Look, you don’t really have a lot of time to read something huge—and I totally forgot that Hanukkah starts Christmas night this year, oops, so I don’t have a lot of time to write something! Perfect. So if you need a little last-minute memory goose for gifts now that the internet deadline has passed here we go:
Bookstores have, like, everything I always head to Green Apple in both the Richmond and the Sunset, Fabulosa in the Castro, and Dog Eared Books on Valencia for not just some handy volumes and cute cookbooks for people I know (and don’t)—and I’m dying to check out the newly revived Noe Valley Books as well. I recently found myself at Blackbird Books in Outer Richmond, which I loved. Bookstores also have kids’ games, sweet swag, and all kinds of stocking stuffers as well these days, so it might be a one-stop kind of deal.
Museum gift shops are a holiday Mecca SFMOMA is closed Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but the store is open on Monday til 5pm and full of all kinds of sweet and artful gifts. Same with the Asian Art Museum. The de Young is closed Monday but open Christmas Eve until 4pm for a run-in as well. Cal Academy of Sciences is open on both Christmas Eve and Christmas—who doesn’t want a Claude the Albino Alligator throw pillow?
Cutest gift stores ever I was walking along lower Clement Street and there is basically an explosion of gift boutiques happening: Park Life store and gallery + Park Life home goods across the street are open Monday and Tuesday and are bursting with hip, SF-related clothing and adorable things, and Foggy Notion is a wee delight. There’s also Best of the Bay winner Tantrum for kids. Just walk from Arguello to 7th Ave if you’re in the neighborhood (and grab some yummy dim sum, too). But I bet there’s a delightful gift/streetwear shop right near you (San Fran Psycho? Life?) to pop into as well this week.
Chocolates are sweet My go-to has always been Christopher Elbow in Hayes Valley for lovely gourmet bonbons and bars—but I’ve been lately leaning toward the wonderfully colorful selections at Kokak Chocolates in the Castro (open til 7pm on Monday) and the fudge paradise that is Z Cioccolato in North Beach.
Tinned fish, heck yes. Tinned fish is back, baby, and in gorgeous packages and sustainable batches—think way beyond sardines and tune, but there’s those, too. It’s the 2024 on-trend gift—just tell them that if you get any salty stares. The Spanish Table on Clement (and elsewhere in the Bay Area) has some fabulous foreign specimens, Bernal Cutlery in the Mission has a fabulous selection, and Decant wine store in SoMa is ace as well.
