San Francisco

[IconRPCV]

Originally Posted by Kingofthehill

Yeah, SF is not a bad place to live in...MUNI needs to be fixed/BART made cheaper and the rampant gentrification/yuppification/homeless problems need to be curbed.

How'd you like it? How would you compare/contrast it to LA? Having lived/live in both, I'm curious to see how SF stacks up to my next home, Buenos Aires.

I've spent alot of time in all three places and have to say Buenos Aires feels a bit like both LA and SF. BA has many small walkable cool neighborhoods like SF, but it is very much a big immense car oriented city like LA.

[stepper77]

Many excellent (and diverse) shots! Thanks!

[Leo the Dog]

How can one not love SF? Its about time to make another trip to SF. Enjoyed the photos, thanks for posting.

[denveraztec]

Fantastic shots! I could so live here and will be back in the fall
!

[TXLove]

Great shots! Enjoyed them alot! Thanks for sharing!

[flar]

Nice variety of shots

[dktshb]

Originally Posted by Kingofthehill

Yeah, SF is not a bad place to live in...MUNI needs to be fixed/BART made cheaper and the rampant gentrification/yuppification/homeless problems need to be curbed.

How'd you like it? How would you compare/contrast it to LA? Having lived/live in both, I'm curious to see how SF stacks up to my next home, Buenos Aires.

Yep, transit was much more expensive in San Francisco than in LA where I can go to my destination and back for $2.50.

I am not too concerned with San Francisco's version of rampant gentrification and yuppification since it doesn't seem to involve tearing down too many beautiful structures to build a condo project with 10 floors of a parking platform like it generally means in LA. Also, the yuppified people you refer to in general seem to believe in true urban city life, are progressive and don't feel like suburban transplants who are interested in mini malls, starbucks and Lady Gaga.

I really like San Francisco and I definitely give it higher marks obviously when it comes to urban living and beauty. Of course there is the cost of living there and a bit of a small feel. It seems like one of those cities where you find it hard to find new faces. At night in the Castro we kept running into the same people all the time, which isn't a bad thing but in that regard it has a small town feel. Also, LA is endless in new places to discover whereas San Francisco obviously is limited in that regard. There was still a lot to see but it would just take one more trip to have covered the entire city.

As far as homeless people, I get bombarded in Downtown LA by them more so than I did in San Francisco. Just last night I was bothered at just about every street corner walking around Downtown LA. Hell, on the subway a homeless man was offering a blowjob for cash.

Originally Posted by BTinSF

Very nicely done set of pictures. I'm always amazed how much ground people cover when visiting a city not their own (I try to do the same when traveling). Judging by the photos, there are places you didn't go but you didn't miss much.

You know, since several people have brought up the friendliness thing, I think maybe we are friendly to obvious outsiders but not so much among ourselves. On my last trip to New York, it actually seemed to me that people were friendlier there than I am used to at home.

Muni ain't perfect by far, but it gets you there. I had a hankering for some Chinese dumplings for dinner tonight. It surprised even me that I was able to go across town to Chinatown, buy some sieu mai and get home again, all on Muni, in 45 minutes.

Thanks! Yep, certainly having my camera with me I was an obvious outsider but I take it with me everywhere here in LA too so I look like an outsider in my own city. Castro has always been a very friendly neighborhood but everywhere we went in San Francisco the people were genuinely nice.

You're right we didn't get everywhere but we covered a lot of ground:

Presidio; Marina; Cow Hollow; Russian Hill; North Beach, Fisherman's Warf; Chinatown; Telegraph Hill; Upper Filmore; Pacific Heights; Japantown; Western Addition; Tenderloin; Civic Center; Hayes Valley; South Market; South Beach; Mission; Eureka Valley; Castro; Haight Ashbury and TwinPeaks.

We missed the whole west side (avenue side) and the southern part of the city... maybe some other time.



Thanks to everybody for the comments. I really appreciate it.

[BTinSF]

Originally Posted by dktshb

Yep, transit was much more expensive in San Francisco than in LA where I can go to my destination and back for $2.50.

To be clear to readers who may not understand, the basic transit fare in San Francisco is now $2.00 (raised on July 1 from $1.50). This includes pretty much any mode of public transportation in the city (Muni busses, streetcars, LRV, subway, and BART in the city only) except the cable cars which are (I think still) $5.

On Muni (again, except cable cars) you get a transfer good for 2 more rides in any direction within 1 1/2 hrs (and the bus drivers usually make it longer plus they don't look at the transfer so you can use them for a couple hours for as many rides as you want.) So, for example, I went and got my dumplings mentioned in my post above, both directions of the trip, for one basic fare of $2.

Muni also sells 1, 3 and 7-day transit passes for tourists which are a bargain because they include the cable cars. Locals can buy 1 month passes for $55 that also include the cable cars (yes, some of us use them as transit--they are the best way, for example, to get from my hood to the financial district or Chinatown).

KingoftheHill was complaining about BART fares. BART is wide gauge, grade-separated heavy rail that has only 8 stops on one route through San Francisco and was mainly designed to bring suburbanites into the downtown area to work and back home again after work. The fares are based on distance travelled and can seem quite high if you go all the way to the end of the line from downtown (e.g. $5.55 from the Financial District to Dublin/Pleasanton out beyond the coastal hills or, what probably upsets everyone, $8.10 from the Powell St Station near most hotels to the airport). The airport fare is set intentionally higher than the other fares to soak tourists. Still if you chose to use BART only within San Francisco, as you might if you were going from downtown to the Mission District or if you happened to live in the Glen Park neighborhood, you can do it for the basic fare mentioned above, $2.00.

[Austinlee]

Cool music & great tour. Like BT said, you seem to have covered a LOT of ground. Wow.

All i can say is: San Francisco is Ritzy.

[bgwah]

^ I don't think I would like it if someone took a picture of me like that...

[dktshb]

Well I would rather he was wearing pants but I didn't even realize that he wasn't at the time I was taking the picture.

[RST500]

Originally Posted by caltrane74

yay for hookers!!!

cool shot. That local has been used in a lot of films.