The bucket list …

Top of Golden Gate Bridge: The first of three stellar San Francisco vantage points that require knowing the right people or a little luck to get there.

There have never been public tours of Golden Gate Bridge. But a few journalists, city officials and other dignitaries have enjoyed the view from the top of the bridge. The Chronicle has photos from the top of the bridge from almost every decade,

starting the day it opened in 1937.

Top of Sutro Tower: Sutro Tower offers the highest viewpoint of the city, and a vantage point where (barring a marine layer intervention) every square mile of San Francisco is visible.

It’s a harrowing and claustrophobic nine-minute journey on a tiny elevator to the top of Sutro Tower; a space less than 8 square feet total. There are no public tours. But if you reach Level 6, on the top of the 977-foot antenna, you’ll have a story to tell for the rest of your life.

Top of Salesforce Tower: When Salesforce Tower opened in 2018, there were no plans for public tours of the top floor of the tallest building on the West Coast.

But in February officials announced limited public tours on Saturdays with reservations at www.salesforcetowertour.com.

With just a couple hundred people a week getting access, Salesforce won’t become the new Empire State Building. The visit is free, but there’s no waiting list. The next registration period should be announced later this spring.

The final word …

These locations are only a start, as a definitive list of views is impossible. There are only starting points, with the understanding that living in the Bay Area means the new and exciting views will keep coming as long as you’re alive and willing to pay attention.

Whether it’s a nose pressed against the glass in the back seat of a car, coming around the bend to see the Golden Gate Bridge for the first time. A hike to a very familiar spot, before realizing that the multicolored sky has never looked quite that way before. A difficult journey to the ocean, knowing this sunset may be your last.

True, the Bay Area is an infuriatingly expensive place to live. But the biggest ticket item will always be free.

Peter Hartlaub is The San Francisco Chronicle’s pop culture critic. Email: phartlaub@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @PeterHartlaub