Quote:
Originally Posted by The North One
Besides hills and views they look completely different, San Francisco isn't built at all like an old European City.
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The street grid isn't of course. There was never a medieval wall or whatever.
But San Francisco is unlike most eastern cities in having been settled by a diverse group of people attracted from all over the planet by the lure of gold and many of those people were immigrants from southern Europe where the climate was similar. Those southern European immigrants influenced the development of the city. They built many churches and many of those fronted on public squares, parks or plazas. When I look out my window I see the bell tower of what could be a medieval Florentine church sticking up above the homes climbing a hill.
And since they loved entertainments like cafes, good food and opera, the city has always made a place for an abundance of those things. And because of the climate, it sits in a region of wine and olives and other Italian delights while within the city there are flowering plants of all sorts reminiscent of Italy.
So getting past the street grid, I think you are wrong and most tourists sense it. It is a very common comment from European tourists that the city feels like home to them.