Beach Blanket Babylon

Top choice in North Beach & Chinatown


Snow White searches for Prince Charming in San Francisco: what could possibly go wrong? This Disney-spoof musical-comedy cabaret has been running since 1974, but topical jokes keep it outrageous – and wigs as big as parade floats are gasp-worthy. Spectators must be over 21 to handle racy humor, except at cleverly sanitized Sunday matinees. Reservations essential; arrive one hour early for best seats.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby North Beach & Chinatown attractions

1. Good Luck Parking Garage

0.08 MILES

Each parking spot at this garage comes with fortune-cookie wisdom stenciled onto the asphalt: 'The time is right to make new friends' or 'Stop searching…

2. Washington Square

0.11 MILES

Wild parrots, tai chi masters, and nonagenarian churchgoing nonnas (grandmothers) are the local company you'll keep on this lively patch of lawn. This was…

3. Vallejo Street Steps

0.19 MILES

Reach staggering heights with spectacular views along this staircase connecting North Beach with Russian Hill – ideal for working off a pasta dinner…

4. Mule Gallery

0.19 MILES

Upstart San Francisco artists buck art-world trends and kick out brave new work at the backstreet Mule Gallery. Recent shows have featured artworks by Bay…

5. Bob Kaufman Alley

0.2 MILES

What's that – your hometown doesn’t have a street named after an African American Catholic-Jewish-voodoo anarchist street poet? Revered in France as the…

6. Ina Coolbrith Park

0.21 MILES

On San Francisco's literary scene, all roads eventually lead to Ina Coolbrith. She was California's first poet laureate, editor of Mark Twain, colleague…

7. City Lights Books

0.22 MILES

No one could have predicted the cultural force City Lights would become when it first opened in 1953. Sure, it had a proletarian ethos suggested by its…

8. Jack Kerouac Alley

0.23 MILES

'The air was soft, the stars so fine, the promise of every cobbled alley so great…' This ode by the On the Road and Dharma Bums author is embedded in his…