Columbus Ave view of Columbus Tower

The GPS coordinates will plant you directly in front of Réveille Coffee Co. located at 200 Columbus Ave, which intersects with Kearny St and Pacific Ave. If you're standing in front of Réveille Coffee's entrance, the featured view is directly across the street.

All months are suitable to photograph this location, all you need is blue hour.

Blue hour will give you the opportunity to create light trails while still leaving enough light to highlight the accents of the surrounding architecture.

I used a 35mm lens which gave me just enough room to include the foreground traffic as well as the rooflines on most of the buildings.

You'll need to use a tripod for the long exposure light trails. Experiment with different settings - a 2 second exposure creates an entirely different look and feel than a 10+ second exposure.

It took me about 20 shots of trial and error to nail the look I was going for in this shot, so be patient.

Go to my favorite restaurant in the city, Cotogna! You MUST order the Raviolo with Farm Egg & Brown Butter - it will be one of the best bites of anything you'll ever eat.

If you're more in the mood for Chinese then check out R&G Lounge and make sure to order the R&G Beef!

If you happen to be here during the day I highly recommend grabbing a sandwich down the street at Molinari Delicatessen.