North Beach is that rare thing -- a neighborhood that manages to be a perennial hit with tourists, and also to remain beloved by San Franciscans. It's best known as San Francisco's Little Italy, with its high density of check-clothed ristorantes, caffes and Old World delicatessens. It's also a popular pilgrimage for fans of the Beat movement seeking the old haunts of Kerouac and Ginsberg. However, North Beach is no relic, and it has much to offer beyond pasta and poetry.

What to do
This vital neighborhood is home to some of the liveliest nightclubs and bars in town. Small boutiques carrying handmade clothing and imported goods dot the streets, particularly on upper Grant Avenue. Though Italian restaurants appear to dominate the dining scene, there are plenty of other good spots to try once you've had your fill of lasagna, with menus featuring Japanese, French and contemporary fusion cuisine. City Lights, original publisher of Allen Ginsberg's "Howl," is still one of the best bookstores in San Francisco, and founder Lawrence Ferlinghetti can sometimes be seen strolling the neighborhood. Then there's Broadway, buzzing with neon and strip clubs and adding an incongruous dash of sleaze to all the culture and history.

Washington Square Park: It's a relief to reach this tranquil expanse of green after navigating the crowded, narrow streets of the surrounding neighborhood. Stretch out on the grass or lounge on a bench to observe locals walking their dogs, groups practicing Tai Chi and tourists resting their tired feet. There's also a small playground at the Columbus end of the square. The park was set aside as a public square in 1850 and was home to a multitude of displaced people after the 1906 earthquake. Between Powell, Stockton, Union and Filbert Streets.

Coit Tower & Pioneer Park: With its magnificent views of the City (especially at sunset), this curious structure has become a favorite San Francisco landmark. It was donated in 1929 by Lillie Hitchcock Coit (an eccentric volunteer firefighter who ran around North Beach in men's clothing) to beautify the skyline. Inside, a mural created as part of Roosevelt's Federal Art Project wraps around the ground floor's circular walls, depicting the effects of the Depression on the Bay Area. Muni bus #39 takes you up the formidable hill, or you can hike east up the steps on Greenwich. Seniors and

Filbert Steps: Although Telegraph Hill was long ago a rough-and-tumble place that hosted weekly jousting contests, it is now primarily an enclave of privilege. However, a stroll down the Filbert steps gives you direct access to the views and lush gardens that make the location so desirable. Head down the stairs at Filbert and Montgomery Streets, not far from a dainty mural of a poodle, and wind your way through the leafy tunnel of cascading gardens. Keep an eye out for an incongruous flock of green parrots -- they're cherry-headed conures (native to South America), and they make their home on the eastern slope of the hill. Mark Bittner, who has been studying and feeding the feral birds for years, has made a book and a documentary about them.

Beat Museum: Kerouac and the life and times of his friends and associates are the centerpiece at this work-in-progress museum, which features a collection of books, manuscripts and ephemera from the days when poets, artists, writers and all the rest made the scene on upper Grant. Besides the exhibits, which are arranged kind of randomly, as if in a Beat pad, there are things for sale: books, some T-shirts, buttons proclaiming the wearer to be a Dharma bum. (-SF Chronicle) 1345 Grant Ave., (800) KER-OUAC.