Thanksgiving in San Francisco

ontheditch2

Will be in San Fran for Thansgiving, and wondering has anyone a suggestion of a decent place to spend the day. Would be happy to get somewhere to watch the NFL and have a few beers.
Never been in SF before, so no idea of what to do or where to go.

iusedtoknow

It's pretty quiet on the day TBH. It's an immigrant city so there is always something open. Most bars will be open in the afternoon for the games. Most restaurants will have a special menu but there are plenty of places that are just business as usual.

I have spent last few Thanksgivings and a few Christmas/New Years in San Francisco and will be back there again for Thanksgiving 2015! Thanksgiving is a much better time to be there - the shops/restaurants are all way less crowded than over Christmas, you can drive places (on the 101 and 280) without crazy traffic and last few years at least weather was great: last year I think it was sunny and hit 80F!

Ideas: (not very NFL focussed really but might be helpful in any case)
if you don't go out to eat you'll feel like you're missing out - so book a restaurant and enjoy the people watching at least.
If that's really not your thing, you could get some decent food in a Whole Foods and pack a picnic...
Half the city seems to head out walking: Embarcadero --> quieter than usual Fisherman's Wharf --> through the Marina to Crissy Field and all the way to Golden Gate is my favourite trek.
The main tourist bicycle rental places are mostly open if that's more your pace.
I think there's usually 5 or 10 k race along the waterfront too.
There's a native American gathering around Alcatraz on Thanksgiving, no-one else has access to Alcatraz for the day.
Most of the old trolley cars and muni buses run on Thanksgiving - so you could take a trip on any of these. Last year we walked from downtown to Presidio and then on out to Lands End and Ocean beach before getting a bus back downtown.
Oh and there will be lots of people out and about in Golden Gate Park too.
If you're not into walking, head to a neighbourhood like North Beach - lots of life and action in the restaurants and bars. With TVs so probably some football on somewhere.
The Hyatt Regency on Embarcadero seemed to have some kind of NFL event last year - check that out. Or maybe just lots of NFL fans?

There were a few stores open on Thanksgiving last year - I remember GAP, Banana Republic etc being open and there being a bit of protest about it. Selected Starbucks open too, and the odd Walgreens. Hotel bars/restaurants open as well. Pretty much everything else in terms of ferries, museums, galleries, Ferrybuilding etc closed.

Suaimhneach

Thanksgiving in the US is a great day to travel (because no americans want to, so it's super cheap!) - so depending on why you're in the US and how long you'll be there, you could use it as an excuse to go see Yosemite (~4 hour drive) or the coast (highway 1).

Above are great recommendations too.