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Bay Area Guide To SB50 Fun!

Montsta

By Montsta,
in Carolina Panthers

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Montsta Community Regular

Montsta

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Hello All,

So I have had several good Huddlers message me and ask questions about the Bay Area because they are flying in for the game. So I wanted to make a post that everybody could reference who is not from around here to maybe help a bunch of people at once. This is a long post. If you don't want to read it stop now and save us your witty tl;dr retort.

First off, let me be the first to welcome you to the Bay Area. Home of Facebook, Google, Apple, Uber, and basically everything else that you use in your life on a daily basis. Let me preface this by saying that your trip is going to be expensive. Even if you got your tickets for free, hotels, cabs, uber, food, coffee, beer, and everything else costs lots of money here. It sucks, but I digress. 

They Bay Area is basically divided into four parts. The North Bay, South Bay, East Bay, and The Peninsula/SF. I guess you could say their is a fifth part that would be Silicon Valley where all the aforementioned tech companies are, and that is kind of in the South Bay but also kind of at the bottom of The Peninsula. Silicon Valley is like the letter Y. Is it a vowel? Is it a consonant? Who cares right? But the show Silicon Valley on HBO is must watch TV, so I guess it has that going for it. Oh yeah and having more money than 90% of the countries in the world. Anyhoo...

The North Bay is beautiful and has some of the best wineries in the world, and is home to my former home, San Quentin State Prison, that is the location of California's only death row. If level 4 prison yards aren't your thing, Napa has beautiful wineries that are world renowned. We won't talk much more about the North Bay because for the sake of this SB50 primer, there isn't much reason to go up that way. I do recommend going to see the Golden Gate Bridge though, because it is very picturesque. You can take buses from virtually anywhere in The City (The City refers to SF proper from here on out, that's just what we call it. Not to be confused with The Town, which is Oakland) to get to the GGB Toll Plaza for pictures and poo. 

The East Bay is, and will always be, my home. Even if I move. I have tattoos that say East Bay 510 from since I was 16 so I'm branded for life. The East Bay is home to Oakland, and the NBA Champion Golden State Warriors. Until SF does what SF do and takes them from us because it's prettier to live in SF. The Warriors are playing OKC on the Saturday prior to the SB. So if you want to watch a kick ass basketball team or maybe try and persuade Steph Curry to come home to Charlotte, I suggest you buy tickets and wear Panthers gear to the game. He will see you and acknowledge you I guarantee it. Once you are done with the game, leave and go back to wherever it is you are staying. I LOVE OAKLAND, and spent much of my childhood there, but it isn't a nice place, especially around Oracle, and unless you go to Jack London Square it is dangerous and should be treated as such. Down the highway 880 from Oakland is Drake's brewery in San Leandro, and Faction Brewing in Alameda. Alameda is an island and Faction sits on an old naval base and has the best view of the SF skyline IMO so if you like great craft beer I highly suggest you go there. If you are staying in the East Bay, you can get into SF by taking BART, or get to Levi's by taking the Capitol Corridor Train(see bart.gov or capitolcorridor.org for maps, station locations, and schedules). If you are trying to get into downtown SF, you'll want to stop at Powell or Montgomery.

The South Bay is basically San Jose and a bunch of whatever towns around it. But San Jose is gigantic in both land area and population, so you don't need much else. San Jose has an awesome downtown area with lots of bars for making good times. Santa Clara St. kind of being at the center of it. San Jose also has La Victoria, which makes killer burritos and is open after the bars close. They put orange sauce in their burritos that is to die for. Bene Benwikere used to eat there in college. I tried to trade him some orange sauce for a jersey, but no word back on that exchange as of this writing (Igo?). The South Bay also is home to Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, home of this years Super Bowl! The stadium is kind of an unmitigated disaster amongst 49er fans. My buddy (huge Raider fan) is a carpenter and helped build it, so somewhere in the halls and between the walls is a Raiders Jamarcus Russell jersey that he hid during construction as a curse. I'd say it's working so far. If you are not on the suite side, the sun will kick your ass, but with kickoff time being much later than usual, I don't think it will be as bad as it normally is. 

The Peninsula is the strip of land between San Jose and SF. It has Moffett Field, which you'll see from 101 if you are driving, Shoreline Ampitheatre (where I'm going to see The Cure in a few months. It's got like a great lawn for general admission seating so it's a great place for concerts. Everyone sneaks in booze and weed and gets high on the grass laid out on blankets. Good times), and it's also the home of EA in Redwood City. If you are a videogame nerd it's a pretty cool place to go (think of brainasium in grandmas boy). Most importantly though, The Peninsula is home to the one and only San Francisco. San Francisco is a beautiful place to visit with lots of fun attractions like Alcatraz, Fisherman's Warf, Golden Gate Park, Fort Mason, etc. There is a metric sh!t ton of places to drink in the city. Some are cool micro breweries like Speakeasy, and Black Hammer, others are restaurant style pubs like 21st Amendment. If you are into chain restaurants, there is a Cheesecake Factory inside the Macy's at Union Square where you can eat outside on the balcony. If you want a view it's not half bad. Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. at Pier 39 also has a great view of the bay and Alcatraz. The downfall of staying in the city come Sunday is that you have to either take the Caltrain or drive down 101 to get to Levi's Stadium. Congrats on seeing first hand what a logistical nightmare many thought this SB would be!

I will be in San Francisco Saturday night before the game. Hopefully RR or someone can set something up that I can come meet at least a few of you and have some drinks and cherish this great time in Panthers fandom. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in this thread, as it may also help your fellow Huddlers and Panther fans. 

Keep Pounding!

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WilmyWood Rookie

WilmyWood

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For those that have extra time on their hands and are craft brew lovers, a drive two hours to the north to Santa Rosa will land you at Russian River Brewing, which is home to what is widely considered to be one of the finest beers in the world, Pliny The Elder. Highly recommended. 

This is a beer that you simply cannot obtain outside of the area that it is brewed, so it's worth the drive if you have the time.

 

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/863/7971/

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Montsta Community Regular

Montsta

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3 hours ago, WilmyWood said:

For those that have extra time on their hands and are craft brew lovers, a drive two hours to the north to Santa Rosa will land you at Russian River Brewing, which is home to what is widely considered to be one of the finest beers in the world, Pliny The Elder. Highly recommended. 

This is a beer that you simply cannot obtain outside of the area that it is brewed, so it's worth the drive if you have the time.

 

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/863/7971/

I was going to mention Russian River and Lagunitas, but figured the folks that are coming in for the weekend would have limited time and the four hour round trip probably wouldn't be in most people's itinerary. 

Great suggestion though!

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