Misconceptions About San Francisco (Oakland: hotel, school, to move)

[Fabio-moves]

Originally Posted by californio sur

I guess it's not quite like your podunk town in the sticks, huh? Go away troll and try to get a life if that is possible.

if someone wanted statistics they could to to wiki. I'm telling it like it is. Anyway, what's wrong with gay people everywhere? And, how would you know? You don't even live here? Don't the old folks in Pasadena blog there too? They must, there's nothing else to do.

[silverkris]

Originally Posted by luckysnap

As long as Nany Pelosi represents SF, the rest of the USA will see SF as home of Kooks and Loons.

That's probably a perception that has been promoted by right wing media. Pelosi is actually pretty mainstream in terms of politics, and so what - she's the Speaker of the House. As they say, a woman's place is in the House and the Senate.

Pelosi tends to be pretty critical of China's human rights record. I've been told that this actually is pretty popular with many (though probably not all) of her Chinese-American constituents (yes, Chinatown is in her district). Constrast that with her fellow San Franciscan and Senate counterpart, Dianne Feinstein, who is chummy with a lot of Chinese political leaders - and is probably considered to be the most "pro-China" Congressional member.

[415_s2k]

Let's see. Here are some things my grandma (who lives in Edmonds, WA) told my about San Francisco after I had already moved here.

- "It's 75% gays." When I responded with, "no grandma, I mean there are a lot of gays here but you know, most of the city is straight" she told me that she'd read somewhere that it was 75% gay, and said that she imagined that they didn't want to tell me they were gay because they wanted me to hang out with them and make me gay, and that's why I thought the way I did.

- "It's all Chinese people." When I responded that they made up about 30% of the population, she said "oh, hooey."

- "You have to be a millionaire to live there." When I said you can get by on thirty grand per year as long as you're sensible, she trotted out the whole "for the price of renting a studio apartment there, you can BUY a five-bedroom house in Snohomish County on a huge property!" Which would be great if I wanted to live in Snohomish county and had a reason to own a five-bedroom house on a bunch of land.

- "Everyone there works for some... public interest group and get paid to go to protests all day."

- "It's so violent. People think it's peaceful but people get shot there everyday."

So... according to my grandma... San Francisco is dominated by Chinese homosexuals who live in cramped studios, and inexplicably became millionaires off of protesting and shoot one another in their spare time.

[Gentoo]

so... According to my grandma... San francisco is dominated by chinese homosexuals who live in cramped studios, and inexplicably became millionaires off of protesting and shoot one another in their spare time.

:d lol

[415_s2k]

Originally Posted by Gentoo

:d lol

Yeah, that's what I said, haha.

[californio sur]

Originally Posted by Motion

What are some misconceptions about San Francisco you've found to be common with people who aren't from the city or haven't visited it? When you tell someone you're from San Francisco what types of questions do they tend to ask?

Myself being a Hip Hop head I was surprised at how hard or street the rappers were who come from the city. I actually had no idea that there were ghettoes in San Francisco. I'd always thought of San Francisco as being a "Hippie/Flower Power city" as funny as that may sound. Along with this I heard a Frisco rapper say that those who run the city downplay the hard parts of the city for tourist reasons futher shaping how some outside the city may view it.

You may actually be on to something here. Recently I read that the city leaders after the San Francisco earthquake in 1906 intentionally lied about the number of deaths because of fear that it would run off visitors. Instead of 400 dead it was actually closer to 3000.

[Daniel NC]

Because it is in sunny california, people believe it is warm and sunny. Then you step off the plane in July and it is 55 degrees and foggy. Not fun if your in a tanktop and flip flops. Believe it.

[!diom]

I lived on Mission Street for about 6 months. I hated it. Just moved to the East Bay.

It was incredibly dirty and smelly, overflowing with the SF brand of "thug", the homeless, and the worst kind of Latin American immigrants: the ones who can barely speak English, are constantly drunk, and play loud Reggaeton or Banda music. Worse were the white people, a subset of which you'd call "hipsters": 20-30 as others have mentioned, educated at top 50 schools, skinny jeans and bad haircuts, living off their parent's money, all fancying themselves "artists", and all carrying a tremendous ego but very little talent to back it up.

I'm glad I'm gone. The East Bay is blacker, younger, more artistic, more intelligent, and more down to Earth. We also have more places to get awesome Ethiopian food.

[415_s2k]

Originally Posted by !diom

I lived on Mission Street for about 6 months. I hated it. Just moved to the East Bay.

It was incredibly dirty and smelly, overflowing with the SF brand of "thug", the homeless, and the worst kind of Latin American immigrants: the ones who can barely speak English, are constantly drunk, and play loud Reggaeton or Banda music. Worse were the white people, a subset of which you'd call "hipsters": 20-30 as others have mentioned, educated at top 50 schools, skinny jeans and bad haircuts, living off their parent's money, all fancying themselves "artists", and all carrying a tremendous ego but very little talent to back it up.

I'm glad I'm gone. The East Bay is blacker, younger, more artistic, more intelligent, and more down to Earth. We also have more places to get awesome Ethiopian food.

Yep, Mission hipsters. You know how sometimes, you see someone, or a group of people, whom you have nothing to do with and yet you somehow still feel embarassed? Yeah. It's kind of like that.

I like the Mission for one thing: burritos. Otherwise, it's basically as you described. The same reggaeton beat thumping at volume from different stores... maybe I'm too Scandanavian, maybe I'm too American, maybe I'm just plain too stodgy, but it pisses me off. I don't find places that are a mess to be culturally charming.

[UPT Oakland]

Originally Posted by 415_s2k

Yep, Mission hipsters. You know how sometimes, you see someone, or a group of people, whom you have nothing to do with and yet you somehow still feel embarassed? Yeah. It's kind of like that.

I like the Mission for one thing: burritos. Otherwise, it's basically as you described. The same reggaeton beat thumping at volume from different stores... maybe I'm too Scandanavian, maybe I'm too American, maybe I'm just plain too stodgy, but it pisses me off. I don't find places that are a mess to be culturally charming.

You need an anti hipster blog. You're funny as hell. LOL