What City Reminds You Of San Francisco? (Stanford: to live, move to)

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by absurd_planet

I found that S.F. Looks very similar to Seattle and Boston.
Also, the vast majority of people that welcome the ''San Francisco'' stereotype, did not grow up there.
An adopted stance to make them feel superior to where they're from and comfortable in their new life.
My friends and I love going to new cities, be it the south, mid-west,east. We are wise not to expect everyone to think like us or respect San Francisco like we do.

Seattle I can see, but I can't really see the similarities to Boston.

[rah]

Originally Posted by Portnoy312

Interesting. Most of italy's cities are built with local stone, and SF with wood and stucco. I don't see it. You don't think of masonry in SF.

I think Seattle probably is the closest.

SF does have a good amount of masonry and brick buildings, though they're mostly in downtown, and a couple other "core" neighborhoods (the tenderloin for example is almost entirely brick/masonry apartment buildings, very reminiscent of what you'll see in Manhattan). When it comes to the rest of the city though...especially single family homes and smaller apartment buildings, SF is nearly all wood, wood + stucco, and more wood (which is the reason why the SFFD responds in full force to any fire, no matter how small. they have to be prepared to control any fire as fast as possible, in case anything goes out of control....80% of the city is like a giant pile of tinder...densely packed wooden houses and apartment buildings, and the hills and wind we have don't help the fire situation either).

[trunky]

The first time I came here it definitely reminded me of Seattle. The water, the density, the hills, "liberal," high tech, pro baseball and football, etc...

[tstieber]

The problem is that SF has so many different pockets of culture and atmosphere, that it has things in common with a lot of different places, but no one single comparison. Seattle's downtown kind of feels like SF, but everytime I've been to Seattle (spring or fall), it's like 20 degrees colder and wet, and the surrounding landscape feel almost like New England to me, with lots of fall color and also dense conifer forests. Even the freeways look like you're walled in by trees. Very different. But I can see certain similarities. Italy? When you're looking at the little mediterranean homes cascading down Telegraph hill and Russian Hill, then you can see that too, but again, just in small pockets. And definitely nothing like Rome or Florence, maybe the seaside villages. Cape Town? I've been told there are similarities, with the fog bank pouring in nights and mornings, and the wind. Sydney? I've had Aussies tell me when we were sitting in Tiburon on the water having drinks and looking at the SF skyline and the bay, that it looks just like that -- from that particular vantage point. Istanbul? A close friend went there and also saw similarities. My parents thought Adelaide, Australia looked a lot like Contra Costa County, which is near SF. I've been to London, and SF is absolutely nothing at all like London. I have heard from friends that Lisbon, Portugal has similarities.

Bottom line -- I think what makes SF so great is that it has this amazing diversity of places, like a real life Disneyland, that you can see so much of the world in one place. But a single comparison is impossible.

[majoun]

Originally Posted by tkindred

OK, now I have some proof that Seattle is most like SF. The drug heads, homeless, gay, the weather, etc. I found this for another post but I will include it here for reference. I bet I could find info on their climates and homeless rates too but I do not have the time.

"The San Francisco metropolitan area has a higher percentage of people who are regular drug users than any other major metropolitan area in the USA, a study from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found. Nearly 13% of San Francisco residents reported using some type of illicit drug, such as marijuana, cocaine or heroin, in the previous month, according to data from the National Surveys on Drug Use and Health 2002-05. The national average is 8.1%.
Other areas with drug-abuse rates higher than the national average included Seattle, 9.6%"

S.F. area is No. 1 for regular drug use, study says - USATODAY.com


12.9% in Seattle are gay or bisexual, second only to S.F., study says.
Among the 50 largest U.S. cities, Seattle is second only to San Francisco in the percentage of residents identifying themselves as gay, lesbian or bisexual, a new study reports.
A researcher used census and other government statistics to offer an estimate of a segment of the population in cities, metropolitan areas and congressional districts nationwide whose size has only been guessed in the past.
The study reports found that 12.9 percent of Seattle residents — roughly 57,900 people — identified themselves as gay, lesbian or bisexual. In San Francisco, 15.4 percent of residents identified themselves as gay, lesbian or bisexual.

The Seattle Times: Local News: 12.9% in Seattle are gay or bisexual, second only to S.F., study says

Homelessness has been a chronic and controversial problem for San Francisco since the early 1980s. The city is believed to have the highest number of homeless inhabitants per capita of any major U.S. city.[115][116]
San Francisco, California - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Having lived in both L.A. and S.F., L.A. beats S.F. for drug use and homeless including per capita. As for gays? L.A. is ahead in absolute numbers, S.F. and Seattle are higher per capita. However I consider the tolerance towards gays in both cities to be a positive aspect of the cities I mentioned.

[Slendabrn38]

Well Brooklyn reminds me of Oakland

[Gentoo]

Originally Posted by nmnita

Seattle I can see, but I can't really see the similarities to Boston.

I went to Seattle with a friend who's from New England. She said Seattle reminded her of Boston. I thought it reminded me of San Francisco and Berkeley so I can see where Boston might be a fit.

[Beat02]

Originally Posted by Baron von Costume

I would say it reminds me a lot of Seattle.

After a garbage truck exploded and spread litter and urine around.

lol'd

[AnUnidentifiedMale]

Originally Posted by Motion

What other cities have you been to that in some way reminded you of San Francisco?

Duluth, Minnesota. I'm serious.

[NorCal Dude]

Paris and not in a good way.