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A private list of great places and interesting people

Welcome to Private List, a collection of great places based on the favorites of its founder, Beryl Magilavy, a long-time resident of San Francisco. After living a couple of years in Paris, she built this site to share with friends her private list of some of the best, often little-known, finds in that city. Others had their own experience to share; the site has been expanded to operate as a private membership club.

One of the greatest things about the Internet is its ability to bring people around the world together who share similar taste and interests. On Private List, you can not only share with other members your private list of the world's best places by adding them to the listings, you can meet people who share an interest in great food, wide-ranging conversation, the performing arts, fine craftsmanship, challenging ideas, the cultures of many nations, and the natural world.

Private List is made up of members' own finds of great places, services, and performing companies in the cities they know well. These are the best of their kind: the finest local craftspeople; the small film venues and performance companies that live on word-of-mouth; the restaurants, shops and hotels that are superb in every way.

Listings include places that are often impossible for a visitor to find without knowing someone who lives there: great places to appreciate art, live performance, slow food, great books, fine music, thought-provoking spoken word (places to hear or talks or to practice speaking a foreign language), dance, sports, public parks and gardens, theater, street markets, film, tea salons, children's activities, spas, museums, opera and musical theater, great bars, interesting and less-polluting means of transport, unusual shopping streets/shopping areas/shopping districts, accessible and breathtaking natural areas, and great buildings.

Most travelers have had the luck once or twice to be shown a city by someone who lives there and loves it—it changes the whole experience. However, most of the time, there is not much chance to meet people outside the hospitality industry.

Private List is founded on the conviction that there are people all over the world who share a similar taste for life, even if they have always lived thousands of miles from one another. The travel contacts feature provides members a way to meet those people, and to post requests for information or contacts in places they plan to visit.

Click "city lists" on the green navigation bar at the top of the page to see the listings. The page will open with a city selected at random. Or click on one of the city links below.

Guests may browse the listings; become a member to contact other members, add listings, and designate a custom set of listings for printing out. To join Private List, click on "membership" on the navigation bar. There is no charge and you will not be sent junk mail.

Avalon: 3 · Avignon: 1 · Bahrain: 1 · Barcelona: 17 · Berkeley: 6 · Berlin: 2 · Brighton: 1 · Brisbane: 2 · Brussels: 2 · Buenos Aires: 34 · Chicago: 1 · Christchurch: 6 · Cincinnati: 1 · Cleveland: 7 · Cusco: 16 · Fresno: 3 · Hannover: 1 · Kansas City: 1 · Lima: 22 · London: 1 · Los Angeles: 16 · Lucerne: 1 · Marysville: 1 · Naples: 7 · New York City: 4 · Newport Beach: 27 · Oakland: 1 · Oxford: 16 · Paris: 97 · Pasadena: 1 · Picton: 1 · Pompeii: 1 · Portland: 1 · Prague: 1 · Rome: 21 · San Diego: 1 · San Francisco: 92 · San Luis Obispo: 12 · Santa Barbara: 6 · Santa Rosa: 1 · Schoten: 1 · Seal Beach: 1 · Stratford-upon-Avon: 1 · Tarragona: 2 · Tubac: 1 · Vancouver: 1 · Venice: 14 · Vienna: 3 · Washington: 3 · Wellington: 4 · Xilitla: 1 · Yuba City: 1 · Zürich: 3