Review: KitTea Cat Cafe

We’ve been to two cat cafés, so we wanted to try KitTea Cat Café in San Francisco. I learned not to go late afternoon like we did – the cats are tired and don’t feel like playing. So it was disappointing. Even my son, who begs me to visit other cat cafes, got bored 20 minutes in and asked how much longer we were staying. Given that we paid $20/person for the hour, I was disappointed. It was crowded with people and the cats ignored us. No cats wanted to play!

KitTea Cat Cafe in San Francisco. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan

A day in Japantown Center San Francisco

A day in Japantown Center San Francisco is one of my favorite ways to spend the day. And my teen son loves it too. We recently went there for a few hours, and here's what we found on this trip. As you may know, Japantown is basically the Japantown Center, an indoor mall, though there are some stores outside there as well.

Japanese Kit Kat. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan

Here were some of the highlights:

San Francisco CityPASS review

We get asked all the time for the most economical ways to see San Francisco. One way is the San Francisco CityPASS, which we recently got review purposes, over spring break earlier this year. We already planned on seeing many of the places covered by the CityPASS, so it seemed like a good idea - was it? We discuss that at the end. Here’s what we saw.

Exploratorium
As you know, the Exploratorium is a world famous hands-on kids’ science museum for a good reason – it’s a great place. It’s huge. You won’t make it through in one visit, but you can still spend a few hours there. Since we were there a few years ago, they’ve added on more outside exhibits, some indoor ones and rebuilt the Tactile Dome (one of my favorite things from it’s old location at the Palace of Fine Arts).

the wall of the tinkering lab. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan

A Day at Fisherman's Wharf

The only time locals usually go to Fisherman’s Wharf is when visitors come to town. But for us it had been awhile, so we spent the good part of a day there seeing some of our favorite haunts. We started off taking the trolley from Union Square. But before that, have you been to the Walgreens on Powell Street between Market and Ellis? Wow! It’s really nice and they sell fresh foods like sushi and sandwiches.

Walgreens on Powell Street. Copyright Deborah Abrams Kaplan

Battlebots: What it's like to watch them film

My son is a huge BattleBots fan. But the filming was going to be in Long Beach, California and we live in New Jersey. We weren’t making a special trip to watch the filming. Lucky us – after making plans to spend part of spring break in Los Angeles, we got an email announcing that BattleBots filming would start on our last day there.

 Battlebots set - copyright Caroline Jusko

Here’s what it’s like going to a BattleBots filming

Coming up: Island City Waterways - Free

credit: Maurice Ramirez

Join in as Rhythmix Cultural Works presents Island City Waterways, a site-specific public art event animating Alameda’s past and present through music, dance, theater, storytelling, and more. It includes a cast of 40 actors, dancers and musicians leading audiences on an easy stroll around Crab Cove, Crown Memorial State Beach in a 75-minute performance that shares the Cove’s rich history and celebrates the sea. You'll see carnies and bathing beauties starting show off with a walk down memory lane, back to the roaring twenties when this was home to Neptune Beach, an amusement park with extravagant public baths. Following a drum corps, audiences visit “Glory of the Seas,” a WWII-era maritime officer training station, where they will join the trainees for drills. Ryujin the Dragon Queen spins a tale of ecological warning on the shores of the first estuary marine reserve in California, established in 1980. And finally, Japanese taiko drummers, Balinese gamelan performers, musicians, and contemporary dancers take to the beach for a dazzling ‘Island to Island’ finale that pays tribute to our shared waters and the global community’s efforts to protect them.

What: Island City Waterways
Where: Crab Cove Visitor Center, Crown Memorial State Beach, Alameda
Dates: Saturday and Sunday, May 19 and 20 - four performances each day at 10, 11:45, 1:30 and 3:15
Cost: Free
RSVP: Advanced registration is recommended at islandcitywaterways.org

Focus Group: Social Media - $150 or $200

Probe Market Research is conducting an opinion study on April 24 in San Francisco, on social media. If you qualify and are chosen, it pays $150 for one hour, or $200 for 2.5 hours. You can take the preliminary survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Q7MLW36