San Francisco is calling me ... home?
So the other day, Webb and I were having a conversation on top of Nob Hill about San Francisco. He has subsequently posted it to his website and Michael Sippey in turn has posted it to his (good post). While looking out across this city of massive structures, hills and trees we suddenly realised that San Francisco looks like one massive game of Sim City. Or more plausibly that Sim City was clearly based upon San Francisco. The structures are so familiar - the way the hills and the roads intersect is so similar. I wonder if that's why it all seems so comfortable and familiar? Are we responding so positively to San Francisco because it feels like what we think cities are supposed to be like? If so, why on earth do all the Americans we meet seem so desperate to get out of here?
Comments
Please stay on-topic, informative and polite. I reserve the right to remove comments for whatever vague capricious reasons seem reasonable at the time.
Would the 'far-away hills are greener' idea have anything to do with it? For example, I don't understand how anyone would want to move to Ireland, because I can't stand it here.
→ Posted by: MacDara at April 19, 2003 7:40 PM
Well, the cost of real estate in San Francisco might have something to do with it.
→ Posted by: Frankenstein at April 19, 2003 8:01 PM
Because the poor sods only get two weeks hols a year.
→ Posted by: tamsin at April 20, 2003 11:48 AM
There are two distinct types of people in San Francisco. People who absolutely love the city and those who despise it (usually the latter are from the east coast.) I go through periods when I want out but then I'll get to the top of a hill, see the most amzing view and know that I'll never leave.
Welcome to SF, I hope you will love it as I do.
→ Posted by: todd at April 20, 2003 5:50 PM
a lot of people moved to the SF bay area ("barea") for the wrong reasons in the last few years. many of those people are leaving or have left. nick denton has some spectacularly wrongheaded posts on the subject, calling it a braindrain and mistaking the malls of san jose for the flavor of the entire region. i suspect he never once set foot in oakland during his carpetbaggery years here.
that said, the real estate nightmare is indeed atrocious. i may be renting this little house below 580 for the rest of my life.
→ Posted by: xian at April 20, 2003 8:59 PM
Itching to get out of here? Not me or the San Franciscans I know! The City, complete with its initial caps implying a title, is a bit like a cult movie: it has a small but loyal audience. If you get hooked in and you're one of the mighty handful, then it is almost completely impossible to leave. With every repeat viewing, you're dying to find another nuance, another weird detail that you weren't aware of before. The strength of San Francisco is such that it single-handedly convinced me not to move to L.A. about three years ago. (I don't know any other city on earth that could talk me out of a major life decision.)
There is still, as xian suggests, a good deal of people who remain here for the wrong reasons, who not only cannot understand but will not understand, who seem to get off on debasing the hell out of a first-class metropolitan area. They came here for lucre, they left when the money ran out. You would never find these people patronizing a local band at Bottom of the Hill, nor would you find them at the Indiefest. You would never find these people outside of Jamba Juice, oxygen bars, Rite-Aid, and all the other silly upscale suburban stuff you can find anywhere else. San Francisco is a better place without them. :)
→ Posted by: Ed at April 23, 2003 5:26 PM
To quote a friend, "San Francisco: love the town; hate the people."
→ Posted by: Hector at February 9, 2006 4:47 PM