Hayes Street is the heart of Hayes Valley and a showcase of how completely the neighbourhood has reinvented itself. The blocks between Franklin and Laguna are a walkable strip of independent fashion boutiques, mid-century-modern design shops, cocktail bars, wine bars, coffee roasters, and some of the city's better small restaurants — the sort of carefully curated retail that followed the removal of the earthquake-damaged freeway that once cast its shadow here.
It is a place for browsing and grazing rather than ticking off sights: try on clothes, look at furniture, and stop for a coffee or a negroni between shops. The pace is unhurried and the crowd stylish without being stuffy. Combine a wander down Hayes Street with the public art and cafés around Patricia's Green a block away.