Everyone saves room in a suitcase for designer labels from Union Square and kitschy souvenirs from Fisherman's Wharf. Others come for the Cherry Blossom Festival, the San Francisco Opera and Chinese New Year. Half a million arrive for Gay Pride in June alone. Today's gold rush is real estate-and tourists. Soaring home prices have forced all but the richest families out of the market.

By contrast, it also has the fewest children. The “gay capital of the world,” San Francisco has a higher percentage of gay and lesbian residents than any other U.S. Our cultural mileposts include the leather bars of Castro Street, the Latin taquerias of the Mission District and the incense shops of Haight-Ashbury (though the flower children sport more piercings and tattoos these days). Who wouldn't recognize the lantern-strung alleys of Chinatown, the stately Victorian mansions of Pacific Heights or the serpentine twists of Lombard Street? Who hasn't sung the Tony Bennett song? Our photographic memories of San Francisco go back to the Great Earthquake of 1906, and more recently, Loma Prieta. For a first-time visitor, every sight is new but familiar. Even if you've never been to California, you've seen these seven hills in classic films and TV shows. Cable cars, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Transamerica Pyramid-San Francisco is a travelogue of iconic images.

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