Why is San Francisco so different? (Los Angeles, San Diego: quality of life, living, price)

[mackinac81]

A friend who moved to San Francisco in february came to visit for the week, and she was telling me alll about the city, showing me photos etc...and learned how unique and eclectic it is. When I asked her how San Francisco got that way, she told me she wasn't sure, so I thought I'd ask you guys....What was it about San Francisco that made hippies, GLBT, liberals and other people say "hey, let's go out there!" instead of someplace else. It had to start somewhere, somehow. Does anyone know the history of this?

thanks
Mackinac

[hsw]

Not sure how unique City of SF really is....w/o SV making SF a relevant upscale suburb, suspect SF would simply be a milder version of socialist, hygiene-free Seattle....

BevHills is also unique....and seems like a different country than SF/SV....or NYC...

Manhattan itself is also unlike any other city in world....a cross btwn an EU city w/the filth and primitive infrastruc of a 3rdWorld town....

[sonarrat]

Moderator cut: Orphaned quote & response

A History of the GLBT Movement in San Francisco (http://www.shapingsf.org/ezine/gay/intro.html - broken link) - This is as good an explanation as I've seen.

[sav858]

I was watching this series on Discovery HD channel called "The Once and Future City" and it profiles different cities. They said SF was very tolerant and accepting from the beginning b/c people from all over the place moved to it at once, during the gold rush, and it became a city almost overnight. This differs from other old cities b/c usually it was one group of people that settled the city then new, different immigrants moved in like Irish, Italians, etc...and many times that created conflict. In SF all the different ethnicities and cultures came at once so they kind of had to get along I guess. That was the first time I've heard that reason for SF always being so accepting and tolerant and it makes a lot of sense, although I don't think the city is as accepting and tolerant as it used to be.

[sliverbox]

The area is "different" because it has had a long history of huge booms and busts: The gold rush boom and bust, the defense boom and bust, the tech boom and bust, and the latest: housing boom and bust. Each and every boom/bust attracts more and more people with a get-rich-quick mentality, who swoop in with the dreams of making piled of money.So naturally with that many people, it makes things pricey, which people automatically assume means that it is highly desirable.

The area is also politically progressive. But I wouldn't say that it is progressive to the point of making any more tolerant than any other number of large to medium sized cities. It has a reputation for passing crazy laws, some of which cause the area to have problems in the future, such as the myriads of anti-development laws passed in the 70's, which have since limited the amount of buildable land, which again, as mentioned above,makes it more pricey, hence seemingly more precious to those who live here.

To me, there's actually a lot of smaller cities across the country that offer more in terms of the quality of life and are becoming beacons for younger people who can't afford it here. In time, I suspect SF will lose some of its edge as a result.

[DMenscha]

Originally Posted by mackinac81

A friend who moved to San Francisco in february came to visit for the week, and she was telling me alll about the city, showing me photos etc...and learned how unique and eclectic it is. When I asked her how San Francisco got that way, she told me she wasn't sure, so I thought I'd ask you guys....What was it about San Francisco that made hippies, GLBT, liberals and other people say "hey, let's go out there!" instead of someplace else. It had to start somewhere, somehow. Does anyone know the history of this?

thanks
Mackinac

I think it's because SF was a product of the gold rush initially. The Barbary Coast reputation seems to have stuck. As a major port and manufacturing center during WWII thousands of folks passed through there and most parts of the bay area have a terrific climate as well.

[Taboo2]

Hippies came way before Moderator cut: replace: Gays and brought lots of free thinkers.. the barbary coast was the first wild times.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbary...co,_California

Originally Posted by sonarrat

Moderator cut: Orphaned quote

A History of the GLBT Movement in San Francisco (http://www.shapingsf.org/ezine/gay/intro.html - broken link) - This is as good an explanation as I've seen.

[gizmo980]

There are many stories about how we became a "liberal bastion," from the Gold Rush days, railroad workers, and so on. One story I've heard a lot goes back to the 1950s or so, when the armed forces were even more homophobic than they are today... supposedly you were kicked off the ship when it docked, usually in San Francisco, if anyone discovered someone was homosexual. Since they were essentially dumped here, it makes sense that many stayed - and eventually word spread that it was a friendly place for gay people. I don't know if that's all true, but it is a long-standing rumor at least! And now that we've become a place that accepts "different" people, they just keep coming here. Personally I'm glad, because I LOVE our population... hippies, homosexuals, and all.

[rickca]

From what I understand it has always been kind of an "outpost" it was the first major city in California.. a big city back when Los Angeles was a little farming community. Other places like Los Angeles have more of a suburban feel so I think the urban grittiness of San Francisco attracted these people to SF rather than to a place like LA or San Diego. As gizmo said I think once the word got out it has "snowballed" and now its kind of the place where all the alternative lifestyle people feel accepted.

[rickca]

Originally Posted by sliverbox

It has a reputation for passing crazy laws, some of which cause the area to have problems in the future, such as the myriads of anti-development laws passed in the 70's, which have since limited the amount of buildable land, which again, as mentioned above,makes it more pricey, hence seemingly more precious to those who live here.

Very interesting about the laws in the 70's I think this has directly led to a forced "urbanness" of San Francisco.. when you drive south of the city there is actually a lot of open land.. drive south some more below San Mateo and there is a ton of open land going out towards the ocean, I think if these development laws hadn't been passed every inch of the peninsula would possibly have been built into a city, this definitely would have made the cost of living cheaper.