We have planned family summer vacations touring all the MLB ballparks, this year its SF and OAK. (Ya gotta ad OAK to the list before they leave, even if it sucks!)

So any native advice for things to see and things to avoid in the area? Restaurants, must see locations? Parts of town to avoid? Best and worst hotel areas?

Also would like to see 2 of these 3 parks- Seqouia, Yosemite and Redwood. Which would you leave out if you had to?

Thanks for the help and throw in any random advice you'd like!

I don't live close enough to give much ballpark advice. or city locations advice.  Redwood National Park is 5 hours north on the coast.  Sequoia is about an hour longer to get to than Yosemite.  Yosemite may have more restrictions and reservations and be busier than Sequoia.  On the coast there are closer state parks and other coastal redwood groves, etc., without going as far north.  Sequoia and Yosemite have the big canyons and giant sequoias.  Redwood NP is probably the least hassle, Sequoia not as fussy as Yosemite, Yosemite is, well, Yousemite!.  Assuming you'll be there after glacier Point and tioga Pass open.  Earlier sumer is more water, the later you get, the less water in the rivers, etc.  avoiding weekends is good if at all possible.

Stay. The. Hell. Away. From. Oakland.

San Francisco is marginally better, but still a cesspool.

I'll assume you have stadium attendance related things figured out.  Oaklands is close to a freeway, San Francisco's looks more complicated. You say "family," so I might not be entirely negative about visiting the area.  Adult "family" versus kids would be different things.  We livein soCal and have visited the area a number of times but don't stay in San Francisco proper.  It's crowded, busy, expensive, parking sucks.  "Street" conditions can be bad.

Oakland is a mess, I can't think of anything particularly worth visiting there anymore.  Maybe pass through on the freeways to get to/from wherever you stay.  San Francisco is a beautiful city with a lot of ugly people things going on.  Car break-ins are common.  Fisherman's Wharf is overly touristy these days.  Golden Gate Park has a variety of gardens and museums, worth looking up.  There are drive guides I guess to see some of the sights.  Lombard Street is fun.  Driving can be "interesting" in some of the steepest neighborhoods. Cable cars are fun.  Not sure which lines to suggest or how easy it is to get to one and make a round trip.  Well worth it with kids.  Highly touristy but also used by locals at times.  Look it up.  See the bridges.  The view back to San Francisco from Treasure Island on the Bay Bridge is nice, beautiful at night.  The Golden Gate Bridge is spectacular and there are spots for viewing in the parks around the area and it can be walked if desired.  check out the Presidio and golden Gate national Recreation Area.

Aside from the commute times and general traffic density, I might suggest staying someplace not too far north of San Francisco if considering going north to the redwoods, etc. If you go west on Highway 1 not too far north of the bridge, it will get very rural, very quickly and the ride along the coast is beautiful.  Not fast. Muir woods gets your redwoods very close to the bay but it can be crowded.  As you go north on 101 you get into the wine country.  A winery visit or two is more fun for adults.  some tours might work for kids, they might (depends on interests, age) might enjoy seeing all the big tanks and barrels, etc.  Driving north on 1, the coast is very pretty, just slow.  101 is a freeway but pleasant, small towns going from wine country to lumber country.  A lot of state parks, follows rivers in some areas.  If you go to the Sierra national parks, from the bay area, there's some mountains/hills then you'll hit the flat central valley.  Maybe some Sacramento delta islands, etc., as you go, much depends on your routes,  where you stayed in the Bay Area,then enter the Sierra foothills then climb to the mountains.  the vally isn't all thatinteresting.

How sad, but I whole-heartedly agree.  We purposefully avoid them, refusing to even stop.

When we go to Sequoia/King's Canyon Park, we like to stay at the Wuksachi Lodge.

One of the greatest drives in the whole world is Tioga Road starting near Yosemite Valley, up to Tuolomne Meadows.  There are MANY turnouts and vista points along the way.  A short hike in Tuolomne Meadows, to stretch your legs worthwhile.  

The Redwoods NP is too far north unless you dedicate two or more days to a round trip.  The environment is VERY different than Sequoia NP but they are very far apart (300-400 miles).   One is a temperature, coastal, rain forest, the other an alpine forest.  Yes, rain forest = LOTS of rain.

How many people in your party? How old are the kids? What do you and your family like to do?  I am heavily biased against staying the hell out of both of those cities, sf is less terrible than Oakland.  Both of them aren’t really drive in with your stuff places or you WILL be robbed.

I was just at the giants stadium last weekend for little league day with the family, it’s truly a great stadium in a great location.  Oakland coliseum is an absolute shithole and honestly not worth going to. Wait for them to go to Vegas.

If you absolutely had to go to the Fields, find accomodations somewhere outside the Cities, commute in for the games and commute right back out afterwards.

Thanks!
At the moment it says tioga pass is closed, wonder if it will be open around 6/5?

5 of us, kids 9-16-20 years old. We have a highly rated hotel in the wharf area (don't remember name at the moment), and supposedly good parking based on reviews and not planning to take the car out at all once we arrive.

Definitely only going to the coliseum to check it off the list, and will again when they move! And sitting on the front row is always fun, they're playing the Mariners and my 9yo is a big Julio Rodriguez fan so that will be worth the cheap tickets.

Thanks, good info!
Honestly we kind of dread the SF area from all the horror stories, but we figure it will only get worse over time so lets knock it out this year. We heard the same about LA and made the trip 2 summers ago and managed to avoid too much crazy (for the most part). I know SF is worse. Maybe we'll be fortunate, lucky or whatever on this one as well.

After this summer we're done with California! At least the coast cities, may decide to come back and hit the scenic areas away from the shities when we have more time.

San Francisco Bay area, downtown Los Angeles and its environs, ...

I was going to list the places to avoid but let me say this, instead.  There are so many BEAUTIFUL (and safe) places to go in this State, it really is worth visiting.  

The small beach cities all along the coast are fantastic and can be completely different than the areas inland just a few miles.  Orange County, San Diego County,... even Los Angeles County has its South Bay - Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, etc.  These are nice places to go.  I would have a long, long list if I tried to name them all - Ventura, Santa Barbara, Pismo, Avila Beach, Cambria, PCH along the Central Coast, Monterey, and on and on,... Bodega Bay, Fort Bragg, the Lost Coast, Ferndale,... It is impossible to list them all.

The entirety of the Sierra Nevada, east side, west side, northern, southern,... just go!

If you understand and appreciate deserts, we've got those, too - Death Valley and the Mojave Desert come to mind.

I'll shut up now.  I'm not a travel agent.  

On Facebook I'm getting various tourism related posts from the Eastern Sierra area.  Here's a good spot to get a variety of links and road numbers to check.  Not sure why Highway 4 isn't also listed but it's one of the cross Sierra highways, too.  They try to get the roads open as quickly as possible but it's a big job and the Park Service also has a lot of work beyond just clearing, getting parking areas, some other facilities, etc., ready, too.  They are still getting some snow and cold days and nights in the highest passes.  I would say usually by Memorial day but not always.

https://www.monocounty.org/plan-your-trip/weather-and-road-conditions/