HBO's new gay-but-don't-call-it-gay-gay drama Looking is just the latest of many projects to cast the Golden City in a leading role. Here are some other movies and shows who knew how to catch the City's good side.

Bullitt (1968)

Sometimes it really is just all about the hills. And nobody took to those hills like Steve McQueen in Bullitt, milking every drop of drama out of the climbs and plunges of downtown San Fran for what many consider to be the greatest car chase ever filmed. (Added bonus: the man knows how to rock a turtleneck.) Proof of its influence: the hilarious sendup of the chase in the classic screwball comedy What's Up Doc?:

(See also: The Love Bug, Herbie Rides Again, Big Trouble in Little China, Homeward Bound 2: Lost in Los Angeles)

Escape from Alcatraz (1979)

It's impossible to talk about San Francisco without mentioning its most notorious address: island prison Alcatraz. While the based-on-true-events thriller Escape from Alcatraz (starring neighborhood regular Clint Eastwood) was by far the best of the bunch, a number of films and television shows have tried their hand at breaking out of (or breaking into) the fabled institution. (See also: The Rock, Alcatraz, X-Men: The Last Stand, as well as Eastwood's Dirty Harry movies)

Fearless (1993)

Okay, this might be a biased entry, because it is one of my favorite films of all time. After seeing it I immediately bought the soundtrack (THE GORECKI!!) and read the source novel by Rafael Yglesias, and was startled to learn that the film had relocated the home base of central character Max Klein (gorgeously realized by Jeff Bridges) from NYC to SF. I say "startled" because the film is so rapturously in love with its location that it seems organic to the story - in part because it is seen mostly through the eyes of Max, who is an architect. The scene where Max is able to lure fellow plane crash survivor Carla (Rosie Perez at her career best) out of her home for the first time in months with the promise of a drive through the city is pure visual poetry. (See also: The Conversation, The Game, Blue Jasmine, Harold and Maude)

Milk (2008)

It's only fitting that the town that openly gay city councilman Harvey Milk fought so hard to represent would play such a major role in his biopic. Gus Van Sant's measured yet moving film brings San Francisco in the '70s to life in brilliant detail, sweeping us all up in the spirit of change and optimism that Milk embodied. The filmmakers took special care to shoot many of the scenes in sites where the actual events happened.

The Real World: San Francisco (1994)

Unlike a few of the other entries on this list that looked back at the city from the comfy chair of hindsight, The Real World: San Francisco tackled the here and now by bringing us into a house in Russian Hill occupied by eclectic assortment of strangers about to "get real." What made this season so special for many was the inclusion of HIV-positive roommate Pedro Zamora, an AIDS activist who was many Americans' first gay or HIV-positive "friend" (the season even featured a commitment ceremony between Zamora and his boyfriend, Sean Sasser). But Zamora wasn't the only first for the now-legendary reality juggernaut - it was also the first season to feature an Asian American (Pam Ling) and two Latin Americans (Zamora and Rachel Campos), a casting choice no doubt inspired by the rich cultural profile of the city itself. (See also: The Streets of San Francisco, La Mission, The Joy Luck Club)

Star Trek

This is a unique entry on the list, because while most of the films and shows here set themselves in San Francisco based on its landscape or its citizens, Star Trek seems to have been set in the city due to what it symbolizes: peace and harmony among people (and species, even) of all shapes and colors. While only a few of the Star Trek films actually visit San Francisco (notably the recent Star Trek: Into Darkness and Star Trek: The One with the Whale), the city has from the very beginning been the home of both the Federation and Starfleet. Interestingly, the Federation's logo is very similar to that of the global peacemaking organization the United Nations, which signed its very first charter in San Francisco. Of course, there are practical reasons for the city to be home base for the Trek universe, including its status as a Naval port (creator Gene Rodenberry was a WWII vet and no stranger to this) and its proximity to tech mecca Silicon Valley, but Trek's history of promoting diversity and tolerance should not be overlooked. Plus, Sulu himself (originated by everyone's favorite gay uncle, George Takei) is from San Francisco.

Too Close for Comfort (1980-1986)

Many sitcoms have used San Francisco as a backdrop for their laughtracked shenanigans (well, the suggestion of San Francisco, anyway - most were filmed in Los Angeles), but only one of them featured a cross-dressing neighbor in the first episode and unleashed gay firebrand Jm J. Bullock onto an unsuspecting prime time audience. ("Monroooooooe!!") The iconic San Francisco skyline is the star of the opening credits, which are so beloved to many that Adam Scott recently recreated them shot-for-shot as part of his "Greatest Event in Television History" series. The city has also provided a colorful - and progressive - backdrop for big-screen comedies. (See also: Full House, Suddenly Susan, Phyllis, That's So Raven, Eli Stone, Charmed, Monk, Mrs. Doubtfire, The Sweetest Thing, So I Married an Axe Murderer, Sister Act, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner)

Next page: The greatest, gayest film or show ever to be set in San Francisco...

Vertigo (1958)

Of all the storytellers to set their scene in San Francisco, none mined the city's potential for eeriness as well as master filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock. While Hitch celebrated San Fran's fog, darkness and visually rich landscape in several films, Vertigo is his undisputed masterpiece, and possibly the best film to ever feature the city as a guest star thanks to the many scenes set at iconic area locales. Every time I see the Golden Gate bridge, I can't help but look down to see if Kim Novak is standing on the shore below... (See also: The Birds, Shadow of a Doubt, Family Plot, Zodiac, Foul Play, Pacific Heights, Basic Instinct, The Maltese Falcon, High Anxiety, The Interview with the Vampire, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Midnight Caller)

A View to a Kill (1985)

Speaking of the Golden Gate bridge, the city's most iconic landmark has naturally found itself featured in all number of action and disaster movies. After all, if you're going to have a giant shark eat a bridge, it may as well be the most recognized bridge in the world, right? But camptastic James Bond entry A View to a Kill is our favorite Golden Gate valentine for its climactic chase sequence on the bridge, its ballsy casting of disco-powered supermodel-turned-Dolph-Lundgren-sympathizer Grace Jones as a bodyguard, and its theme song by the perfect storm of eyeliner and upturned lapels known as Duran Duran. You'd think someone behind the scenes were deliberately courting a gay audience. (See also: Superman: The Movie, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Pacific Rim, Monsters vs. Aliens, It Came from Beneath the Sea, Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus)

And last, but certainly not least...

Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City (1993)

Sorry, Hitch, but Love Generation rhapsody Tales of the City stole your crown for Queen of San Francisco and never looked back (even when it cleverly winked at Vertigo). No other work has so fully embraced San Francisco as a source of inspiration or so beautifully showcased its many facets, all of which are amplified due to its being set at the height of revolutions sexual, social, and more. The various residents of 28 Barbary Lane (and their many overnight guests) offered a fantastically entertaining window into San Francisco as a hotbed of progressive ideals at one of the most pivotal periods of social change in our country's recent history. (See also: More Tales of the City, Further Tales of the City, Falcon Crest, Love is a Many Splendored Thing)