SAN FRANCISCO: Alamo Square

BTinSF · #1 Posted **Nov 16, 2008, 7:55 AM**

Source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object...4472R.DTL&o=10

northbay · #2 Posted **Nov 16, 2008, 3:38 PM**

its nice to see one rincon in there

Quixote · #3 Posted **Nov 16, 2008, 9:29 PM**

I've been there myself. It's great.

blade_bltz · #4 Posted **Nov 16, 2008, 11:59 PM**

Nice pics.

Heh heh I must say, though - learning that Alamo Square is actually one of SF's shadier areas (all the nearby projects) was exactly like discovering Bob Saget to be one of the most foul-mouthed comedians alive.

peanut gallery · #5 Posted **Nov 17, 2008, 12:57 AM**

Thanks BT. That was in a section of the paper I didn't read today and would have missed it. Interesting and inspiring article. I wish I was in the market for a fixer-upper back in the early 70's. But since I wasn't even 10 years old, getting a home loan was probably out of the question.

tech12 · #6 Posted **Nov 17, 2008, 2:31 AM**

Nice pics...Alamo Square really is beautiful. I think the last time I was there was at least several years ago, though. Must be the "tourist area syndrome," similar to what Fisherman's Wharf gives many SF natives...although I still go to Fisherman's Wharf, because In-N-Out is there

Quote:

Originally Posted by blade_bltz

Nice pics.

Heh heh I must say, though - learning that Alamo Square is actually one of SF's shadier areas (all the nearby projects) was exactly like discovering Bob Saget to be one of the most foul-mouthed comedians alive.

Haha, I certainly was pretty shocked when I found out about Bob Saget's true sense of humor (It was in the documentary "the Aristocrats," and it involved a joke about rape and incest and shitting on people or something

). I imagine most unsuspecting people are also pretty shocked if they wander down to those projects too. Who knew there are shootings all the time, right next to Full House! SF is weird like that...

BTinSF · #7 Posted **Nov 17, 2008, 5:15 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by blade_bltz

Nice pics.

Heh heh I must say, though - learning that Alamo Square is actually one of SF's shadier areas (all the nearby projects) was exactly like discovering Bob Saget to be one of the most foul-mouthed comedians alive.

Back in the 1980s I recall being at a medical conference in Sf attended by a lot of out-of-towners. Some of them asked one of the locals running the meeting how to get to the place with the "famous row of painted ladies" and he explained to them how to get to Alamo Square but then warned them about it being a dangerous area. Even then I thought to myself, "How dangerous can a place where a house costs $500K be? (the $500K part is funny now

).

Truth is, I've lived in SF since 1982 and been a regular visitor since 1976 and I don't remember it ever being all that bad. It's a few blocks from an area that does have an occasional gangland gunbattle, but they seem like a long couple of blocks.

By the way tech12, it just doesn't seem to me like a "tourist area" at all even though there are always a few tourists standing in the park shooting the "painted ladies". Steiner is one of my favorite cross-town streets so it's just an area I drive by heading to the Haight or Castro.

Jibba · #8 Posted **Nov 17, 2008, 7:56 AM**

Great area, gorgeous homes.

Edit: killer views, too!

tech12 · #9 Posted **Nov 17, 2008, 8:35 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by BTinSF

By the way tech12, it just doesn't seem to me like a "tourist area" at all even though there are always a few tourists standing in the park shooting the "painted ladies". Steiner is one of my favorite cross-town streets so it's just an area I drive by heading to the Haight or Castro.

Yeah I know, It's not really a tourist area at all, aside from the park it's self, and the stereotypical "painted ladies" photo that every tourist loves to take.

As far as the shootings thing, they mostly happen a couple blocks away. But they do happen right up there next to Alamo square from time to time (at least once just last year, actually). Alamo square isn't bad compared to the projects...but it is only one block away from them. It's sort of like a microcosm of SF's sharp rich-poor gap. You have to have a lot of money to live in one of those painted ladies...but you have people shooting each other over drugs and money just a couple blocks away, and sometimes right out front.

BTinSF · #10 Posted **Nov 17, 2008, 5:30 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by tech12

You have to have a lot of money to live in one of those painted ladies...but you have people shooting each other over drugs and money just a couple blocks away, and sometimes right out front.

My absolutely favorite SF Victorians are at Steiner and Golden Gate, 2 blocks away, and there you can get the shootings out front. But they are still fabulous houses (and fabulously painted).

tech12 · #11 Posted **Nov 17, 2008, 6:22 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by BTinSF

My absolutely favorite SF Victorians are at Steiner and Golden Gate, 2 blocks away, and there you can get the shootings out front. But they are still fabulous houses (and fabulously painted).

Definitely, I'm not saying they're not beautiful or anything, or trying to detract form them or Alamo square because of a higher crime rate than normal (there are many more similar beautiful areas in SF). I was pretty much just being a whiney San Franciscan in regards to tourists

salaverryo · #12 Posted **Nov 17, 2008, 7:08 PM**

Is that what "Alamo Square" is? A row of houses?

tech12 · #13 Posted **Nov 17, 2008, 7:12 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by salaverryo

Is that what "Alamo Square" is? A row of houses?

Alamo Square is a one square block park, that's bordered on one side by those famous "painted ladies" victorian houses of postcard and Full House fame. The neighborhood immediately surrounding is also usually referred to as Alamo Square. It's a sub neighborhood of the Western Addition.

hymalaia · #14 Posted **Nov 17, 2008, 9:42 PM**

First off, Bob Saget being foul-mouthed isn't that surprising to me at all. It almost makes too much sense. I mean think about it, if you were Bob Saget, what kind of comedian would you be? Family friendly? I sure wouldn't, but maybe that's my twisted sense of logic.

As far as "Alamo" square, I'm wondering where these horrible projects are exactly? When I was in SF I visited the square by walking down Steiner from the Marina, then took (I believe) Grove St back to Market where I hopped on Bart. I didn't get any sketchy vibes, although I do remember people (zomg, blacks!) outside on the stoop drinking beer at one point. It was around evening rush hour. I got some awesome pics with the setting sun!

tech12 · #15 Posted **Nov 17, 2008, 10:33 PM**

^ The projects start one to two blocks or so to the east, and 3 blocks to the north, in the Fillmore District. They won't necessarily be "horrible" to someone who doesn't live there, and it's not like there are guaranteed to be shady things going on all the time...also the projects have been steadily getting more "tame" I guess. They're definitely not the worst projects in SF (that honor goes to the various ones in the southeast of the city). The most notorious tower blocks in the Fillmore (the "pink palace" named after it's color, was taken over and used as a look out by drug dealers, who would use it to spot approaching police cars) were destroyed in the late 90's, and gentrification is ever growing in the surrounding areas, and even down on lower Fillmore Street itself...but while many of those projects look relatively nice--even like normal apartment complexes--there is still plenty of shadyness going on. There have been 13 murders within a 5 block radius of Alamo Square in the past 2 years, which means something...

As for Bob Saget's sense of humor...It surprised me initially (all I had known from him was Full House and America's Funniest Home Videos), but it really isn't strange or anything. He's pretty funny, in a nice screwed up kind of way.