5th St, SOMA

I love Fifth because it's near everything. You can enter Westfield Mall from 5th, it's close to Market Street and one block from Yerba Buena and the Metreon. So much to do in a small area. Westfield Center has everything - high end and low end stores, a movie theater and an awesome to die for eatery in the lower level. You can access it through BART or get their via MUNI. There are also plenty of parking garages connected and nearby which is your best bet if you drive. Street parking is next to impossible.

There are many malls in San Francisco, but this one seems a bit more out of place. Most of the shopping centers are located in the more suburban western parts of the city, but Westfield is located on Market Street, smack dab in the middle of Union Square. The result is an eclectic, albeit crowded shopping experience.

The shops are high-end mall stores that you would find anywhere, but match the neighborhood quite well and are huge in quantity. There is also a movie theater here. In a way, this spot makes sense for tourists - it gives them something familiar in an unfamiliar city, and allows them to experience something like what they have close to home. But it is just that - a mall that happens to be located in a place that attract tourists who can have the exact same experience anywhere.

To that end, I have to ask the only question that is on my mind when I walk by this place - What's the point?

On 5th Street, near Market Street, is a really good Italian restaurant called Little Joe’s. The “grandmother cake” and garlic cheese bread are suburb! (Separately of course) The service was incredibly friendly, making it feel like a small town. There is also a Barbary Coast Trail that begins on 5th Street. It was an educational experience even for locals I was with.

This is a long street, and it has a lot to offer. It has access to the freeway and to many forms of entertainement. unfortunately, this street is often used as a detour when there is a traffic jam on the freeway, making it not even worth driving down the street to the market or to a restaurant. If you live on a stretch of the street where things are in walking distance, that is not a major problem.