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The Cool Factor

No matter what the season, San Francisco, often called the "cool, grey city of love," has the cool factor down. Here are some top picks for the season and there are more to be found at www.sanfrancisco.travel.

China's terra cotta warriors, Walt Disney's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," Dutch Golden Age paintings including Vermeer's "Girl with the Pearl Earring," more than 80 costumes worn by Rudolf Nureyev, and "Royal Treasures from the Louvre" - they'll all be leaving their calling cards at the city's major museums this winter.

San Francisco also offers these not-to-be missed events in 2013: the openings of the SFJAZZ Center and Exploratorium: the World Baseball Classic at AT&T Park and the 34th America's Cup on the San Francisco Bay starting July 4,2013.

San Francisco Surprises:

• When visiting Chinatown remember to look up. Temples are historically built on the upper levels of buildings – to be closer to the gods. The Tin How Temple, 125 Waverly Place, is the oldest Chinese temple in the U.S.
• The United Nations was founded in San Francisco on June 26, 1945; the historic treaty was signed on the stage of Herbst Theatre near what’s now UN Plaza.
• San Francisco Bay is the largest natural harbor and estuary on the West Coast.
• Golden Gate Park was once filled with elk, bears and goats. Now it's home to where the buffalo roam.
• If the U.S. Navy had prevailed the Golden Gate Bridge would have been painted black with yellow stripes to ensure greater visibility for passing ships. Fortunately, the color scheme as well as one that called for carbon black and steel grey was rejected, with orange vermilion, better known as International Orange, winning out to cover the towers and approximately 600,000 rivets across the Bridge.
• There’s a famous piece of apparel that got its start in San Francisco. The “birth of the blues” refers to Levi’s jeans. In 1873 Levi Strauss & Co. created and patented the world’s first blue jeans.  Some vintage treasures are on view at company headquarters, 1155 Battery St.
• San Francisco has 40-plus hills; the most famous are Twin Peaks, Nob Hill, Russian Hill and Telegraph Hill.
• Thanks to its famous curves, Lombard Street has been named the “the crookedest street in the world.”
• San Francisco is home to 3,500 restaurants, Three chefs who competed in the The Next Iron Chef, The oldest Slow Food chapter in the US and The Michelin guide's first West Coast city.
• San Francisco claims a number of food firsts including the martini (although some contend it started in Martinez a few miles to the east of San Francisco); the fortune cookie; America’s oldest Italian restaurant, Fior d’Italia; Oysters Kirkpatrick; cioppino; Chicken Tetrazzini;  Crab Louis and no visit is complete without sampling an It’s It ice cream sandwich.
• Hum along now … the city by the bay has an official song – the rousing “San Francisco” and an official ballad, Tony Bennett’s romantic “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.”