A historical icon of 1960's sex drugs and rock-n-roll, the Haight remains vibrant through a concoction of great clothes, assorted and lively street-folk, and some of the hottest hippie girls human eyes have seen.
Haight clothing shops offer some of SF's most exciting wearables - primarily in vintage wear (primarily, Wasteland & Held Over) and furry/shiny/etc costumery at Piedmont, with a number of high quality new-clothing boutiques sprinkled about.
The neighborhood also has a number of drinking-oriented (as opposed to dancing, hooking-up, etc) bars - Hobson's Choice and Magnolia Pub are two of the more reliably-good venues. For a meal with a cleaner and mellower vibe, La Boulange has an outpost a short walk away (up Cole St, at Parnassus) and is otherwise delicious and affordable.
The neighborhood adjoins the Lower Haight, Buena Vista Park, the Golden Gate park, and its Panhandle. Famous/former residents include the Grateful Dead (710 Ashbury), Janis Joplin (112 Lyon) and Charles Manson (636 Cole).
For those fiending some smokable delight, the intersection of Haight and Stanyan is a popular marketplace. While it is effectively legal to smoke marijuana in San Francisco, potential purchasers might consider other options (a medicinal prescription perhaps...)
Otherwise, feel free to dig deeper into the neighborhood with local robot engineer, John Camp :)
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haight-Ashbury,_San_Francisco,_California
