HowAboutWe Dating Site Ranks Cal Academy as #2 Date Spot in SF

First dates are tough.  You have to try and guess what the other person wants to do, you want to show some creativity in your choice of spot or activity, but you don't want to overshoot in case the date goes sour fast. (HINT: 4 hour hot air balloon ride is a bad idea.) So what is a busy single person to do?

Well the dating site HowAboutWe.com has the answer, culled from the 1 million first date ideas posted to their website.  You can navigate this awesome infographic for your city to see what's the most popular spot, activity and beverage.

For San Francisco, the winners for top first date spots are:

1. Golden Gate Park
2. The California Academy of Sciences , particularly our Thursday night "Nightlife" events
3. Mission Dolores Park
4. The Ferry Building Farmers Market
5. Philz Coffee

All of those are not surprising to me as a single San Francisco resident, except #5.  Philz Coffee is fine and all , but I personally pick would another more cozy or fancy coffee place like Blue Bottle or Sightglass.  Then again, there are many Philz Coffee branches all over, so that might explain their popularity.  And no self-respecting San Franciscan would ask another one on a Starbucks date. Blech.

The Cal Academy is a no-brainer for first dates.  Thursday night "Nightlife" events are fun, creative, multi-faceted, and cheap.  If a date is going well, there is hours of entertainment and stimulating conversation starters for dealing with those awkward first date moments.  And if the evening isn't going that great, well you are at the Cal Academy with hundreds of other eligible singles. 

Check out all of the other interesting first date spots chosen by singles all over the country on their interactive infographic.  And HowAboutWe has some other factoids on their blog about what can be learned from 1 million first date ideas.