ALA San Francisco 2001- Light Up the Night

Despite the high cost of living in the Bay Area, you can have a great night out on a limited budget by choosing any of the city's eclectic neighborhoods, exploring on foot the bookstores, coffeehouses, and bars. Or you can always pull out the plastic and drop the big dough. If you are looking for a formal evening, the Tix Bay Area (booth just inside the Geary Street entrance of the Union Square Garage, www.theatrebay-area.org, 433-7827) offers half-price, cash-only tickets for same-day performances of theater, dance, or music events. Ambitious jazz aficionados can head across the bay to Yoshi's at Jack London Square (510 Embarcadero West, www.yoshis.com, 510-238-9200).

This area includes both the toniest (around Union Square) and seediest (the Tenderloin and west of Civic Center) parts of San Francisco, so always be aware of your surroundings. Union Square, temporarily closed for an 18-month, $25 million facelift, marks the city center. Ever more mainstream entertainment spots continue to pop up in the gentrified former warehouse district South of Market (SOMA).

Not to be confused with the venerable Redwood Room in the Four Seasons Hotel, the Red Room (827 Sutter St., 415-346-7666) lives up to its name: everything at this stylish locale is the crimson color of the cherry in a Manhattan. If red not your color, try Cobalt Tavern (1707 Powell St., 415-982-8123), a bar and restaurant where everything is blue and live jazz sets the tone on weekends. Or shoot for the stars at Harry Denton's Starlight Room (450 Powell St., 415-395-8595); you can't be down in the dumps on the 21st floor enjoying the classy club's cocktails and panoramic views.

Imagine yourself in the British Isles (instead of the gentrifying Tenderloin, where one still needs to be very cautious) as you head to Edinburgh Castle (950 Geary St., 415-885-4074), home to great imported beers and deliciously authentic fish and chips. Settle in to San Francisco's oldest and grandest nightclub, the Great American Music Hall (859 O'Farrell St., www.musichallsf.com, 415-885-0750), which showcases a mix of emerging and established performing artists, from Latin funk to spoken word in one recent week. Back Flip (601 Eddy St, 415-771-3547) is one of San Francisco's hippest bars, offering live DJs spinning a wide-ranging assortment of music. Plush Room Cabaret (Hotel York, 940 Sutter, www.plushroom.com, 415-885-2800) will be featuring Meg Mackay and Billy Philadelphia June 6–17.

San Francisco's new jewel-like downtown baseball stadium on the bay south of Market, PacBell Park (3d & Townsend Sts., www.sfgiants.com, 514-790-1245), opened one year ago to rave reviews. Home games scheduled every day June 12–17, are likely to sell out. But even the ticketless can walk around the perimeter of the scenic stadium any time.

Brainwash Café & Laundromat (1122 Folsom St., 415-861-3663) and Café Mars (798 Brannan St., 415-544-0320) are good hangouts near the Moscone Center in SOMA. Area cubs include Slims (333 11th St., www.slims-sf.com, 415-522-0333), owned by Boz Scaggs and partners, and the cozy Paradise Lounge (308 11th St., 415-621-1912), with several stages and open-mike poetry readings Sunday nights.

North Beach is one of the liveliest districts in the city at night. By happy coincidence, the North Beach Fair will be going on the same weekend as ALA. The two-day event includes bands, author readings, arts and crafts, and food (www.northbeachsf.org, 415-989-2220).

Don't miss City Lights Bookstore (261 Columbus Ave., 415-362-8193). Founded in 1953, this Beat landmark is a literary mecca, along with Vesuvio (255 Columbus Ave., 415-362-3370) and nearby Caffe Trieste (see "San Francisco's Culinary Crescent"). Across from City Lights, the funky Spec's 12 Adler Museum Café (12 Saroyan Place, 415-421-4112) boasts maritime memorabilia.

One unique experience is Teatro Zinzanni (Pier 27/29, www.teatrozinzanni.org, 415-438-2668), a European spectacle blending circus, music, and theatrical hijinks with a six-course meal under a art-nouveau spiegeltent.

The most revitalized portion of this neighborhood, decimated by mass urban redevelopment in the 1960s, reflects the deep neighborhood heritage of both African Americans and Japanese Americans.

At the intersection of Fillmore and Geary are renowned rock venue The Fillmore (1805 Geary Blvd., 415-346-6000), local blues legend John Lee Hooker's Boom Boom Room (1601 Fillmore St., 673-8000), and Someplace Else (1795 Geary Blvd., 415-440-2180), a quiet living room–like wine and beer bar. One block away is the excellent African American bookshop Marcus Books (1712 Fillmore St., 415-346-4222), in what was once jazz joint Jimbo's Bop City.

Just a block or so away, Japan Center is a large indoor mall packed with restaurants and shops like Kinokuniya (1581 Webster St., 415-567-7625), featuring books, magazines, stationery, and gifts from Japan. Give yourself a real treat at Kabuki Springs & Spa (in Japan Center, 1750 Geary Blvd., 415-922-6000), a large Japanese-style bathhouse; call for men's days and women's days. We also recommend the cheaper and quieter Fuji Shiatsu (1721 Buchanan St., 415-346-4484, by appointment only), located in a large upstairs flat nearby.