- In this episode of "Fly Brother," we visit the City by the Bay, San Francisco, California.

We start off at the very top of Coit Tower, explore the tastes of Chinatown with a certain master chef, go vegan in the Mission, and bask in the magic of the Presidio.

We're California dreamin' with my good friends in America's boomtown.

Let's get fly.

(rhythmic jazzy music) I'm Ernest White II, storyteller, explorer.

I feel like Indiana Jones.

I believe in connecting across backgrounds, and boundaries.

Join me and my friends.

And discover that no matter the background, no matter the history, the whole world is our tribe.

Come with me.

Fly Brother.

- [Female Spokesperson] Major funding for this program is provided by.

- This is Mayor Ras J. Baraka.

Welcome to Newark.

(upbeat jazzy music) We are Newark, one family, Brick City.

- [Female Spokesperson] Courageous Conversation Global Foundation, promoting racial justice, interracial understanding, and human healing.

Additional funding provided by the following.

- [Ernest] San Francisco.

It sits at the edge of the continent.

A cosmopolitan city wrapped in cool fog and ocean light.

Within its 47 square miles, there are mansions and sand dunes, sea cliffs and skyscrapers, more than 40 hills, and one postcard perfect view after another.

But San Francisco's geography is just one of its charms.

It's a city built on enterprise and ambition, by wave after wave of immigrants.

Since the early 19th century, fortunes have been made and lost and made again here, in everything from real estate and railroads, to software and steamed beer.

People are drawn to San Francisco by possibilities to reinvent themselves, find kindred spirits, and bring their vision to life.

This isn't just America's favorite city, it's America's boomtown.

(mellow gentle music) San Francisco evolved as a city of neighborhoods shaped by geography and geology.

And no neighborhood captures that evolution as vividly as Chinatown.

The first Chinese immigrants arrived before the Gold Rush, but the lure of work and dreams of riches brought thousands more to the district around Grant Avenue.

♪ San Francisco California USA ♪ (clears throat) Sorry.

They took jobs no one else would, and built a tight-knit community that helped insulate them from racism and discrimination.

Today, the oldest Chinatown in the country is still a city within itself, thriving with tradition, culture, and food.

And there's no better way to see and taste Chinatown than alongside Martin Yan, master chef, cookbook author, and Emmy winning star of "Yan Can Cook."

As a boy in China, he was inspired by his mom's cooking, and he started his training at a Hong Kong restaurant when he was just 13.

Today, he's a famous ambassador for his favorite San Francisco neighborhood.

And wherever he goes, my stomach is happy to follow.

- One of the shop that I want to take you in has been here for over 50 years.

- Okay, longer than I've been alive.

(laughing) - Almost as old as me.

(laughing) Here at the one-of-a-kind Wok Shop, owner Ms. Tane Ong Chan gives me a primer.

From the queen of woks.

Why wok is such an essential important tool in any Chinese or Asian kitchen?

- Very versatile and very affordable.

And the more you use a wok, the better blacker it becomes, and becomes naturally non-stick.

Our woks are only for stir fry.

We deep fat fry, we steam, we braise.

Woks for all walks of life.

That's where they- got that expression.

- Love it, yes.

It's from us, the woks.

(laughing) - Can you see that?

You got big wok.

32 inches, and then you go to the temple.

You go to some of the Buddhist temple, they have woks and they feed about thousand people.

They have five big woks like that.

Those are restaurant used.

- A long wok home.

Martin and I continue our wok around the block.

- All right now.

- We can put you guys on the machines.

- Oh, wow.

Do you have insurance?

- If they can do it, so can you.

Martin got me making a grand mess at the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Company.

(laughs) Assembly-line work has never been my calling.

Nor has cooking, either.

(mellow music) There's always time... for tea.

(mellow music) Ernest are you hungry?

What do you- - I am starving.

I am so excited for China Live.

It is all the way live.

- Well, this is a iconic restaurant.

- In a town that's crazy for great food and great chefs, George Chen and his China Live Emporium have won raves for innovative farm to table Chinese food.

This is a long way from cheap takeout.

- There's a Chinese saying when people come and visit, the first thing they ask is not, how are you?

How are you doing?

Have you eaten yet?

This is the greeting, the most common greeting.

- How about that?

- Have you eaten yet?

- Have you eaten yet?

Not yet, okay, let's food.

- All right, let's bring- - Yeah, let's bring some food.

- I like it when they say, you won't be hungry in two hours.

- I won't be.

(all laughing) Cindy and George Chen welcome us with an array of delights, from mild to spicy, hot to cold, and without exception, delicious.

(upbeat music) - We're part of the community here.

- Absolutely.

- And after the year that we all had, we need to get together and share more food together.

- A hundred percent.

So we're breaking bread, literally.

- Food is the best equalizer defuser.

When you're in front of the dining table, we all eat, and enjoy food, we all good friends.

- Absolutely.

- So it breaks down all the barriers.

- I agree.

- Well, we've known Martin for a very long time.

He's a dear old friend.

And Ernest now that we've met you, you're a new friend.

The Chinese have a saying, first time we meet we're strangers.

The second time we meet we're friends.

- I love that.

- Not just friends, we're- - [Both] Old friends.

- Old friends.

I take that.

- To seeing you again.

- Hear, hear.

- Cheers.

- Soon.

- Yes, absolutely.

(glasses clinking) (camera clicking) At the tip a peninsula, San Francisco is built on steep hills, sand dunes, and tectonic plates that rock and roll.

Beaches, canyons, and 12 islands are all within city limits.

Along with 39 piers, historic landmarks that move, and a herd of bison, yep, bison.

In the 17th century, Spanish settlers displaced the native Yolomo people, but this was a sleepy outpost until 1849, when the Gold Rush brought the world to San Francisco.

It's been a magnet for tourists, entrepreneurs, and free spirits ever since.

The sun's out for a hot second, and we head up to Telegraph Hill to connect with my good friend, Spud Hilton, award-winning writer, who's traveled the world for a living, but he's the first to admit that there's no place like home, especially if home is San Francisco.

Man Spud, this is one of the most spectacular views of San Francisco.

And as many times as I've been here, as long as I've lived here, I've never seen it.

- Really, you've never been up here.

- I've never been up here.

- One of the reasons it's called Telegraph Hill is because this is where they stationed with semaphore, they would signal whenever somebody, some new ship would come into town, and let everybody know.

When that became obsolete, they brought electric telegraph up here and built a station.

That's why it's called Telegraph Hill.

But it is so isolated from everything else geographically, that you really can see everything.

Well, I mean there's trees, but you know, you can see pretty much everything.

It's great from all the way from the bridge, to downtown, Treasure Island, you know, back up into the city.

And it's wonderful.

- Now, you know, Coit Tower, urban legend- dictates.

- Urban legend.

- That it was designed to look like a fire nozzle.

- There's a really good reason for that.

Lillie Coit, very rich woman, left a whole bunch of money to the city for the beautification of the landscape.

She died in 1927.

They finally built it, 1933.

And they were able to do that with her money.

Now she was an avid fan of firefighters, and fire departments, things like that.

And there's a whole nother statue down on Washington Square, that was some of the money was supposed to go to, a monument for firefighters.

But what you're looking at here, isn't really a nozzle.

It's basically classic art deco design.

- Sure, sure.

- It's a column.

And I think a lot of people figured because she loved firefighters so much, that was her thing, and it was a monument to that.

- So, well, it is very stylish.

So, you know, when we're thinking about the 20s, 30s you know, it gives me a little bit of Erte, (laughing) and elegant lines and whatnot.

- Absolutely, absolutely.

It's the Art Deco exterior.

What's even better are the wonderful, wonderful murals on the inside that I'm told, were the very first WPA art project.

And it was actually pushed forward by Eleanor Roosevelt.

The murals inside ended up being somewhat controversial, because the originals, as they were, showed a little bit of a sort of union labor type of aspect, and how awful the corporations were.

- Okay, we don't want to be too, leaning in a particular direction.

- Right, but they are beautiful, and you can actually walk around there for free and see those.

The only thing that costs you is to go up in the elevators.

And the top, and the view from the top, if you think the view is good here, view from the top is fabulous.

- Then what are we waiting for?

- Let's go.

- Let's do it.

(cheery guitar music) - The great thing about this is that because it was done by the WPA, and it shows every walk of life.

- Okay, so that, the WPA was the program that was put together by the government, Franklin Roosevelt, to kind of get people back to work during the Great Depression.

- Exactly, and that's probably one of the reasons why it shows everybody rich, poor, rural, urban, everything.

They're classic murals.

And there've been many times where people tried to take them down.

And fortunately they've been restored, and look great.

I mean, up to this point, most art had more to do with showing rich people.

- [Ernest] And landscapes.

- Rich people and landscapes, mostly owned by rich people.

And that's one of the great things about this era of mural, is that it does show actual workers working.

I mean, right here, we've got people making flour.

You know, over there, we've got a guy who's a jackhammer operator.

We have the workers of the world uniting over there.

And so as a art form, in part led by Diego Rivera, it really showed a different side of life and art.

It captures that.

- It captures a more accessible truth, or set of truths, if you will.

- Yeah, exactly.

- [Ernest] I love 'em, they're incredibly interesting.

While these lovely murals sate my inner culture vulture, Spud has more visuals up his sleeve.

(upbeat guitar music) - We're going to go right to the top.

(laughing) What you need in any city are friends who know how to elevate you.

(upbeat music) Spud, you were right.

The view here is much better than that beautiful view down on the ground level.

- [Spud] Absolutely.

- And you know, we see the 360 of the region.

Of course you got downtown.

Over there, we got our beloved Presidio, Alcatraz, Golden Gate Bridge, shrouded in fog, and the Bay Bridge over here, basking in the sun.

You know, for me, Golden Gate Bridge is beautiful.

The Bay Bridge is elegant.

You know, it's just, they're sisters, right?

They were- - Same year.

- Built about the same time.

- Built exactly the same year.

The nice thing about it is that it's, you're right.

It's lower, and has those sweeping spans.

So it's a little bit, you know, sleeker, as if it's, I mean, don't get me wrong.

Golden Gate Bridge is a great monument.

- Of course, spectacular.

- But this, this just feels like more of a stylish bridge.

- And in terms of utility, I mean, it gets more traffic because people are coming right into the city.

- Absolutely, absolutely.

A lot more folks come from the East Bay than come from the North Bay.

There's so much great culture here.

You can't not love it.

- I love it as well.

I mean, it's one of my favorite, it is my favorite city in the U.S. You've got so many different people from all over the world, who've always been here, haven't they?

- Well, pretty much.

What happened was, because it was basically became a major city, from a nothing little town, almost overnight.

I mean, they went from 800 people to 25,000 people in a little over a year.

What that meant, is that those people, were everyone coming from everywhere, every other country.

- Looking for opportunities.

- They're all looking for opportunities.

And they all came at once.

So unlike a lot of cities, San Francisco didn't become a multicultural city.

It was born a multicultural city.

It's right from the very start.

And that's, I think a lot of what dictates some of the magic here.

- It is magical.

I'm happy to be here.

I'm always happy to be back.

And yeah, City by the Bay, you never disappoint.

After all the lovely views, I'm ready for a little more food.

And we head to the bustling Mission District to meet up with my homey, entrepreneur, Walter Hughes Jr. A native San Franciscan through and through, Walter helps people in the community reach a level of financial security and holistic health.

And part of that health for Walter, means going vegan.

And he tries to convert me here at Bay Area soul food food truck, Vegan Mob.

In the Mission.

- You are in for more than a treat, man.

This is one of my go-tos for years.

So this brother here, he actually started off as a hip hop artist locally from San Francisco, right.

- All right, all right.

- And you know, entrepreneur mindset, and what not.

- Indeed.

- He's a chef, his wife and him are vegan.

So he came out with a vegan barbecue food truck first, and he has a restaurant as well.

But I'm excited for you to try it.

- All right, well, I'm a southerner, not a vegan.

Did grow up with barbecue and on barbecue.

So, um.

- Let's see.

- Let's see.

(laughing) You'll be right, you'll be all right.

So, I totally recommend the Mob Plate, as they call it.

So you get to choose from a protein, which I always go with the brisket.

So they have, let me see here.

So you have the spicy fried chicken, the fried shrimp, the brisket, the links and the rib tips, which all of those seem to be facsimiles of.

- All right, all right, well, I trust you.

- Safe to say.

- Please don't lead me astray brother.

- I'm going to try my best.

- Please don't lead me astray.

- But the brisket hasn't let me down.

- All right, so let's order.

- Let's order.

How you doing?

- [{Server] How are you doing today?

- I'm doing well, it's good to see you.

So we're going to go with two small Mob Plates, both of those with brisket.

- [Server] Gotcha.

- The sides are going to be the candied yams, the greens and the beans.

- [Server] Green and beans, sure.

- They're good for your heart.

- [Server] So would that be the same on both plates?

- Yes.

- [Server] Awesome.

- 16.

- [Server] Yeah, we got you.

Do you all want like utensils with this?

- Yes, please.

- [Server] Awesome, and do you need a bag or no?

- No bag.

- [Server] Awesome, no bag.

- Thank you so much.

- [Server] Well enjoy everything.

- Will do.

- Thank you very much.

I'll take this.

- All right, well thank you, sir.

- He's paying.

All right, so we got our collared green.

- Yes we do.

- Which are a staple of the south, of Southern cuisine, of soul food, and all of that.

I know we got our yams.

- Right, candied yams, can't go wrong.

- Again, another staple of Southern cuisine and others both Southern and others.

Beans.

- Right.

- Which we've already established are, - [Both] Good for your heart.

And, (laughing) - And this is the brisket.

- Listen, I'm skeptical of anything masquerading as something else.

But the plant-based brisket was actually pretty good, and healthy too.

It's flavorful.

- Yes, it is.

Hits the spot.

- These yams, though.

- Make you want to smack your mama.

- No, I don't want to smack my mama, 'cause my mama don't play that.

- Right.

(laughing) - She be coming in right before you like.

Nah, y'all know.

What are you most excited about as a native San Franciscan, living here now?

- Some of the positive changes.

I mean, being here, just seeing the opportunities for individuals that are San Franciscan natives to tap into an economy that wasn't here, you know, 30, 40 years ago.

And so opportunity is forged out of opportunity.

And San Francisco people come here looking for opportunity.

And so for the natives that are here, there's opportunity because of the waves of people that are coming here.

You know, seeking financial freedom, seeking forward thinking opportunities and things of that nature.

So I think that's something that I really never appreciated, but it's one of the positive changes that I really reflect on.

Like, you know what?

This is awesome.

- Sure, why didn't you appreciate it before?

- Because I felt like I was losing my city, you know.

And at the same time, it causes, because we're a peninsula, right?

They're not building any more land.

So the housing crisis started to hit.

You know, when I was in high school, it happened.

It's been happening ever since.

And so some of the family members and friends that I connect with, being part of San Francisco had to move away.

It seemed like a negative thing.

But when I reflect on it, the opportunities that were afforded because of these new individuals coming into the city, you know, it's like gold laying on the streets again.

You know, second Gold Rush all over.

- The new Gold Rush, I love it.

- You liked it great.

- It was good, it was good.

Now the Mission is a very multicultural area, like most of the city heavily Latino area.

It is changing, like most of the city.

What do you love so much about the Mission?

- Oh man, the food, the food is awesome.

- True.

- You know, there's places that have been around since I was a child actually.

So you know, 40 years.

And there's places that are popping up that are more new wave in a sense.

You know, fusion type restaurants and things of that nature.

There's beautiful cafes.

The people are always, the Mission, the one thing, it's always the people.

Even though people have changed, the community still has the same feel, the same energy.

You know, I love the murals.

They've restored a lot of the murals that are there in the Mission.

And so the weather, it's a valley in the city, so stays hot in the Mission, as well.

- Generally.

- Well, yeah.

(laughing) But yeah, all those factors, man, the food, the vibe, the energy, the people, you know, it makes it a great part of town.

- So then what about San Francisco do you love?

- I don't want to sound biased, but I mean, I love everything about it, honestly.

Later in life I'd have opportunities to travel, get away from San Francisco, and visit other parts of the country that I felt I missed out on.

And it's something about coming back home.

It's something about the topography, the landscape, the people, the energy, there's so much to love.

It really is, this a beautiful part of the country.

- It is, oh, but your passion is palpable.

I mean, I feel it myself, man, when you talk about it.

- 100%, 100%.

I used to feel like, you know, I didn't go away to college.

I stayed here locally, like I missed out.

And then as people were coming here after, you know, graduating from college, in the workforce, and I'm meeting colleagues and coworkers, and they're like, oh my god, you're so blessed.

You never left.

You know, and I was thinking it was a bad thing that I never left.

But you know, I'm glad that I've been able to be here for so long, lay roots, build my family, build my career, right here in San Francisco the whole time.

- Yes, man, home team, home town.

- All day.

- All right.

- All day.

(laughing) (hands clapping) - Come on.

(laughing) - Ah, bro.

Next up, is a necessary post barbecue walk in the historic Presidio of San Francisco.

One of my favorite spots in well, the world.

Here, we link up with my girl, Ana Ayala, a longtime transplant from Southern California, who's also a vice president at local nonprofit organization, Project Open Hand, which provides meals to vulnerable and health challenged residents in the Bay Area.

Ana first brought me to the Presidio over a decade ago.

And I've been in love with the place, and the city ever since.

You were the first person to bring me here.

- I remember that.

- So what makes the Presidio so special for you?

- It's beautiful, it's breathtaking, it's- - Magical.

- a magical forest.

- Yes, it is, enchanting.

- Enchanting indeed, and you know, it's right here in the city, just a few minutes of away for many people, to get out into a little bit of nature.

The scenic views, I mean it's breathtaking.

- Absolutely.

- Between the trees, you'll catch glimpses of the bridge, and you'll catch glimpses of Alcatraz, and the ocean and it's pretty magical.

And you know, we're on this trail right now, which is actually my favorite trail route to run, probably anywhere.

- Mm, I actually have been slow to running.

Yeah, I do it now, but I enjoy it because I was able to first do it here.

- Exactly.

That I think for me, is so true.

One of the reasons I love this trail, is 'cause it inspires me to get to the next little, you know, path- - hill, yeah.

- Next hill, next curve, 'cause there's just something equally beautiful, or breathtaking around the corner.

- Absolutely.

Aside from the Presidio, what's one thing you love about San Francisco?

- You know, I love the diversity of the city, diversity of culture, and community, and food.

You know, I think food is one of the ways that we are first introduced to different cultures, and you find an abundance of that in San Francisco.

You'll go to, you know, neighborhoods, and you'll see that there's an Italian restaurant, and a Greek restaurant, and a Malay restaurant all next to one another.

And it's just so many different communities in one small setting.

That is a pretty special thing about the city.

(mellow gentle music) - San Francisco to me, is a city of opportunity.

It's a city of vision.

It's a city of innovation.

It's a city of dreams.

It's a city of dreamers, dreamers like me who come here looking for like-minded individuals.

It's community of people, who are from all over the world who represent different cultures, different values.

But the shared understanding and love of this place, that's home to me.

And I have found it here, in San Francisco, this is one of my favorite cities on the planet, set in one of the most beautiful natural settings on the planet.

I mean, no place is like San Francisco.

(upbeat music) - [Female Spokesperson] Major funding for this program is provided by.

- This is mayor Ras J. Baraka.

Welcome to Newark.

(upbeat music) We are Newark, one family, Brick City.

- [Female Spokesperson] Courageous Conversation, Global Foundation, promoting racial justice, interracial understanding, and human healing.

Additional funding provided by the following.

To join the Fly Brother travel community, or to order your own copy of this episode, visit FlyBrother.com.

(upbeat violin music)