Don't Call it Frisco
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I've been meaning for some time to reveal my secret and not-so-secret sources for cheap and weird miniatures within the city and county of San Francisco. Having exhausted myself by cleaning out the craft closet, I think the time has come. We're going to make a vast loop around the hipper parts of the city. (My husband is questioning whether it's possible to do the whole loop in one day without collapsing or running out of time. It would certainly require a solid six to seven hours, without serious stops for food.)
To get there: Take BART to 16th Street. There is also usually on-street parking, more along Valencia than along Mission.
The Mission is almost worth a day alone. The mini-finding action is largely along Mission Street itself, from 16th to 24th. To a great extent, it's random and changes from day to day. I've seen odd bits of 1:12 dollhouse furniture, bought 1:12 motorbikes, and found vending machines with Homies.
Hip eateries are thick upon the ground: don't leave hungry. Your final stop should be Papel Picado Etc., just around the corner on 24th. They carry South American kitchenware, baskets, huaraches, and fruit in both 1:12 and 1:24. And where else would you find smaller-scale Zapatista rebels?
To get there from the Mission, take the 48-West Portal bus. On-street parking is tricky to find but usually possible if you check side streets.
Two stops are vital. First, Global Exchange, near the corner of Noe, carries the occasional half-scale knit person, as well as tiny icons, mirrors, and such that are appropriate for the funky 1:12 house. A few blocks west, Cottage Industry offers less elaborate half-scale people at bargain prices, as well as assorted beads and bits that may find a use.
While Noe Valley has a couple of toy stores, the Ark is the educational sort (and very small); the other one, nearer Castro St., looks promising for funky stuff, but I don't think I've ever bought anything there.
To get there from Noe Valley, take the 24-Jackson bus at the corner of 24th and Castro; get off at 18th. This six blocks involves steep hills! Don't try to walk it. Parking is scarce in the Castro.
There are two somewhat marginal stops in this iconic gay neighborhood. Planetweavers is one of those fun and fascinating stores where I almost never buy much. More directly useful is Cliff's Variety. There's a case in the front of the store that holds 1:12 and 1:24 dollhouse furniture, albeit not a lot. Cliff's also carries 5-1/2" action figures and a small selection of art or craft supplies.
Market Street
To get there from the Castro, take the F-Market streetcar. Make sure you have a transfer, as you'll want to get on and off. Parking becomes frustrating as you head toward downtown.
Hop off the picturesque historic streetcar at Valencia Street for Flax Art, an outstanding source of art papers. I have a secret affection for the packs of mixed extra paper bits. Flax also carries fancy ribbons and a large selection of scrapbooking die-cuts.
Hop off again around Taylor St. for Pearl, the city's closet approach to a big craft store. The second floor offers yet more art papers and some scrapbook paper. The basement is the land of craft supplies, a sporadically restocked dollhouse section, and various architectural miniatures. I spend a lot of time (and cash) at Pearl.
Walk two-and-a-half long blocks to cross Third Street if you need to stock up on Homies, and check out Jeffrey's Toys. They may have other cool stuff; oddly, though I live a short walk away, I don't go there very often.
To get there from Pearl or Jeffrey's, go to Market & 4th St. Take the 30-Stockton and get off when it looks like Chinatown. If you prefer to drive, use the St. Mary's garage.
Although the travel guide promises more authenticity on Stockton, the mini action is all on Grant. Start at the dragon gate and zig-zag up the street if you need to end up at the next bus stop. As in the Mission, you should poke your head into as many stores as you can stand to. Amidst the tourist stuff, there is much to be found.
On the east side of Grant, Peking Bazaar is fun for chopstick rests that can pass as furniture, display stands that work as low tables, and other odd bits. Actual miniatures can be found at the Suey Chong Company, where I've found 1:24 tea sets and 1:12 nesting hens.
On the west side of Grant, there is a dusty miniatures shop with a name I can never remember, but the real excitement is at China Bazaar. Downstairs is the china, a useful source of 1:12 trays and umbrella stands. Upstairs is the toy section, with 5-1/2" action figures and white wire wicker furniture. In the middle, the tourist junk recently included tiny colored straw houses suitable to be small dollhouse for your dollhouse, provided you don't want to furnish it. Who knows what you'll find?
Polk Gulch
To get there from Chinatown, at the corner of Grant and Pacific, take the 12-Pacific Heights bus. Get off at Polk St. Parking is iffy but possible.
You're here for just one store, but it's a doozy. Polk A Dot on Polk is the source for funky, weird minis in every scale imaginable. The selection changes but is always fascinating. My finds include the 1:12 rubber chicken, 1:12 plastic cookware in stylish pastels, tiki heads, 1:48 office workers and ninjas, French animal cards suitable for 1:12 art. None of this may be there next time, but something equally good will appear.
Walk south on Polk, check out the antique stores and used book stores, and fill up with espresso drinks at one of the many coffee houses. Your goal is to reach Geary, as you're going to have to walk to use mass transit to the next stop, and this is the more entertaining of the available routes.
To get there from Polk Gulch, go one block west on Geary to Van Ness. Take the 38-Geary and get off at Webster or thereabouts. Parking is in a paid garage under Japan Center.
This is another browser's paradise. I'm particularly fond of Kinokuniya Stationery for weird little magnets in tiny scales, as well as for exciting origami and wrapping papers. On the bridge between sections of the center, there's a tiny store that stocks really tiny versions of maneki nekko and of the 12 animals for the Chinese calendar.
If you cross Post Street behind Japan Center, the basement of Soko Hardware is worth a stop. This is where you'll find pots suitable for real 1:12 plants, as well as yet more potentially useful chopstick rests and bits of china, along with the bamboo coasters that I keep hoping to use as window shades. This has been one of my all-around favorite stores for about 20 years. (But it's closed on Sundays.)
To get there from Japantown, hop back on the 38-Geary at Geary and get off at Arguello. Walk one block north to Clement Street. Parking ranges from easy to impossible, depending on factors no one knows.
The best part of the Inner Richmond is Clement Street, another food mecca of the city. On the south side of the street, just before Third Avenue, Super Tokio offers multiple layers of excitement. The thrill starts with the vending machines in the doorway, where you'll find roughly 1:48 people. Go inside, and the area around the counter has magnets representing food and housewares in various scales. Stacked nearby are puchi, or surprise boxes, that contain housewares, food, and furnishings in various scales from 1:6 to about 1:24. Scales are erratic even within a single box, and you don't know which of the half-dozen items in a puchi series you'll get until you open the box. That's half the fun. Along the east wall is the most glorious Asian candy selection you'll ever find, with many flavors that are not at all weird to Western palates.
A couple blocks further along, the Toy Boat Dessert Cafe offers a few action figures with its dessert selections. The real thrill, though, is on the north side of the street, past Eighth Avenue, where Heroes Club is the ultimate action figure destination, all the way from 1:6 down to 1:48. It stocks puchi galore (and on my last trip, was revealing what was in each box), including small-scale buildings and a ravishing selection of food. I love this store. I buy stupid things like 1:24 Vespas there.
If you're still up for walking, head back to Geary and tromp another six blocks or so west to Hobby Company of San Francisco. This smallish store stocks actual dollhouses and recognizable miniatures, as well a selection of craft supplies. In three years, I have never once bought anything there, mostly because the regional "destination" dollhouse stores in Novato and San Jose offer larger selections of traditional miniatures, while Pearl or the suburban big-box craft stores provide a much larger array of supplies. This is probably a fantastic store if you live within walking distance or aren't willing to make the long drive to the 'burbs.
To get back to downtown from here, cross to the south side of Geary and take the 38-Geary. The bus will pass through the hotel district off O'Farrell Street, turn up Market, and end up at the Transbay Terminal, intersecting several major bus routes on the way.
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