If it's an old movie, you just wish the camera would linger over the establishing shots, so you can identify the streets and figure out how they've changed. [...] it's a very photogenic city, and so often there's the pleasure of seeing the familiar suddenly idealized - or at least held up so that you can look and actually see it. [...] there are many faces of the city, idealized and realized, the San Francisco of reality and of fantasy, and the above gallery tries to show and direct you to some of them.