San Francisco of the Past (Marina: work, houses, crime)

[jzt83]

Hey, I was wondering what SF and the rest of the Bay area was like prior to the tech boom. What were areas such as the Marina or Noe Valley like before they became gentrified and yuppiefied? Were there tonnes of cutesy schelpy trinket stores around? It seems SF and the rest of the Bay Area just seems so yuppified and gentrified, that it is hard to imagine what it was like when it wasn't such a rich area. The area just seems so surreal with it's immense wealth.

[rah]

Originally Posted by jzt83

Hey, I was wondering what SF and the rest of the Bay area was like prior to the tech boom. What were areas such as the Marina or Noe Valley like before they became gentrified and yuppiefied? Were there tonnes of cutesy schelpy trinket stores around? It seems SF and the rest of the Bay Area just seems so yuppified and gentrified, that it is hard to imagine what it was like when it wasn't such a rich area. The area just seems so surreal with it's immense wealth.

I've lived in Noe Valley since before it was gentrified, as it is now. There basically were more liquor stores, laundry mats, cheap restaurants and diners, an auto body shop, and less hordes of yuppie parents pushing strollers. Most houses had bars on their windows, and low-level crime wasn't uncommon, such as semi-regular car break-ins, at least in the part I live. Also there used to be a crack house and drug dealing in Noe Courts park (24th and Douglass), but after SWAT raided the place it got a bit nicer.

[gizmo980]

Those darned yuppies... keep taking over our neighborhoods, lowering the crime and bringing in nice businesses. A-holes!!

[jzt83]

Despite the yuppification of the city, why is the crime still super high overall? Did the crime rates just intensify elsewhere in the city?

[jzt83]

I suspect it has to do with outsiders who commit a lot of the crimes?

[gizmo980]

I imagine crime has increased in EVERY city around the United States... unfortunately that's just a result of progress, population growth, and possibly our crappy economy.

[clongirl]

Areas like the Marina and Pacific Heights were always "upper crust" and full of the well to do. The rest of the City was generally more blue-collar and family oriented- no fancy strollers though! Many of my friends were born and raised in areas like Noe Valley and the Sunset and it had more of a neighborhood feel where everyone knew each other. I don't know if crime was better or worse though. Definitely fewer boutiques and fancy shops- that sort of thing.

[clongirl]

I also want to add that there was definitely more of a mix of people of ALL ages. Now it seems like everyone is in their 20's and early 30's.

[City Boy]

Originally Posted by gizmo980

Those darned yuppies... keep taking over our neighborhoods, lowering the crime and bringing in nice businesses. A-holes!!

The problem with that is it drives out the long time SF residents who can no longer afford it. Those are the people who give a city character instead of the generic apple convention SF has become. The Black population has just about vanished.

[rah]

Originally Posted by jzt83

I suspect it has to do with outsiders who commit a lot of the crimes?

Crime isn't exactly at an all-time high. It's higher than it's been since the mid 90's, especially the murder rate, but overall it's still a bit lower than it was back then (though it is quite a bit higher than it was in the late 90's and early 2000's). As for outsiders committing crime, sure there are a lot, SF is the urban center of the Bay Area, but most would still be committed by SF residents. As for areas like Noe Valley, it's true that there is a much smaller mix of people than there used to be. It seems to be old timers, who's numbers are thinning out, some younger residents and families who've lived there for a long time or their whole life, and who couldn't afford to move and still stay in the City, and LOTS of transplanted yuppies doing yoga and stuff, and pushing their kids around in strollers on 24th street, who speed around in Audis and BMW's, and ride the 48 to 24th and Mission to take BART to wherever they work (or they wait for the company bus to come pick them up).

One thing I've noticed is as a kid, there were for one thing lots more kids, especially a more diverse population. Also, parents would take care of their kids themselves. Nowadays 75 percent of what you see is Latina nannies taking little blonde haired children to the park. My parents bought their 3 story 2 unit Victorian house in Noe Valley, in 1980 for $170,000. Nowadays, it would be at least 1.5 million, and after some upgrades, much more.

As for the black population in Noe Valley, there has never really been any significant number. I went to Alvarado for elementary school though, and it seemed to be about two thirds black and latino, and the rest white or asian. Nowadays it looks to be at least half white.