One Year of Detour

Downtown San Francisco, taken during the Cool Gray City Detour

On February 3rd of last year, I purchased a subscription to Detour:

Email receipt from my Detour subscription, exactly one year ago

I’d first tried Detour during early beta tests while traveling to San Francisco on business trips, loved it, and subscribed with high hopes. One year later, I now live in SF full-time, and I’ve become a bit of a Detour super user.

So, after a year I wanted to share 3 ways in which I’ve been especially impressed by Detour, as well as pay it forward a bit with a small contest…

3 Ways Detour Wow’ed Me:

1- Detour has redefined how I show friends around the city. Since moving to SF, I’ve had lots of friends come visit, and have found that Detour shapes how I show them around. The most obvious way this has happened is that we’ve taken Detours together. But, perhaps more interesting is that I’ve been taking friends places I learned about on Detours even if we aren’t actually taking a Detour. For example, when my brothers were in town and wanted to see Fisherman’s Wharf, I made sure we stopped at Musee Mechanique, as well as took the secret entrance back to the boats, both of which I learned about on a Detour.

My fiancée, Amanda, and I taking a Detour together after moving to SF

2- Detour highlights an alternative side of must-see landmarks. Via Detour, I’ve seen many of the famous San Francisco landmarks: Cable Cars, Alamo Square Park, Ferry Building, etc. What’s been different is that I’m seeing these sights with rich, interesting audio annotation. While riding a cable car, I’m hearing Jack Kerouac & the Beats riding along with me. While seeing the Ferry Building, I’m hearing from someone who has worked to keep its clock tower running for decades. This gives me the best of both worlds: I see the famous sights, but with a layer of storytelling that makes them even more memorable.

We saw Fisherman’s Wharf from the perspective of an actual fisherman

3- Detour tells the stories underneath the seemingly unremarkable. This was the biggest surprise of all. I’ve taken Detours of areas that I otherwise wouldn’t have assumed were anything special, but was able to dig below the plain visuals to hear their stories. This was perhaps most impressive with Trash, a Detour in SF’s Bayview neighborhood that is literally about trash, but was one of the most engaging of all the Detours I took. Another great example was during the Western Addition Detour, where I learned that an apartment building (that I now live ~10 minutes from) was the former site of the Winterland Ballroom concert venue. I’d heard Bruce Springsteen’s Winterland recording many times before, so it was mindblowing to realize that this took place just a few blocks from my apartment!

Springsteen & the Grateful Dead played where this building now sits

Paying It Forward

Looking back a year, it’s obvious to me that I vastly underpaid for my Detour subscription compared to the enjoyment I’ve gotten.

For the price of an extra large pizza, I’ve been able to enjoy hours and hours of incredible audio walks. I feel like I know San Francisco better than other cities I’ve spent years living in, and I have Detour to thank.

So, I’m giving away 4 free Detour subscriptions to pay it forward a bit. Email me with the subject ‘Detour’ by 2/29, and I’ll then pick 4 people at random on 3/1 to each receive a gift subscription to Detour.

You can have a membership to San Francisco (available now), or NYC/Chicago/LA (launching later this year)- your choice. All I ask if that if you have a great time on a Detour, please let me know!