About 60% of this thread is going to be homeless shit jokes....
Pop culture is pretty broad.
If you want clubs, mission clubs like those around the makeout room or public works are a lot of fun. For game versions, go to Foundry or Coin Op.
I do a lot of union square bars.
Nice walk from De Young to the beach through GG park is always nice.
For media pop culture, you've got the Ant Man house, Ms Doubtfire house, Full house... house (painted ladies). If you do Painted ladies it's in alamo square and you have a lot of good food if you go north up fillmore.
What else are ya into. Got twelve years of wandering around here that I can dish out.
Ha! Such an unassuming place. Best friend lives a block from this place. Walk his dog by it when the wife and I dogsit.
If you really like garlic, I recommend "The Stinking Rose". It's amazing; every dish has garlic in it, even the ice cream (which is delicious!).
Also second this. Whenever I have friends of family that visit and I'm not sure what they'll like, I always take them here as I've yet to meet someone that didn't love this place. Always get the bagna calda starter with whatever else you get. The garlic is so soft is spreads like butter.
The bar on top of the Hilton Union Square has pretty nice views if you want to see stuff from 40+ stories up.
The drinks were overpriced but whatever.
The View at Marriot is better for this only because it looks like an Empire Strikes Back set.
As for bars as a whole, there are a lot of nice secret ones if you dive into unassuming places.
To be less obscure, got friends at Bartlett Hall near union square. Place has a tasty menu (love the buffalo cauliflower) and their house beers are nice, though it can be a bit pricey. Across the street is Foley's which has fun drunken dueling pianos below (usually a lot of middleaged people but the crowd randomly gets younger an more attractive sometimes) which is a reasonably priced "irish" bar. Down a block is New Delhi which is a nice 2 am running dive bar than runs cheap. Block from there is Pandora which is cheap drinks with a great karaoke stage and private karaoke rooms if you wanna pay extra. Not far from all of that is Ryoko's which is popular sushi and ok bar. If you wanna get fancy their is Bourbon and Branch, the reconstructed speakeasy that really fits the theme but costs... too much. Plus other secret places around.
That's just union square. If you're gonna be in other districts, I got other feedback as well.
It's La Taqueria if you like burritos without rice; El Farolito if you're a human being.
La Cornetta for cochinita pibil. (Honestly I prefer it for everything) Though some people will discount my opinion because I think Taqueria Cancun is overrated.
