This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Jul 14, Poison rated it really liked it Shelves: This is my first book by this author, novella, in this case, and I have to say I really liked it. It contains stuff that usually I wouldn't love like miscommunication and stuff, but it just works in this story. So what was there to like? Second, I love the characters in this thing. Third, its free on Amazon right now, I'm gonna tell all my friends! View all 6 comments. Jan 22, Samantha Macdouglas rated it it was amazing. Leah seamlessly melds hot, steamy sex and romance all in one juicy little bundle.
She's an extremely talented writer with wonderful prose and engaging, realistic characters. The emotional dance between Nicole and Rachael captured my heart and mind while their delicious physical encounters had me completely enraptured. A wonderful short erotica I would highly recommend! Teresa rated it liked it Oct 09, Dee rated it liked it Jul 23, Mandy rated it really liked it Jul 09, Emily rated it it was ok Jun 26, Joanne marked it as to-read Jul 11, Book Red marked it as to-read Jul 12, Michael Dunellen marked it as to-read Jul 15, MissyGirl marked it as to-read Jul 25, Cal marked it as to-read Jul 25, Angela Starkey added it Dec 31, Jennifer marked it as to-read May 09, Otherwise an excellent description of a SF overview.
I marvel that I can actually afford to be in the area. Thank goodness I arrived so long ago to get a toe hold in the economy. Who are you you to call anyone stupid or any names at all? Bottom line, people like whatever they like, prefer, or can afford. BTW, have lived here for 14 years. Thank you for this interesting post. I enjoyed reading it very much. Thanks so much for the UpOut shout out, Jason. Let me know if you wanna swing by our party next week. Just curious about the dogs.
Are the dogs allowed to go inside the restaurants and the offices? Of course the answer is a percentage. Just an aprox please. I would not consider the city dog friendly because it would be MUCH more difficult to find a rental with a dog especially a medium or large sized dog. If you think finding an apartment in the city is tough already, having a dog makes it nearly impossible! I moved in Sept. As far as taking the dogs in places, the workers at Precious Rainbow Grocery told me that there is a loophole in the law that basically allows you to take your dog anywhere just by stating an emotional need.
Voice control means the dog comes when called, not just if it has nothing better to do, not just when it feels like it, but reliably, all the time. There are a lot of dog owners who push the limits of acceptable behavior with their pets and there is a palpable pushback from many. If you want to really see SF at its worst, ask someone to put their dog on a leash.
Now just imagine if rentals let everyone have a dog and think about that for another god damn second — dogs of single apt dwellers who work???? Basically anywhere humans can go in SF, so can dogs. Save some apartments that are not pet-friendly. California State law prohibits animals inside restaurants, unless they are service dogs. There are workplaces that allow dogs, but I would say they are in the minority. Finding a place to rent if you have a dog is definitely more difficult, but once you have one, this City is really great.
More and more restaurants are starting to happen way more often because of the hipster losers who think they can abuse a right some people need merely for their convenience. If this is you, then stop. We all are happy to make compromises for people who truly have disabilities, but if you want to game the system, I hope karma bites you someday. It is indeed prohibited — by federal, not state, law to demand proof.
What can be asked is whether the dog is a service animal and what the dog is trained to do. Only narrow types of services qualify, e. It basically comes down to the owner. The owner can refuse admittance, and the only recourse the dog owner would have would be a law suit. They would stand little chance of winning however, if they can not or refuse to show proof of their dog being a service animal. You presume too much TLH.
This is San Francisco after all…cheers. Would you ever really want to return to a restaurant that had dog pee on the floor? My dog Dribbles is very good about such things but …. I am from Spain, living in Germany, and I can go to almost any restaurant with the dog. I do it daily, and never had a single problem.
Never saw a dog pee in a restaurant. Now I am thinking if move to SF is a good option or not. I eat out regularly in San Francisco and have been doing so for over a decade. Dog urine in a restaurant…seriously…. Every restaurant I know of where owners would actively look the other way have been reported to the health department. Those owners will tell you this with a wink. Dog shit is a real quality of life problem.
Gives those of us who pick up after our dogs a really bad name. Duboce Triangle is a neighborhood, not a park. Duboce Park has a large off-leash area but the vast majority of owners pick up after their pets. That nickname for Duboce Park goes back to the days before the poop pickup law was passed in the 70s. Never heard anyone use it in the last decade. Dogs are illegal inside restaurants unless providing an essential service guide dogs for the blind, etc.
If nothing else, most dogs shed copious amounts of hair, who wants that in their food?
Outdoor seating areas are generally okay though. Great post Jason, but re: Who shops in supermarkets? My buddy and I wanted steaks for dinner, but figured eating out would be too expensive. So, we went to Whole Foods and bought 2 steaks, mushrooms, green onions, garlic, and a bottle of wine….. May just be WF though. Cheaper to eat out than whole foods or even trader joes.
Nothing in the city can compare to the prices Amazon hits. Try local ethnic specialty food markets I like the Mission small markets they have fresh produce and seafood and meats a more reasonable prices than the big chain stores. Nothing is easy in the city including food. I defy anyone to tell me that those are real food.
But Safeway has a bigger selection. Clubs, jazz, music, etc.. You live like moles up there. I lived in Mountain View for 2 years when I moved to California. Been in SF for the last 6—never looked back. I live in mtn view and I cannot agree more! If weather is a main point, SF is foggy and cold. Even in the summer it sometimes stays cold and cloudy. Also, the start-up scene is still quite vibrant in neighboring Palo Alto.
I have never lived in SF, only visited. Still, mtn view and PA are not all that bad. The night scene in PA is also vibrant. The real tech happens in the valley, which is south of SF. It really depends on your age and situation. My husband and I ended up in Alameda because you can take the ferry to work and it has the benefits of a small town with easy access to the big city. Rent is a lot less and you can gasp! The island is flat, so even a less than stellar athlete can make their way around on one easily. Acquire an appreciation for good wine early and invest in futures.
We mucked around with the beer far too long and missed out on some amazing opportunities. You guys have the time for it to be worth your while. I just fell in love with SF all over again! This was a fun post and very thorough. Thanks for sharing your insights. I agree on most fronts except PBR microbrews are huge here … and you should totally give Oakland more credit than a 1 liner! My friend is dating a guy there and flies to PDX about every 3 weeks for the weekend. Yes they are not has warm as Mt View but what is a few degrees. I was raised here and the whole Bay Area is way too cold for me, all year round.
Great blost blog post. I would add two things though. First, there is definitely two San Franciscos. One that you have described which is filled with transients. The second San Francisco is old SF. If you know what the Bruce Mahoney classic is then you are old and some would argue legit SF. I love that you brought up the Bruce Mahoney. The basketball game just happened a week or two ago! Amen, from a fourth generation San Franciscan. Old San Francisco, like old single malt, must be learned; takes time to enter that group; once you do, and are accepted, you can call yourself a true San Franciscan.
San Francisco was in large part a middle class family working town; that still exists, but, again, you need to find that San Francisco. There were old rituals that tied us together.
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One of the few reading this that was actually born in SF, Mt Zion. There are 2 Cities for sure; mostly a tale of transients pricing out the locals. People like you are ruining San Francisco. Please move back to the east coast and so that middle class families can afford the rent here again. Did you know such natives existed, young Jason?
This place has always been unique and uniquely different from anywhere else or at least comparable to other unique places in ways that inform and explain, and contribute to the wonder of it. And the reason super high rises should never be built to make us a Tokyo or Manhattan as young Jason suggested. All the old-timers call it Frisco. Why do you think the Hells Angels here are called the Frisco Charter?
Actually it is true. If you wanted to anger my great Aunt, who went through the Quake and spent several weeks in the emergency campgrounds, you used that word. Only Filipinos are allowed to call The City Frisco. Plus also too, the fog may end at Divisadero but originates from our cousins rice cookers down in Daily City.
Flip Her Coin (Sex in San Francisco, #3) by Leah Ridgewood
I am 4th generation. Besides go out of the city and call it The City and no one knows which one. And yet, my male friends who come in from other parts of the country are always astonished at how attractive all the ladies are. In fact I know of 4 good looking guys who have moved to the east coast primarily for the female issue.
I live in Oakland and commute to SF daily for work. Womenwise there is absolutely no comparison to NYC. Not even a close second. I have come across very few ladies here that have sparked my interest, and its depressing. There is also a very serious lack of ethnic diversity in SF, which transcends into the culture it could use some soul and the style here sucks. And, if you want the slightest bit of diversity go to Oakland. The style and presentation is unbelievably worse in Oakland but you can at least get a lil taste of ethnic diversity if you have an appreciation for that which is why I prefer to live in Oakland.
Ladies, I really appreciate how fit you are but where is the presentation? Where is the flava? I apologize in advance for my ranting. I am being serious here: Is there a famous person you could give as an example? Gemma Tate — I highly doubt you are being serious, more like insulting. Believe it or not, I prefer not to assume what other people mean online. But, feel free to feel insulted instead. I love to travel if only to remember not all fit and attractive men are gay. It is impossible to find a hot guy in SF who is straight.
SF is the worst as far as attractive women go. Plus the ratio totally favors the ladies. We used to call it Man Francisco. Born and raised in the Bay, but have lived in NYC for the last 12 years. Diversity, culture, food, women from literally all over the world: I like it here more. I live in San Mateo and which has a decent number of restaurants, better weather, and parking.
The crime is way less too. And that is not the fog line. Fog comes in past Masonic. Using pronouns is a SoCal thing. Park Presidio Ave 2. Mid Haight at Buena Vista Park 5. Alamo Square near Divis but Divis is not the break point. You know its taking over the City when it hits Dolores Park. Excellent introduction for people coming from the East Coast.
Pro-tip, watch more ESPN man. Nowhere close to the frenzy people get into over basketball and football in the Midwest and on the East Coast though. You nailed it, TKSF. People in Boston live and die by their sports team. A 3 game losing streak in April is a disaster and any big Patriots loss is the end of the world. That said Go Niners!! Natives tend to be pretty good sports fans hell, my gradeschool had spirit rallies whenever the Niners went to the Suberbowl. Real sports fans suffer the team when it sucks.
How about sitting through games at Candlestick huddled in parkas and sleeping bags? Were they Giants fans in ? Or maybe they were there in when the strike happened and they mourned with all the hot dog vendors the last day of that abbreviated season? Or maybe they were in the stands in when all the overcapitalized start-ups had season tickets and the seats were all empty? Everyone celebrates when the team wins. Mets fans get that. Redskins fans get that. Anchor is the real San Francisco beer.
Neighborhoods definitely define the experience. I work at a startup and I am not the norm in my neighborhood. I relocated from Boston to San Francisco 13 years ago at the peak of the dot-com boom. PBR is not the drink of choice in my circle. In fact, I would say people in San Francisco take their drinks seriously—so expect to learn a lot about wine and cocktails if you live here.
I love that nearly all waitstaff in this city are pretentious about these drinks, just well informed and happy to share what they know. Most everyone here loves hiking. Cross the Golden Gate bridge and within 30 minutes you are far, far away from the city and enjoying the splendor of the redwoods and amazing endless views of the Pacific Ocean. People have always complained about high rents in this city, which continue to creep up … so, if you plan to stick around, find a place you like and stay there you do not want to know how low my rent is.
People here do not care where you went to college. You are who you are out here, not where you spent four year of your life. I disagree about cost of living here. Dining out in SF is far cheaper than other cities Boston, for example. Very few buildings in the city are actually rent-controlled. You guys seriously need to look up what rent control is. Capping rent increases is NOT rent control. Rent control is arbitrarily setting the maximum amount that a building owner can charge in rent. That amount does not change even after one tenant leaves and another moves in.
ANY building built before is rent controlled in San Francisco. Anything built after 79 can have unlimited rent increases. Most rental stock was built pre Rent control sets the highest percentage of increase a landlord can impose in a year after your original lease runs out. Agreed people actually do care where you went to college.
Been in SF 13 years and happens all the time. In my 20s, I used to avoid mentioning it in conversation. The bragging thing is new. Sports is actually pretty important here. They have a decent beer selection and great food. The mission spot has a full bar, as well. Totally thought I would scoff at such a list when I clicked on the link, but this is a solid one.
Go figure… January is usually very mild. AC in Oakland — using it less and less, never used it in SF. Compared to the only reasonable winter produce being carrots, lettuce, bananas, citrus, and apples. By April, my palate would be anxiously awaiting the first of the stone fruits. If you meet someone you like, make sure to get their number and email. Frisco or SF will do just fine.
Flip Her Coin (Sex in San Francisco, #3)
Good points on 2 and 4 though. I like to change it up. Karl The Fog commented on my blog. Definitely a big item crossed off the bucket list: Reblogged this on Renelly Morel and commented: A fantastic article that sums up my personal experiences of living in one of the best cities in the world, San Francisco. Abso-freaking-nailed it…with the glaring omission of Fernet anywhere.
How can he forget the Fernet…: Not even close in my opinion. Give me Prohibition and some Boont Amber Ale please. NYC and Paris are awesome dude. There were a ton of sunny days in October and November. I was lying in the sun at Dolores Park the day after Thanksgiving.
Find a used copy of San Francisco at your Feet, and read while you walk. So is West Portal.
Downtown, walk the streets on Sunday and look up — the architecture at the tops of the buildings is often beautiful. Look for the quiet, upscale, older alleys and the bookstores or restaurants there. Excellent restaurant and bar, open to the public. And…but I could go one forever, so consider this a start. The ocean is fucked up by some industrial shit. The city is full of shitty zombies making too much noise. Same question counts for Tokyo, too. But the city itself is full of good, very lively streets, parks… People are very friendly, environment is clean, transportation is awesome….
Let me guess, New Yorker right? Guess SF is not for you. The city is nice for a lot of things but, you are right, it is not a great city. Some of your thoughts were exactly mine too. Typical internet flamer — just looking for a reaction. Hey, SF just called, said the feeling is mutual! Traveling to MV or PA may not be a 90 min trip. The short walk, followed by some quiet time on the train is one of the things I miss most.
For a developer who works on their local machine, the spotty 4G signal while moving is really no big deal either. I do love San Francisco. Routsey uses the GPS on the busses, and is almost always perfectly correct. Technology is certainly huge here, but there are people working in restaurants and bars and stores and making clothes and teaching school and selling real estate and everything else that happens in any other city.
Your impression that everyone works in tech says more about your social circle than our city. Inequality in this city is off the charts — no mention of the Outer Mission, Excelsior, let alone Sunnydale or Hunters Point. Dear god this is well done. For the happy hour part and also events , check this site out: Yes, SF is the most expensive city, but when you compare it to New York, you also have to count the other four boroughs, which brings down the average.
Right on point for all your points. One more thing I would add which is important about San Francisco is how its one of the greenest cities in the world. Things like the elimination of plastic bags, electric driven public transportation, required composting and recycling, and energy efficient building design make SF a leader in sustainability. Bay bridge is 8 miles long and the last subway heading east leaves the final SF stop at Oakland is an awesome place but not very conducive to going out in the city.
In fact, people actually used to move here specifically to experience that, and work toward making the world a better place. Not sure why they move here now, judging from this somewhat naive piece. Sorry for the confusion. Just a fact of walking through some rougher areas of town. I live in the Tenderloin. Some of it is from dogs, and some of it is from humans. They had to call in a hazmat team. And God forbid the city do anything to actually address homelessness.
Someone might call us a big meany! A pet is a privilege, not a right. If you have nowhere to use a bathroom, at least go into an alley or a gutter or on a piece of newspaper that you fold up and throw in the trash. Do we really have such low expectations for people? I was really impressed when I moved here about how smart and talented most people are. I came here from DC where most of the people I interacted with were not brain dead, but overall in comparison to DC I am very impressed while living in SF. I am going to diverge fro, everyone else and agree on the PBR front. Even in the Marina you can find PBR on tap.
I totally agreed with almost everything you said! While this is a legitimate need, many people use this loophole to get their dogs into apartments that otherwise do not allow animals. We manufacture beautiful women here by the thousands. I visted SF in September for the first time. We thought it was pretty cool and had a lot of fun there. The views are spectacular. Mission are was pretty rough looking like you said. We could have stayed for a month.
What rock or bar were you sleeping under? SF has tons of beautiful fit smart women. You sound like a peach to be around.
I disagree with you wholeheartedly on the matter of sports. This is a city of US-Immigrants, meaning that, more than a lot of other cities, people come from every corner of the country and world. So, sports opinions are varied at best, and potentially the most bandwagon of all. You gotta be kidding me. I think you should try living in Pittsburgh, Chicago, Detroit, Boston or Philly, and then tell me that, comparatively, sports matter here. While I agree with about half, the other half seems inconsistent with my experience here for the past year and a half.
In fact is absolutely perfect. There are a lot more crazy homeless people here, but there are almost no beggars. In fact, I used to drink beer exclusively as my alcoholic beverage of choice until I moved here. Everywhere I know here drinks whiskey mainly or other hard alcohol. Ive also only seen people drink PBR a handful of times. My friend had a similar experience and was the hardest thing for them to find. We ended up leaving our pet in Portland with family because we were unable to find a place that allowed them.
Being that I was born and raised in the East Bay this post was really interesting to me. The cold thing has always been funny to me. People never believe you and they always compare it to their snow and what not. The need for layers every single time is no joke. It still is in some parts of the city. Cheap beer at night clubs was Miller.
You people are out of your mind saying there are no attractive women here. What insane standards have you set for yourselves. The sports thing is misleading too. Local indigenous people love the local teams as much as Bostonians do. The fan base of course stretches all the way down the peninsula too.
I agree that Fernet and Jameson are huge here, although I personally like scotch. How about just avoid MUNI and bikes altogether. MUNI is slow and unreliable. Bikes suck on all the hills. Have some empathy and keep it on the up and up — homeless or addicted people are still human, and they certainly are not miserable by choice. Leaving this bit out would make for a stronger post.
I find his comments about the homeless to be totally dismissive and offensive.
Pull your head out of your ass. I see people smoking it in broad daylight in the Tenderloin, particularly at bus stops. Crack never went away. I agree with you. Seriously, there are geniune people who have had misfortune in their lives and then there are people who are druggies, alcoholics, or just plain crazy. Having moved here a little over a year ago, I mainly agree with most of what has been written on this blog.
However, I agree with many of the comments about PBR. I too came from Boston which has a couple microbreweries I love. In and around the city you can find quality brews like 21st Amendment, speakeasy, lagunitas from up North, Racer 5, and Rogue—which is actually from Oregon but has a fantastic bar in North Beach! This city is strewn with great bars and brews! Very spot on with many things, but totally misleading about the sports thing.
Sports is HUGE here. There are many sports teams and fans. And people are WAY passionate. Remember the Giants World Series parade? Buildings being lit orange through the playoffs? They want to know where you went to highschool in SF. SF is actually not that large. Every district is about minutes walking distance from the next. Even older people have more stamina up those inclines then the youngsters. You meet the crazy as you note, but you meet some very heart warming people. There is always someone drunk walking around.
I lived in the City from Real SFs walk up all those hills, only pausing to light a cigarette halfway up. Even at 4 pm! C We have a GREAT music scene out here…lots of talented, local musicians and you can pretty much catch some live music any night of the week. E You can travel from Mexico to China to Italy with just a 45 minute walk. I may be biased but I grew up here, traveled and lived all over the world including Boston and came back…the view from the top of Hyde and Lombard never gets old…never and San Franciscans always appreciate what they have…they really do: That is so true!
Yes — my pharmacist in Arroyo Grande called my dentist on Ocean Ave. You should have a special edition specifically for people who move to SF from LA. Most of what has been said still holds, but there are a few extras like:. Try not to take it too personally;. This manifests in 2 ways. You can be a hipster, a hippie, a punk, a biker, a yuppie, a pot-head, etc. At one biker friendly SF bar, in one afternoon I was told not to put my beer on the edge of the pool table, not to stand in two different spots, and I watched them kick a girl out of the place for wearing patchouli. This was a palce where you could smoke weed openly.
A fashiony appearance will get you lots of odd looks from people, many of whom are wearing clothes that would get them ushered out of most restaurants in nearly any other city. See-through peasant-top with no bra? Waxed mustache that curls around like Captain Hook, worn with a pair of homemade, star-shaped antennae? These are all real-life examples BTW But walk down the street in a pair of trendy high heel boots, or a tailored blazer and you will get some funny looks. If you have been living in LA for a while, you will find San Francisco downright cold and gloomy, most of the time. I never go out without some outerwear handy.
From the outside it seems like the perfect blend of California attitude and East Coast urbanism. But living here is very different from visiting, and though SF is a vibrant, unique city with a lot to offer, life here is often more expensive, less comfortable, and grittier than life in LA, and the attitude is considerably less welcoming.
SF has its own story, and just living here is not necessarily enough to make you part of it. You are not necessarily welcome here just because you decided to show up. Aaron, I grew up in the Bay Area. I recall LA co-workers looking down on No. Your comments brought back memories in which I used to wonder why people from LA moved up to SF and then talked non-stop about how much more cool LA was.
I recall feeling on the defensive. Your points in 2 are very insightful. And within the counter-culture, there are micro-counter cultures. Through reading this blog, I see there is greater diversity than what I grew up with, but suffice it to say, I left many years ago because I wanted to be more than the cultural norm of the city could accept. Attitude less welcoming than in LA. And since everything is so spread out, it can be harder to find your place. You meet new people and do new things that change your perspective about San Francisco every day.
No self respecting techie has had one of those since the iPhone debuted in The best simple answer is rent control. If the avg unit household is 2. Given the large amount of replies, I doubt you will even get to this one, but let me say: I dislike your articles headlines. I say this only because I did not take the time to read your entire article. Ummm, lets see what we learned from your writing: I just moved here from Boston in August, and I think most of what you said is accurate and the advice is pretty good. Always enjoy reading newbie comments about our City.
Are you simply following employment or is where you live important and a part of defining who you are? Living is an art and takes work; I have been in San Francisco for 43 years, taught public school and never made a lot of money, but have a comfortable life in a condo with equity near Mission Dolores with my wonderful husband. Public transport, creative shopping and being street savy make it a joy to still be here at age seventy. Super Awesome Article — it put a smile on my face and really made my day… moved to the San Francisco Bay Area just a little over years and am really impressed with the spot-on accuracy of this article.
Well done and kudos. Ive lived here for 7 years. I dont work in tech and make about 2, Cost of living doesnt have to be high to live a really comfortable life in the city. But in order to do this you must be really really good at networking. That is one of the most important skills to live areally good life in SF. I have all kinds of access to aptartments all over the city. The kind that kick ass with quaint cool features that havnt seen craigslist for years and are not expesive because they are rent controlled. But in order to find your self on a position of choice like this you have to treat socializing like a job and dont expect it to happen overnight and be really good at connecting people with others.
Dont protect your contacts share them. The biggest difference between manhattan and sf is the KIND of competition that exsists. In ny the competition is hostile and selfish. In sf the competition is about being bold with your skills and how much better can you augment other peoples lives. Help them and they will help you. If you try to undermine people to get ahead here you wont last. I thoroughly enjoyed it. People prefer to dress comfortably — wearing layers as you point out. Primarily the reason for that was the painfully obvious and entrenched attitudes of so many of the middle and upper-middle class residents there.
I almost forgive you for the plethora of elitist, priveleged views and observations you listed, but actually not quite. This city prides itself on welcoming and accepting folks from ALL socio-economic backgrounds, and is non-judmental by and large toward folks that do not have the appearance you might prefer as a Bostonian; this city is a haven for those coming here for a better life and better opportunities in one of the most broad-minded cities in the country.
San Francisco supports struggling folks in ways that other cities do not, because it has always been a city that believes in people achieving their own personal visions regardless of national background, race, economic status, sexuality or clothing style. As one example, we were the first place in the country that allowed gay marriage.
So you can take all your horseshit stereotypes about Bostonians and shove them right up your ass. I do notice there are quite a few privileged, well educated many east coasters transplants that do carry a certain elitist and entitled attitude in SF. I make it a point to call these people out. Do not let technology detach you from reality. If the census statistics and the Obama election results have not demonstrated the direction our country, our world, is heading then you are in trouble. The more I read, the more I bit my tongue and tried to press onward, foolishly hoping that the next comment would be a substantive response to your blog post in which you invited readers who already live in San Francisco to leave a comment addressing any subject you missed — an invitation that most commenters hastily ignored as they rushed to fashion a critical response more biting than the one before.
The odds of one versus the other are a coin flip. Overlooking a few generalizations, it was a reasonably accurate impression of our city. I appreciate the breath of fresh air and grounded response amidst a sea of strong opinions both ways. I had no idea half a million people were going to read this nor that the comments would get so wild. Thanks for sharing your perspective, Jason.
Congrats on being pressed! A great city to visit and eat in but after living in beautiful,green,safe,cheap,friendly Portland,Oregon SF is a scum pit. Seems like folks are getting confused a bit: I used to play the same game living in SOMA, especially on those long walks to the court house while reporting for jury duty…because SF calls you to serve every year. I can fully fund my retirement accounts and save up a proper emergency fund 2. I have a quaint one bedroom apartment with a REAL separate bedroom to myself.
Still, I miss SF, I miss walking out my door to meet friends for brunch, meeting up for a run to the ballpark or the Golden Gate Bridge, enjoying the building decorations during the holidays, going to the museums, frequenting the art shows, and for many, many more reasons. This article was a very fun read, delightfully included some infographics on rent which I enjoyed, and really captured some of the glaring impressions available in this wonderful city by the bay.
Great article but one personal thing that irks me is that the TL gets suuuuch a bad rap. If you follow these steps you are in a central area of the city with tons of access to more fun, family friendly neighborhoods. Also rent is cheap and there are some secret hidden gems as far as apartment buildings go.
Worth checking out in the desperate search for an apt. Overall your article is very acurate, fun and enlightening. It will be shared with prospective SF citizens! For someone who avoids the Tenderloin at all costs, how can you pass such resolute judgement?? You clearly know nothing about the Loin. As a petite female who has lived alone in the TL for 2 years, I have never once felt in danger of being hurt or mugged or anything else crime related.
And I walk through all those streets within your dotted lines constantly and usually alone or at night. Super convenient location and easy to get around to the rest of the city. Fantastic bars and restaurants. And a lot of fucking history; maybe read about it some time.
All that said, the residents of the Tenderloin are overjoyed that people like you are avoiding our hidden gem. I had no problem going back to visit my favorite TL spots after I moved to the Mission. Beautiful drag bars around the TL, and Lahore Karahi, yum. And, really, once the people who hang out on the streets know that you live in the neighborhood, they will greet you daily, and watch out for you.
A fave of mine was the Flava Flav lookalike! I wish I knew his name. He used to stop traffic for me. He wears the clock around his neck, and gold fronts. Plus, TL is super close to Chinatown and the theater district. The worst thing that ever happened to me in the TL was the day I rounded the corner and saw that someone had committed suicide by laying his head beneath the tire of the 19 Polk. What a great article. I moved here many moons ago Maybe 79 I dated now husband a guy born and raised in The City his father borned and raised in City All his friends were native so it was especially fun to go places then and cab drivers to Waiter were amazed that the table was all natives except for me.
The City they grew up in was small and family orientated. Everyone knew each other famlies. It was three degrees at most of seperation. Music was the thing for them. My husband saw every major musican and most for free. We own rentals in the city which is a story in it self but our tenants in the past were 35 and up and would stay for 20 years. Now all tenants are rich 20 somethings… and move yearly. Welcome to the City.
Thanks for your insight. Hide your maps, ask locals for directions, they never lie. Flip flops are for the beach not street. I moved to the city 2 years ago. I came from Germany with my family and stayed a couple of weeks in Noe Valley like you mentioned it. Some of them less, some more. Anyway, great write up! The more activity that is going on, such as concerts, movies, dining out, etc. Be street smart, keep your eyes open, and use some common sense and you will be fine. I moved to SF from Ohio a year and a half ago.
Again, I agree with every word you said. I tell everyone back home about the dog-friendliness of SF. I met my other half at How Weird festival almost 3 years ago. Lots of peeps here looking for love, in my experience. I think guys definitely have an advantage here for there are a lot of available, beautiful women in the Bay area waiting for right guy.
Generally speaking, the bar is the wrong place to look for a mate, in any city. Moved to LA for 6 months and made 1 meaningful friendship with my neighbor. So I moved back to SF. Just found the general vibe there extremely superficial. Flying Lotus is from L. A…i dont know where you lived in L. Fantastic article; you completely captured the essence of this amazing city.
The San Francisco Giants sell out almost every game and have the best attendance in baseball. The niners have one of the best followings in sports, as do the Raiders. Maybe in your circle. This article could easily be describing Chicago. Although Chicago is a bit colder and surrounded by nothing cool, its 10x cheaper. As a native San Franciscan born and raised and now having passed the half century mark my advise is…. No other place like San Francisco. On the map of the Tenderloin…I would extend that dotted line south of Market street, and have it go from 7th st to 5th st, and down to Howard.
People in SF are scared of Oakland and will not go there unless they have to. And if you live in Oakland like I do, and tell someone in SF you live there, they look at you with a since of pity. The rest of the city is no more dangerous than any other large city in the US. Social life in SF is weird. One other thing…if cultural and ethnic diversity is important you you, you will not like San Francisco. I lived in the Mission while in the city. Oh, and you forgot to mention that if you call it Frisco or San Fran we will set you straight. And not in a polite way. Jason, I love that this is getting so much traction around SF..
Just kidding, that is my one way commute into NYC on the daily. Funny you mentioned the 3 hour time difference for sports broadcasts and not being able to adjust to it. And I always think how late the east coasters have to stay up to watch the game. Close, but no cigar. I was born and raised here 50 years ago and am living in the Sunset in the house I grew up in. I work from home so I see things others miss.