BEST Things to See & Do in UNION SQUARE San Francisco

Hey there everyone my name is Eduardo Arroyo but you can call me Ed and today we are here visiting Union Square. I decided to come visit Union Square just because I've been here quite a few times but I never really sat down and thought about why this place is so emblematic and popular here in San Francisco. Figuring that out is our goal for today so if you're interested come with me. Whenever someone mentions Union Square most people including myself instantly think about this little plaza behind me and that is the case that is the name given to the plaza itself but Union Square also refers to the shopping hotel and theater district that surrounds the plaza for many blocks distance. So yes Union Square is more than just this little plaza it is a place where people come and do some shopping at their favorite department stores and luxury retailers where people enjoy a variety of different types of food and drink at the many restaurants and bars in the area where people can find lodging opportunities at the heart of this crazy city where you can even get culture at one of the museums that is near the area as well as come and take part in one of the events taking place maybe here in the plaza itself or in one of the many buildings and bars that surrounds this place. The last event that I came for I believe was for Christmas and it's crazy what they do with this place they fill this place with decorations they put an ice skating rink in the middle of the plaza and they also erect a huge tree that they light up at a specific day they usually put the Christmas tree around this area right here and like they get it so high I don't know if I remember correctly but I think it's like almost as high as this monument right here which is what I want to talk to about next. Moving to the center of the plaza you will find a huge monument right at the middle this is the Dewey monument it got its name because it was a The monument is a statue of the goddess of victory in Greek mythology Nike and I find it really interesting that this statue of Nike is standing actually really close to the Nike flag store here in San Francisco I don't know if you can see but that store right there that's a Nike so Nike one Nike two or Nike one and Nike two. So right now I found a better angle to show you the Dewey monument as you can see this monument stands very tall and it's the most prominent feature of Union Square so if you ever find yourself just wandering throughout the city of San Francisco and you stumble upon this monument you can rest assured that you are at Union Square. I just wanted to give you a sort of like a panoramic shot of this place so that you can see how it looks it's a very relaxing atmosphere like you see a lot of people just hanging out families also bring their kids here to run around also their pets and stuff after they've done some shopping or eating or even bring their food here and eat it here it's a very cool place to just hang out like I mentioned. Right now I'm here at the parking garage or the entrance to it here back of me as you can see this parking garage as you can see it's underground and actually this is the the world's very first underground parking garage so it was a very innovative process at the time of its conception just to give you a sneak peek of how it looks I don't want to get run over so I'm not going to get in the middle but you can see it's just the entrance. So moving away from the parking garage there's something else that I want to show you this area right here is another point of attraction here in the city it's an art gallery that is like outside and sorry if you can't hear me right now there's a guy playing a bagpipe which is like a Scottish instrument and I don't know if you can't hear me right now but I'll try getting closer so that's the guy I was telling you about. What I wanted to show you is these parts they are sculptures part of this like outside art gallery here in San Francisco but let me go to another one there's multiple of these statues here in Union Square I'll just go to a place where it's a little bit more quiet so I can talk about them. What I was talking about was these little sculptures right here they're like heart-shaped sculptures I don't know much about that gallery I know the name I think it's the heart of San Francisco but not much else what I do know is that a lot of people come here to take pictures and video like me I probably look like a huge tourist even though I live here but yes these are the this is one of the four hearts here in Union Square and a lot of people come here to to take those Instagram worthy pictures. Right now I'm just walking in the middle of the plaza enjoying the sun it's been raining quite a lot here in San Francisco so it's great to finally see the sun our friend the sun over there say hi to the sun you finally finally you show up it's great we're we're enjoying it as as much as we can. One of the hearts is supposed to be here and as you can see it's clearly not you can see like a some like circle where it's supposed to go I don't know what happened to it I don't know if they haven't placed it yet or if they're not gonna place it at all but that's the only one missing as far as I know this is the first one and you can see our friend the bagpipe player taking a breather over there let's go to the second one this right here is the second heart and this is the third one and last one right here and I also think it's the prettiest one of the three. I think that is it of what I wanted to show you about the union square plaza itself I hope you guys enjoyed our time here but what I want to do next is actually go and visit the different stores restaurants and museums that are located all around throughout this area right here in the union square district so let's start walking and get to it right now Hey there you guys I am here at the Macy's right across Union Square as you saw this is not the only store across the plaza there's a Nike there's Apple there's Louis Vuitton there's Gucci and many others but I wanted to show you something cool in in this place we are in the fourth floor and we need three more to go so I can show you what I want to show you we're about to hit the seventh floor and look at this place and at first glance you can see that it's fancier than all the rest of the other floors and that's because this is the house of the specific I don't even know how to call it like a store like restaurant it's a cheesecake factory and it's really famous because a lot of people come here and eat and then get a piece of cake to go but that's not what we are here for what I really wanted to show you was this view guys from here you can see Union Square and the other buildings and it just looks amazing this is what I come here for often to take some shots and you often see like a lot of tourists just gathering around this area just trying to take pictures of Union Square now you know Macy's across Union Square seventh floor this is a great place to come have a meal eat a cheesecake and also admire this amazing view of the city that you can't get anywhere else let's just take it in you guys let's just take it in so we are outside now and looking for more places to go to like I mentioned before there's a lot of different stores scattered all throughout this shopping district but if you want to do some serious shopping I would recommend hitting up the Westfield Mall here in San Francisco that is the place we're going to next we are here we made it to the Westfield in San Francisco this is the biggest mall in this city and I'm sure you will find anything and everything you are looking for and even if you're not looking for anything in specific you can just walk around for a little bit chill and even find something really good to eat so if you guys want to see how it looks inside come with me right here is the directory of stores and this is a list that has all the different stores available here in this building and just look at this list it's it's huge and there's a lot of variety so I'm sure that you will get what you are looking for and I'm glad that there's maps that help you get to where you want to go there's a Lego store right here which means kids are gonna love it not only kids though because I have a friend who collects these things and with the time we came here he had a blast definitely a really cool experience to come with your little ones or anyone who is interested in Legos they also have a Ghirardelli chocolate store here in the Westfield Mall so if you're too lazy to go all the way to Fisherman's Wharf you can definitely hit up this place there are also stores for some of the local teams here in the Bay Area this one is for the Golden State Warriors which I'm sure that you guys know I don't even like basketball and I know who they are and I know they're really good there's also a store for the San Francisco 49ers which is the football team outside this city and the funny thing is that this store is right across from the Golden State Warriors team store that I showed you guys just a second ago so they are neighbors here at the Westfield Mall so that's gonna wrap it up for our visit here at the Westfield Mall definitely a great place to come and do your shopping if you are ever in the city so don't miss out away from the Westfield so that you can find some malls here in the area some of the malls here include the Museum of Ice Cream which I've never been to but I've had friends who have come here and they tell me that they have a lot of fun activities and a lot of good information and according to this sign right here it is open and there's tickets available so if you are in town you should check it out this museum right here is the Museum of the African Diaspora and right around the corner from that one is the MoMA itself the San Francisco Museum of Modern Arts and the last museum that I'll be visiting today it's the Children's Creativity Museum definitely a lot of fun for the little ones so if you come to San Francisco with kids this is definitely a great place that you have to check out after doing some shopping as well as getting cultured at some of the local museums in the area you might end up feeling hungry and that is no issue at all from Mexican to Japanese Thai Italian and many others you can find something that you like today I'm feeling like eating some Thai food I've been here so many times but I like it a lot so I'll see you guys once I'm done this is my Pad Thai it looks A1 that was so good definitely recommend if you guys are ever in town but you know what they say there's always space for dessert and I know just the place so it started to rain again but for dessert I decided to come here to Boba Guys I don't know if you're able to see this place is a really famous boba tea place here in San Francisco and when I say it's famous and popular it is let me show you so this is a piece of the line but there's like two more lines ahead of us and they do this so that like you won't bother like the other businesses here but yeah there's a lot of people here who want to try this amazing boba tea place here in San Francisco so I just made it back here to Union Square there's an event going on I don't know for what exactly but people are walking and singing and stuff like that right now I have my drink beside me which I will enjoy in just a little bit but I just wanted to sign off and tell you guys that I had a lot of fun today sharing this experience with you anyways that is all from me today remember to like the video and subscribe to my channel if you liked it and share the video with someone that you might think might like it always remember to be kind have an open mind we'll see you next time