Saul Loeb / AFP - Getty Images

Barack Obama pays for a dim sum takeout lunch at the Great Eastern Restaurant in San Francisco's Chinatown on Feb 16.

Saul Loeb / AFP - Getty Images

People watch from a street corner as Barack Obama picks up a dim sum at the Great Eastern Restaurant in San Francisco's Chinatown on Feb. 16.

President Barack Obama went off script today during a trip to San Francisco.

According to the pool reporter who is traveling with the presidential motorcade, the Commander-in-Chief made a surprise stop in Chinatown for some take out.

Obama pulled up at the Great Eastern restaurant at 1:22 p.m. He entered with no jacket and his sleeves rolled up, and greeted the mostly Chinese crowd inside. Many of the patrons left their plates and rushed to shake his hand.

-- Msnbc.com wire services contributed to this blog post.

Saul Loeb / AFP - Getty Images

Barack Obama leaves the Great Eastern restaurant with dim sum in San Francisco's Chinatown on Feb. 16.

Follow @msnbc_pictures

Photos by Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

Same-sex couple Frank Capley-Alfano. left, and Joe Capley-Alfano celebrate outside of City Hall on Feb. 7, 2012 in San Francisco, Calif.. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the voter-approved Proposition 8 measure violates the civil rights of gay men and lesbians.

Breana Hansen, left, and Monica Chacon kiss as they celebrate outside of San Francisco City Hall on Tuesday.

NBC News and news services report the 9^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has declared California's Proposition 8 unconstitutional, paving the way for a likely U.S. Supreme Court showdown on the voter-approved law, NBC News reported.

"Proposition 8 serves no purpose, and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California, and to officially reclassify their relationships and families as inferior to those of opposite-sex couples," said Judge Stephen Reinhardt in the majority opinion. "The Constitution simply does not allow for 'laws of this sort'."

Proposition 8 backers had asked the 9th Circuit to set aside a previous judge’s ruling on constitutional grounds and because that judge later revealed he was gay. It was the first instance of an American jurist's sexual orientation being cited as grounds for overturning a court decision.

Read the full decision (pdf file)

Follow @msnbc_pictures

Jeff Chiu / AP

A man looks through a camera while sitting on a roof across the street from an apartment fire in the Western Addition area in San Francisco, Dec. 22, 2011. A large fire pushed by strong winds has engulfed at least three buildings near San Francisco's historic Alamo Square. A pillar of thick smoke is rising into the sky over the neighborhood more than an hour after the blaze started just before noon Thursday. The five alarm blaze brought at least 120 firefighters to battle the flames at two apartment buildings and at least one other structure.

NBCBayArea.com reports:

Firefighters appear to be gaining the upper hand on a massive five-alarm blaze in San Francisco that left three people injured Thursday.

Heavy thick smoke billowed from the city's Western Addition neighborhood as about 140 firefighters responded to a four-story apartment complex engulfed in flames. The fire was reported at 11:53 a.m. at an apartment complex at 1502 Golden Gate Avenue, near the intersection of Turk and Pierce Street.

Jeff Chiu / AP

San Francisco firefighters climb down from a ladder at an apartment fire in the Western Addition area of San Francisco, Thursday, Dec. 22, 2011.

Jeff Chiu / AP

A San Francisco Firefighter hoses water at an apartment fire in the Western Addition area in San Francisco, Dec. 22, 2011.

Follow @msnbc_pictures

Stephen Lam / Reuters

A group of Department of Public Works workers remove debris from Occupy San Francisco's encampment at Justin Herman Plaza during a morning police raid in San Francisco, Calif. on Dec. 7, 2011.

Reuters reports:

Police dismantled a tent city of Occupy protesters in downtown San Francisco early on Wednesday, arresting more than 50 as they shut down the last major Occupy encampment on the West Coast.

The city had repeatedly warned the protesters to move from the public plaza at the foot of Market Street in recent weeks and tried unsuccessfully to negotiate a move to another location. Read the full story.

See more images from the Occupy movement.

Stephen Lam / Reuters

A demonstrator is arrested on Market Street during a morning police raid on the Occupy San Francisco encampment at Justin Herman Plaza in San Francisco, Calif. on Dec. 7, 2011.

Stephen Lam / Reuters

A Department of Public Works worker removes debris from the Occupy San Francisco encampment at Justin Herman Plaza after a morning police raid in San Francisco, California on Dec. 7, 2011.

Stephen Lam / Reuters

Demonstrators watch on Market Street as police and public works workers dismantle the Occupy San Francisco encampment at Justin Herman Plaza in San Francisco, California on Dec. 7, 2011.

Stephen Lam / Reuters

Occupy San Francisco demonstrators use police barricades to build a structure in Justin Herman Plaza in San Francisco, California on Dec. 1, 2011. Hundreds of anti-Wall Street protesters encamped at Justin Herman Plaza braced for eviction on Thursday two days after failing to agree to a city plan for relocating their camp.

Stephen Lam / Reuters

A police officer holds a barricade outside the Federal Reserve Bank after Occupy San Francisco demonstrators were seen cutting zip ties connecting the barricades, on Dec. 1, 2011.

Reuters reports from SAN FRANCISCO:

Stephen Lam / Reuters

Police officers hold the line outside the Federal Reserve Bank on Dec. 1, 2011.

Police erected barricades on Thursday around a San Francisco park where hundreds of anti-Wall Street protesters braced for eviction two days after failing to agree to a city plan for relocating their camp.

Occupy San Francisco is believed to be the largest of a dwindling number of West Coast protest settlements aligned with the national movement protesting economic inequality, after a larger group in Los Angeles was evicted earlier in the week.

The purpose of the barricades put up at the plaza was not immediately clear, but most police officers left after they were installed, and a raid there did not seem imminent.

Shortly after police installed the barricades along three sides of the park, protesters bandied together to haul away the fencing from one side as more than a dozen officers stood by watching. Protesters then chanted "Cops go home." Read the full story.

Related content:

• More Occupy evictions loom
• Occupy hangover for cities, protesters
• Tale of a Southern 'Occupy': Nashville aims to bridge political divides
• Police move in to clear Occupy LA encampment

The AP reports from SAN FRANCISCO:

 There are more dogs than kids in the City by the Bay. So it stands to reason dog owners carry a lot of clout — so much so they believe their endorsement can sway the upcoming mayoral race.

Dog lovers have formed a political action committee to promote the interests of their four-footed friends, namely space to run free in one of the world's largest urban national parks. And they are calling on mayoral candidates to defend their stands on canine affairs.

"We expect the dog vote to be a game-changer," said Bruce Wolfe, president of DogPAC, which held a forum attended by several mayoral hopefuls Saturday.

Ben Margot / AP

Antonia Tamer, left, and a woman who identified herself as "Cheyenne" walk their dogs in San Francisco. There are more dogs in the city than there are children.

Marcio Jose Sanchez / AP

Bruce Wolf, President of DogPAC of San Francisco, pets a dog at Fort Funston in San Francisco on Sept. 29.

There are an estimated 150,000 dogs in the city, compared with some 108,000 children, according to the San Francisco Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the 2010 U.S. Census. More than 800,000 people are sandwiched into 7-by-7 square miles in the city named for St. Francis, patron saint of animals.

Seven of the 16 candidates vying for City Hall's top job in the Nov. 8 election attended Saturday's DogPAC forum, where candidates were asked about the cost of dog licenses, trash cans in parks where owners can dispose of dog waste and pet-friendly rental housing for people who want to adopt foster animals. Read the full story.

Marcio Jose Sanchez / AP

Dogs walk off-leash with their human companions at Fort Funston in San Francisco on Sept. 29.

I can't help but think of Rachel Maddow's "big things" spot when I look at these images of the new Bay Bridge. This is pretty darned big.

Ironworkers will climb a 35-degree slope on the 1060-foot catwalks to install four suspension cables in 2012, according to a San Francisco Chronicle story. The bridge has been under construction since 2002 with an estimated price tag of $6.3 billion and will have the world's tallest self-anchored suspension (SAS) tower once completed.

Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

Members of the media walk on the deck of the newly constructed eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge during a media tour of the self-anchored suspension span tower on August 29 in Oakland, California. Construction crews have erected twelve foot wide catwalks that connect to the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge self-anchored suspension span's tower and crews will begin to lay the nearly one mile of main cable beginning in early 2012. The bridge has been under construction since 2002 with an estimated price tag of $6.3 billion and will have the world's tallest self-anchored suspension (SAS) tower once completed.

Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

Catwalks hang over a section of the newly constructed eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge during a media tour of the self-anchored suspension span tower on August 29 in Oakland, California.

Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

A worker stands on the bottom of a 1,060-foot catwalk that hangs over the newly constructed eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge during a media tour of the self-anchored suspension span tower on August 29 in Oakland, California.

Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

A model of the eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge self-anchored suspension span tower is on display inside the CalTrans public information office on August 29 in Oakland, California.

Check out a previous post on the Bay Bridge.

Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

Demonstrator Tom Comitta pretends to talk on a telephone during a protest inside the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Civic Center station on August 15 in San Francisco, California. The hacker group "Anonymous" staged a demonstration after BART officials turned off cell phone service in its stations last week during a disruptive protest following a fatal shooting of a man by BART police.

Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

BART police push back demonstrators who are trying to keep a train from leaving the Civic Center station on August 15 in San Francisco.

The AP reports:

An estimated 50 protesters gathered Monday afternoon on the Civic Center Station platform chanting "no justice, no peace." They also swarmed a Bay Area Rapid Transit train, trying to prevent its departure.

Law enforcement eventually cleared the platform and closed the station. Read the full story.

Related content:

• Hacker group posts names of BART site subscribers
• Killer transit cop released after 11 months in prison

Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

Spectators watch a Lufthansa Airbus A380 land at San Francisco International Airport on May 10, 2011 in San Francisco, California. Lufthansa became the first major airline to bring the Airbus A380 to San Francisco International Airport with a daily non-stop to and from Frankfurt, Germany.

Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

Spectators wait for a Lufthansa Airbus A380 plane to land at San Francisco International Airport on May 10, 2011 in San Francisco, California.

Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

A Lufthansa Airbus A380 plane lands at San Francisco International Airport.

Here's more about the landing event from an airplane enthusiast.