at Fisherman's Wharf holds one of the largest privately owned collection of coin-operated games in the world.

San Francisco philanthropist and historian Edward Zelinsky began collecting coin-operated machines at the age of 11. Family owned and operated since 1933, the museum features over 300 classic and antique arcade games in their original working condition - from carnival can-can dancers and fortune tellers to hand-cranked music boxes.

Walking into City Lights Bookstore is taking a step back into time. Not only does the place ooze with San Francisco literary history, but even the smell is vintage. Three squeaky antique floors house thousands of books (some extremely rare finds). In the 1950s San Francisco was a magnet attracting inventive writers, artists, intellectuals and free thinkers who were also radical social innovators who left their mark on society.

Founded in 1953 by Beat Generation poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, the bookstore was built on the ruins of a previous building destroyed in the fire following the 1906 earthquake. A literary meeting place since its opening, it also enjoys the distinction of being the first paperback bookstore in the nation.

A terminal for ferries traversing the San Francisco Bay, the 1892 San Francisco Ferry Building is so much more. It's eye-catching 245-foot-tall clock tower was designed after the 12th-century Giralda bell tower in Seville, Spain.

Inside the building, a splendidly diverse marketplace is a feast for the senses with merchants selling everything from fresh-baked bread, cheese, seafood and meat to wines, coffee, teas, olive oils, ceramics, and body products. The marketplace also features unique restaurants and cafes.

Yes, San Francisco has wild urban parrots! The flock actually appeared around 1900 when one pair of escaped small cherry-headed conures found an ecological niche on the top of Telegraph Hill. Eventually they were joined by other parrots and by 2005, the flock nesting among the residents' fragrant gardens had grown to over 200.

Though the colorful birds can occasionally be spotted throughout the city, the best place to see them in their screeching tropical glory is by climbing the steep staircase leading to the Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill.

No other city in the world can match San Francisco's famous cable car and streetcar history. There's no charge to visit the San Francisco Railway Museum celebrating the positive impacts streetcars and cable cars have made on the quality of urban life in this city.

A full-sized exact replica of the motorman's platform of a 1911 San Francisco streetcar is the centerpiece of the museum. Museum walls are filled with photos, replicas, and memorabilia celebrating these vintage transportation pieces.

You just have to. Go in and order the famous Buena Vista Irish Coffee, America's first Irish Coffee. The perfected recipe hasn't changed since 1952. The drink at this Irish Pub is so popular, bartenders here place heated goblets in an assembly line, methodically filling them with coffee, two sugar cubes, Tullamore Dew Irish whiskey with an artistic flair. They are heavy on the pours and the creamed frothy topping is divine. The price is $10.50 a cup, and worth every penny. They're not only good, watching the baristas work is a treat!

Located in a historic 1916 building that was once a boarding house later converted to a saloon, the Café always has a line waiting to get in, day or night. On a busy day, over 2,000 Irish Coffee's are sold at the Café. We know why.

It's called the Judgement of Paris, and it changed the world of wine forever. Hollywood even made a movie about it, called "Bottle Shock". In 1976, two Napa Valley California wines, one from Château Montelena were entered into a blind winetasting competition in Paris, France.

After the results of the competition were announced, the wine world was literally in shock as the two California wines beat out prestigious French wineries in both red and white categories.

The historic Westin St. Francis in Union Square has partnered with the premier Château Montelena winery and guests of the hotel, as well as other visitors, can come to taste the wines being produced with the same award-winning technique.

Perched on the headlands at the Cliff House just north of Ocean Beach, the Camera Obscura is just that- a walk-in giant camera based on a 15th-century design by Leonardo da Vinci. This Natural Landmark, part of the Golden Gate Recreation Area produces spectacular live images of the Seal Rock area using exterior light sources such as sunlight to project images through a lens onto a parabolic table. It's one amazing and fascinating not-to-be-missed piece of science.

Tony Bennett croons "I left my heart in San Francisco" in his famous song.

And in San Francisco, his song inspired the 131 giant heart sculptures scattered throughout the city painted by local artists. At the end of each year, the hearts are auctioned off with proceeds going directly to the San Francisco General Hospital Foundation.

These magnificent, colorful and unique structures are popular hangouts for tourists and locals alike. Aside from providing great photo ops, they represent the message of human kindness, giving, and unity.