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I think I hate San Francisco.

A Y

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Fair enough, but our budget gridlock is statewide. Anyway, there's lots to like about the SF area. The performing arts groups are world class. The area is beautiful, especially if you go just a little bit south or north: highway 1 near Carmel is pretty unreal.

--Andre
 

itsstillmatt

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Originally Posted by holymadness
No, but this presupposes something sacred about opinions. I get that they're all 'subjective' but honestly if someone told you that he thought the Ford Focus was a nicer car than the Aston Martin Vanquish, you'd have the right to call that a Fail.



Phoenix once when I was a kid, but I have very little memory of it. What I know about Silicon Valley comes to me by a friend of mine who works at Google (lives in Mountain View) and tells me about the daily sadnesses that accompany suburban hell.

Mountain View is like the seventh circle. I grew up on the Peninsula, but in a very different part. It is nice. Boring, not suburban, boring, nice. I agree that SF is better than Mountain View.
 

kiya

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Just a few notes...
-Silicon Valley is NOT San Francisco, besides being almost an hour away it has very little in common with SF.
-Blue Bottle sucks, they burn everything. Go to Four Barrel or Sightglass instead.
 

lefty

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Originally Posted by hjeaiy
i love san francisco, it is nice

You make a compelling argument. Thank you, I feel better.

Originally Posted by Piobaire
I hear you can dine at the highest levels in SF.

There's a restaurant on Mt. Davidson? Do they serve food meant for plates in bowls also?

Originally Posted by Fuuma
You should move to Pittsburgh.

I wish - unfortunately I got screwed by that FBOW clause.

Originally Posted by gdl203
lefty - sounds like the first impression isn't the best... Have you been hanging out in the Tenderloin ?

The one place I didn't go. Maybe I should.

I kept wanting to be delighted by the neighbourhoods, any neighbourhood. People we met would extol the virtues of Hayes Valley or Protrero Hill and we would walk to these places to find these tiny, and frankly, ugly little streets with the high street maybe running for three blocks. A couple of coffee shops, some mediocre restaurants and a home furnishing store. The entire time I'm thinking there has to be more to this town than this.

Had I known about SF before my wife accepted this position we may have had a different conversation.

Originally Posted by HORNS
I'll say this for a positive attribute of San Francisco - it's cheap to fly to Asia, relative to most of the U.S.

That helps actually.

Originally Posted by akatsuki

SF would be better if they loosened up the building code a lot. The old houses aren't very charming, they are mostly ratty. More density and more mixed-use would lower rents and make the city interesting. Then they wouldn't need the marsupialed rent stabilization that encourages super high initial rents and minimal ongoing investment.


This makes a lot of sense.

Originally Posted by iammatt
Well, the architecture is probably the worst of any world class city, so I am not sure where you are going with this. It is a nice piece of land...

Any chance you can buy it and raze it by the time I get there?

Originally Posted by fdbaker
This thread is a pantload. There are a few posts that contain a kernel of truth. The great majority is garbage shoveled by those who haven't the faintest clue.

Help a brother out. Where's the West Village of SF?

Originally Posted by kiya
Just a few notes...
-Silicon Valley is NOT San Francisco, besides being almost an hour away it has very little in common with SF.
-Blue Bottle sucks, they burn everything. Go to Four Barrel or Sightglass instead.


FWIW I stopped by your shop and the guy behind the counter was refreshingly non-bubbly. It was appreciated.

lefty
 

milosz

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My dad was born in San Jose, lived there until '65ish and spent his college years in SF and the East Bay, left in 1970 and I don't think he's been back since my brother was born in '75. I wonder what he'd think of the area now, particularly San Jose.

I loved the time I've spent in the city and would move there in a heartbeat if it was feasible. I'd love to never really need a car again (aside from the odd ZipCar use), the weather is my ideal (even the rain), I could find a show or something interesting to do just about any night of the week, the food was outstanding even on the low end, people were no worse than Dallas (less, uh, bubbly as a rule). And I could buy top-shelf liquor behind the counter of convenience stores in the Tenderloin.

OTOH, a week after I flew back home on the last trip, the counter guy at the pizza place I had eaten at several nights (on Van Ness) got stabbed by a crazy chick. San Francisco might be the hardest place in the world for me to get a concealed handgun license, and also the place I would most like to carry, I think.
 

Bradford

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Originally Posted by Manton
I take it you have never seen Phoenix or the Inland Empire or the San Fernando Valley?

Hey, leave Phoenix out of this
laugh.gif
 

Mark from Plano

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Originally Posted by MetroStyles
LA boldly does its own thing. It is obnoxious and annoying and congested, but hey, the weather is nice, the girls are hot, and there are enough cultural experiences to be had if you make an effort.

There's a great line from the movie "Joe vs. The Volcano" (mediocre movie; lots of great lines):

Meg Ryan: So how do you like LA?
Tom Hanks: It looks fake. I like it.
 

softy

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Originally Posted by Lokesh
Sounds like the OP lived in the Tenderloin... I'm a 21 year old student and not so well off that lives close to the Tenderloin too and I've been here over a year and don't have any complaints. The weather is awesome, the public library is amazing, Ruby Skye which is like 2 blocks away has awesome concerts, the people are friendly enough and leave me alone when I'm not in the mood to interact, the bums I see around are far from aggressive. Quite polite and friendly actually (especially if you consider how much their lives must suck). Granted its an expensive place to live especially if you live downtown but if you take the time you can find places to shop that make your expenses close to what you would spend in most other places anyway. I really like this city!
My only problem with the city is that I find it hard to socialize since I don't go to bars and clubs that often. My school is filled with people I don't really care much for and all the hot girls are undergrads. But then again this is probably my fault since I'm not so social to begin with...


The entire public library smells like urine and people are screaming at all times there.
 

Lokesh

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Originally Posted by softy
The entire public library smells like urine and people are screaming at all times there.

Which one are you talking about? In the main library I've only found the bathroom smelling of urine. I would assume this is to be expected since its so close to the tenderloin and that its free for anyone to come in. Also my visit is hardly to take in the sights sounds and smells. I'm mainly talking about their selection of books.
 

lefty

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Originally Posted by Lokesh
In the main library I've only found the bathroom smelling of urine. I would assume this is to be expected since its so close to the tenderloin and that its free for anyone to come in. Also my visit is hardly to take in the sights sounds and smells. I'm mainly talking about their selection of books.

This?

everyone-poops.jpg


lefty
 

computerpro3

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There are two good things about San Francisco. This:
img3294n.jpg
And the fact that it's not Cincinnati.
 

softy

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Originally Posted by Lokesh
Which one are you talking about? In the main library I've only found the bathroom smelling of urine. I would assume this is to be expected since its so close to the tenderloin and that its free for anyone to come in. Also my visit is hardly to take in the sights sounds and smells. I'm mainly talking about their selection of books.

Talking about the main one.
 

jc138

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Originally Posted by akatsuki
Here is the way I think about NY and SF.

If you are on the east coast and ambitious and smart - you head out to NY and try and become a investment banker or other business person.
On the west coast - you go to Silicon Valley and try a startup.

On the east coast - if you are gorgeous - you head out to NY and try and become a model or actress.
On the west coast - you head out to LA.

So basically, if you are ambitious and smart, you leave SF for the Peninsula; and if you are hot, you go down to LA.

Whereas NY is a destination for both.


SF would be better if they loosened up the building code a lot. The old houses aren't very charming, they are mostly ratty. More density and more mixed-use would lower rents and make the city interesting. Then they wouldn't need the marsupialed rent stabilization that encourages super high initial rents and minimal ongoing investment.

+1, mostly. The truth is a bit more yielding, some smart people go to the movie business in LA and some good looking easterners head to LA, but mostly dead on.
 

Manton

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Originally Posted by holymadness
No, but this presupposes something sacred about opinions. I get that they're all 'subjective' but honestly if someone told you that he thought the Ford Focus was a nicer car than the Aston Martin Vanquish, you'd have the right to call that a Fail.



Phoenix once when I was a kid, but I have very little memory of it. What I know about Silicon Valley comes to me by a friend of mine who works at Google (lives in Mountain View) and tells me about the daily sadnesses that accompany suburban hell.


Right, well, you will dismiss this as an appeal to authority, but Richard Henry Dana and Gaspar de Portola both described SF Bay as the finest spot for human habitation on earth. Some other luminary whose name I forget at the moment said the most beautiful places in the world were the Bay of Naples, the Bosporous, and SF Bay.

The Ford Focus comment is assinine and just reveals you as a hater. My opinion was not meant to be gospel, merely opinion, but at least it is not absurd.

SV is ugly, or most of it, but it has very nice pocket. It is also a lot less ugly, and a lot smaller, than the worst LA and AZ sprawl. Hilarious that you base all these judgements on hearsay. Go in person and see for yourself.
 

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