What's so European about San Francisco?

[rah]

Originally Posted by BayAreaHillbilly

20 in of rain per year, no frontal weather systems during the summer (blocked by a semi tropical oceanic High). Sounds pretty Mediterranean to me. I would however grant that at times, parts of SF more strongly resemble semi tropical fog desert climates of places like Namibia, SW Morocco, Northern Chile, etc. That's of course a consequence of the Pacific upwelling and 110 deg heat well inland.

SF is definitely Mediterranean, but some people seem to get confused by the fog, or maybe the stereotype of SF always being completely cloudy/foggy/rainy (which is funny considering SF has over 300 days of sunshine a year, and like you said only 20 inches of rain...also zero humidity pretty much, aside from the foggy days). I think many people would be surprised to know that before SF was built out, the land consisted almost entirely of scrubland and sand dunes.

Originally Posted by majoun

Hills, weather, architecture, earthquakes, the intensity of the food culture, the wineries in nearby rural areas....very European.

Not to mention the old fading "white ethnic" SF had a huge Southern Euro component.

Yeah, SF had a huge Italian and Portuguese population back in the day.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

Originally Posted by rah

SF is definitely Mediterranean, but some people seem to get confused by the fog, or maybe the stereotype of SF always being completely cloudy/foggy/rainy (which is funny considering SF has over 300 days of sunshine a year, and like you said only 20 inches of rain...also zero humidity pretty much, aside from the foggy days). I think many people would be surprised to know that before SF was built out, the land consisted almost entirely of scrubland and sand dunes.

It's cool to get up on Twin Peaks, Buena Vista, etc, and check out the remnants of it. In addition to the chaparral and sage scrub there are also Coast Live Oaks in scrub form as well.

[roots_and_bark]

It's the beautiful architecture, which is everywhere in Europe and lacking in most of America!!