The fame of Haight-Ashbury , two miles west of downtown San Francisco, far outstrips its size. No more than eight blocks in length, centered around the junction of Haight and Ashbury streets, "The Haight" was a run-down Victorian neighborhood until it transmogrified into the epitome of cool during the 1960s. Since then the area has become gentrified, but it retains a collection of radical bookstores, laid-back cafés, record stores and secondhand clothing emporia, not to mention a collection of characters still flying the counterculture's rather worn flag.

All there is to do in the Haight today is to stroll around what is one of the best areas in town to shop . It shouldn't take more than a couple of hours to update your record collection, dress yourself up and blow money on books and beer. The eastern end of Haight Street, around the crossing with Fillmore Street, is the funkiest corner of the district. Known as the Lower Haight , and for decades a primarily black neighborhood, it was reborn a few years ago - thanks to low rents - as a stomping ground for young hipsters. Though its trend appeal has since been surpassed by the Mission, it remains home to a small glut of DJ shops and a boisterous Brit-heavy population of club kids.

Haight-Ashbury

• Haight-Ashbury
• The hippies

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