I'm not a pilot but, prior to 9/11, I had the privilege of riding the approach to SFO twice in a cockpit. On one occasion we did a parallel approach as shown in the picture.
The second occasion they were doing staggered approaches to the 28s because of the wind. The "normal" operation at SFO seems to use parallel approaches to the 28s with interlaced departures on the 1s - two aircraft land on 28 followed by departures from 1 then two arrivals on 28 etc. On this occasion the wind did not permit the use of 1 so as we landed (on 28L) there was a 727 departing 28R. In its' way this felt even more interesting than the "norm" because the space between the runways is very limited - just space for one aircraft.
If you drive down the 101 Bayshore Freeway from SFO towards San Jose you very soon come to Coyote Point. It's a park (small fee) and you can sit and watch the approaches and see the departures in the distance - it's instructive.
I was once told a story by a 747 senior FO who was operating with a new Captain (new to the rank, new to the aircraft). The FO warned the captain to slow down early as they came down from Point Reyes over the city to cross the airport at 10000 ft. Unfortunately they didn't manage to get rid of the speed early enough which led to a 360 spiral to loose the altitude - didn't make ATC happy. Remember that was 2nd hand so I can't verify it.